A Holly Sickly Christmas

The only mess I'm ever happy to see is the inevitable one made on Christmas morning. 

Holidays are always a busy time of year, but this was by far the most hectic, least relaxing Christmas "break" that I've ever experienced.  It started pretty well with Dominic's school Christmas party the day he got out for his Christmas break.  I got to go, which was fun!  We all had been sick with a cold or multiple colds throughout the month of December.  Then before I could get all of my Christmas shopping done, I decided to take Dominic into the doctor on the 22nd.  It was like deja vu from our ordeal in urgent care at Thanksgiving.  Dominic hadn't been napping well, and I wanted to find out if he had an ear infection before the holidays.  I almost didn't go this time but decided to do it just in case.  My sister Stephanie was out of school and came along to help with the boys.  Thank God I did because Dominic did have an ear infection.  The doctor also checked Blake's ears but he was all clear.  

After a day on antibiotics, Dominic was feeling and acting much better, but then Blake got very sick.  We went out to dinner with my parents and Stephanie the next night and Blake started bawling at dinner (not just fussing).  This is very unlike him.  I felt his head and he was burning up, so we left dinner early to find out that Blake had a fever of over 103.  We gave him Ibuprofen which seemed to help a lot and then he went to bed.    The next day he still had a fever and threw up a couple of times too.  

Sunday night (the 23rd) was the anniversary of when Brian and I got engaged, so he and I went out to dinner while Stephanie watched the boys.  The dinner was a lot of fun, but of course I worried about Blake the entire time.  When we got home, Blake threw up again and then upon taking his temperature we found out that he had a fever of over 104, which was alarming.  We called the emergency number for our pediatrician's office and got a call back from him immediately.  Dr. Smith is a family friend and Brian's parents' neighbor, so he told us to take Blake to Brian's parents' house the following morning, so Dr. Smith could check Blake out.  If the fever got any higher, we would most likely have to take him to the Emergency Room.  I was terrified for Blake.  I've honestly never seen my baby boy like that.  He was so miserable and barely smiled, which is completely unlike him. 

So on Christmas Eve morning, Stephanie watched Dominic at home, which he LOVED because he hadn't been getting very much attention in the last couple of days while Blake was so sick, and Brian and I took Blake over to see Dr. Smith at Brian's parents'.  Thank God for having such a great pediatrician who is also a friend of the family!  Despite having received a flu shot and booster, Dr. Smith told us it could be the flu, but also gave him some antibiotics because his cough sounded bad.  Merry Christmas, Blake.  Here's the flu.  

This certainly put a damper on our Christmas Eve plans.  Our typical tradition is that we go to Christmas Eve dinner at Brian's parents' house since that night is a bigger deal to them, and then go to Christmas dinner at my parents' house on Christmas night since Christmas day is a bigger deal to my family.  I ended up taking Dominic to Christmas Eve mass with Stephanie, while Brian stayed at home with Blake.  Then as soon as we got home, Brian took Dominic to his parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner.  With Brian's sister Christina (Blake's godmother) and her husband Tom in town from Washington, DC, it was important to be there.  Brian and Dominic didn't get to stay long there because Blake had his biggest throwing up incident to date.  

The favorite gift from Santa!

Another favorite!  This one from Uncle Tom and Aunt Christina

Christmas Day was much better as Blake seemed better (not even close to a 100% but better), and the boys enjoyed all of their presents.  Since the boys play with each other's toys, we decided to primarily do communal gifts to both boys this year instead of individual presents.  This worked out well as the boys are at a stage where they actually are playing well together.  The boys loved their new toys.  I think the favorite gift has been the car ramp Santa brought.  Our family room looked like 2 little tornadoes rampaged the room.  The only mess I'm ever happy to see is the inevitable one made on Christmas morning. :)   Now with so many new toys, we're still in the process of reorganizing and trying to make enough room for all of the toys.  We ended up deciding at the last minute to all go to my parents' for Christmas dinner since Blake was feeling better.  He ended up gagging on the antibiotics and throwing up over there but otherwise was okay most of the night until the end when he got extremely fussy.  

The day after Christmas continued our holiday craziness by having more family gatherings.  Blake was still not himself, smiling very little throughout the day but getting better.  Brian took the day off from work at my urging since we didn't get to see much if any of Brian's family on Christmas Eve and we spent the late morning with them.  Then that evening we went over to my brother Chris's house for a huge family gathering which included my family from Texas, Washington, D.C., and Tennessee in addition to Chris's fiancee Carrie's family from South Carolina and Peachtree City.  It was a huge crowd and by the time we left - with Blake screaming, it was WAY passed his bedtime.  The next couple of days we spent more time with our families as Blake continued to recover, Brian had to go back to work, and then we celebrated New Years.  Brian and I went to my brother's NYE party and had fun, while Brian's parents were nice enough to babysit the boys (who were of course asleep in their cribs at midnight). Combined with our irregular schedules, and we didn't have the most restful or relaxing few days, but we enjoyed getting to see our families.  

On the bright side, we had a merry Christmas, many celebrations with our families, no trips to the ER, and even while so horribly sick, Blake somehow managed to sleep through the night the entire time!  Aside from the sickness and rushing around, one of my favorite parts was that Dominic was finally old enough to be really into the whole Santa thing this year, and I was into it too!  Dominic and I looked out the window Christmas Eve for Santa and his reindeer, but he couldn't see them. :)  I loved Christmas as a kid, but I have to say that the holiday is even more fun as a parent than it was as a kid. Next year, it will be even more fun with both boys being more into Santa.  I can't wait for a hopefully healthy, Santa-filled Christmas next year!