Coming Out of the Fog

As I was signing in to add pictures to my Easter post (and then realizing I haven't downloaded them from the camera yet...), a sentence from the "Stroke of Brilliance" post caught my eye...I believe I said that the babies were definintely on the road to recovery...HA!

We had a brief interval, a day, where the fevers ceased and they seemed energetic, and then we all plunged into the depths of disease - eye infections, ear infections, and bronchitis to be exact. Because the doctor had warned us about the viral infection going around (and told us the symptoms that should - and did - follow) we hesitated to go back, thinking there was nothing they could do (i.e. antibiotics wouldn't help). At the insistance of the grandmothers, I called and went back (and took my pitiful self into the local walk-in clinic). Turns out that they (we) DIDN'T have the viral infection that was going around! Bad news because, if we hadn't known anything about that viral infection we would have gone back to the doctor sooner. Good news because what we had was perfectly treatable with antibiotics (Hallelujah!).

I am now trying to keep track of our myriad of antibiotics and dosing schedules. I have actually started writing notes on the calendar (who got what when), and today had to count my remaining pills because I could not remember taking my antibiotic when I drank my glass of water (I HAD, but thanks to my Nyquil hangover - God bless the makers of Nyquil - my brain was a little fuzzy).

And so we have been living in a fog of infirmity. I will dramatically claim that the key to our survival has been Lucas, who (Thank God!) managed not to be taken completely down like the rest of us, and has contributed tremendously to our care (like taking the babies on a walk for fresh air, so mommy could take a nap or doing the dishes after I collapse on the couch in the evening). Our days have been full of napping, crankiness (the babies and me...and occassionally Lucas, but who can blame him when he's put up with a house full of sickos for so long!), and medicine. The real excitement of the day comes when we have to give the twins eyedrops - you don't realize how strong your 20 lb. 1 year old is until you have to hold them down and pry their eyes open just enough so that you can squeeze 2 drops in...3 times a day.

I will refrain from tempting fate once again by claiming that we are "on the road to recovery." But I will say that the twins are coughing less, oozing from their eyes less, and playing more...granted the mucous oozing from their nose has remained at the same level...but they are beginning to refuse their naps again so something must be changing! And I...well, I am not getting better as fast as I had hoped. I had high expectations of my antibiotics being miracle drugs that would have me playing, cleaning, and clicking my heels by the next day. 3 days later...I am looking forward to another night of Nyquil induced sleep, and praying that tomorrow is the day I will be well enough that I can take the twins down to their playroom without my legs feeling like jelly and me breaking into a 5 minute coughing fit just from going down the stairs (and when I take both babies down by myself, I sit and scoot down...so you can imagine how little activity that actually is...).

There have been some fun moments...the Nyquil has erased most of them from my memory, but one that stands out was yesterday. Just as the twins and I were looking out the sliding door to our deck, 2 (yes 2!!) bright red cardinals landed just a few feet from us. Thanks to the reflective glass, they did not realize our close proximity and stayed for several minutes. Why was this so cool? Because in Ryan's favorite book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?" Brown Bear sees...a RED BIRD!!! I got all excited and started yelling, "It's a red bird! Just like in Brown Bear! Brown Bear sees a red bird! What do you see??!!" Ryan got all excited and started saying "Bur, Bur!" which usually stands for Brown Bear, but I decided also could have been him trying to mimic "bird." And then Allie decided the excitement had passed and dropped to her hands and knees to crawl away...the vibration from which scared the birds away...and Ryan (who hates to be left behind by anyone...even the census volunteers) cried. But what an exciting few moments we had!

And sorry for the lack of pictures. I have an Easter post with pictures coming (as soon as I find the chord I need to get them from my camera...). But other than that, I literally have not felt up to taking pictures...and thought the amount of snot and boogers those pictures would have contained would have been so gross that you wouldn't have wanted to see them anyways!