Duck pond

Last week we were looking for somewhere to go to feed ducks. A few weeks ago after a rain storm, our backyard would have been perfect but we missed our chance. We decided to go back to our condo in Murray. We loved living there. It was the first place we lived after we got married and we lived there until Eliza was almost 2. We had great neighbors and a wonderful ward. But we also had three flights of stairs to walk up and only 800 square feet of space. Still, there were a lot of good memories. It was fun to go back and show Eliza her old house. Our place was the top right.

This picture totally looks like Jackson is peeing on the ground. Haha!

We love where we live now but it was nice to go back and visit some of our old neighbors and see the swimming pool that we miss SO much. Wonder if the HOA would consider putting one in around here... :)

Tonsils

It has been a long time coming but Matt finally got his tonsils out on Thursday. He gets chronic sore throats, cankers on his throat, and strep. I FINALLY convinced him to see an ENT rather than a regular family doctor. Dr. Shah took one look in his throat and said, and I quote, "Look at those pus sacks! Let's get 'em out!" I like a doctor who is decisive. :) So we got it scheduled and he had a tonsillectomy and his adenoids out. He completely freaked himself out over it. Everyone we knew told us horror stories and then he found even more on the internet. It's an easy recovery for a child but as an adult it's much tougher. But we knew it would be worth it in the long run.

The surgery itself was very fast. He has had one other surgery and did not do well with the after effects of the anesthesia. So they gave him something to help with the nausea but it was still a rough few hours waiting for it to be all out of his system. And then I inadvertently made thing worse. I was so worried that he would be in horrible pain I set my alarm and every 4 hours I was giving him a Percocet. All day and all night. I didn't know that that was making him even MORE nauseated. Oops! I was just concerned with controlling the pain. He decided to stop the Percocet and try just taking Tylenol. That has made a huge difference! He looks better and feels much better. I guess given the choice of less pain control but not throwing up every time he was vertical he chose to stick with Tylenol.

The kids have been so good for me which has been great. Eliza has been a big help and even brought home a bottle of water tonight for Matt from our neighborhood party because, "It's ice cold and dad can have things that are ice cold."

All in all, it's hasn't been too bad. I don't think the pain is too much worse than the sore throats he is used to. Let's cross our fingers our luck holds out! We'll see how the next few days go.

Big thank you to my dad for coming out at the crack of dawn and tending the kids Thursday morning. I don't know what we would have done!

The virus

Birthdays are okay these days, nothing to get too worked up over though. I love having a family dinner and Eliza giving me a home made card. I truly don't understand what people who hit a certain age (cough*their30s*cough) get all excited about. But, that being said, I don't wish for my birthdays to be a nightmare either.

Two weeks ago....Wednesday-ish Jackson was whinier than normal and was running a fever. Plus he was drooling like CRAZY. I thought he must be getting his last molars. But part of me was thinking it was strange since he had never been like that before when teething. He cried and cried that night even with Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Thursday morning when he was screaming I happened to look in his mouth and all I saw was cankers covering his mouth. I was able to get him into the doctor that afternoon. While we were waiting Eliza said that Jackson had never held still for that long. Haha! He was running a temperature around 102. He was so tired and worn out from crying and not sleeping that he just laid on my chest. And the child who can't go anywhere without his binky didn't even want that because it hurt his mouth. The doctor told us he had hand, foot, and mouth disease. It was only in his mouth but that was bad enough. The good news was that it wasn't serious, the bad BAD news was that because it's a virus, there was nothing we could do for it. Just wait it out. He said the sores should only last about 3 or 4 days. So we left the doctor thinking that we were probably already on about day 2 or even 3 of it. I thought we were near the end. Well.....

Jackson cried for 4 days. Seriously. He didn't sleep, he didn't eat, he didn't drink. All he did was cry. I got really worried on Saturday, which was also my birthday. He had only had one wet diaper in more than 24 hours. That is one thing our pediatrician asked us to watch out for. He said dehydration is the main concern with that virus because since it hurts to drink anything, some kids just don't. We took him to Kids Care and the doctor there basically told us what we already knew. He said we could take him to the hospital for some IV fluids or try to give it one more day and see if we can get some more fluids in him. Also he made a mixture of Maalox and Benadryl to swab in Jackson's mouth. That did not go over well at all. It made him scream more.

By this point Matt and I were spent. We were running on no sleep and just didn't know what to do for him. THANKFULLY he slept a little better that night and then Monday he did even better. By Tuesday he was nearly back to his old self. I never thought I'd be so happy to have our grumpy, gets-into-everything, can't-hold-still child back. I know it was only a week but it felt like it was never going to end. Now his little tantrums and whining seem like nothing.

Despite the awfulness of it all, there were some good things to come out of it. Most importantly is that Eliza didn't catch it. Also Jackson no longer wants a binky all the time, only when he sleeps. And we finally stopped giving him bottles at night since he didn't want anything to do with one for a week. Now we just have to get him to drink more than 2 tablespoons of milk during the day.

So, not the best birthday I've ever had but I'm just glad it's over. We're SO happy to have the old Jackson back!