Sick and tired

We have had two sick, pitiful, miserable little boys on our hands for the past few days. Lord, I hope this isn't a sign of things to come this fall and winter! It has been ROUGH.

It all started on Wednesday morning when Grant wouldn't eat his breakfast. It was so out of character (seriously, these kids EAT) that I said to Ryan that I hoped he wasn't getting sick. And sure enough... Susan called me after I had only been at work for a couple of hours and said Grant had spiked a fever of over 102. My mom met me halfway with him and I took him to our new doctor's office that afternoon.

I had one of those "Holy crap, I really am a MOM" moments on the way to the doctor. I was watching Grant in the rear-view mirror and I could tell from the way he was acting that he was about to throw up. So I whipped the car into a gas station just as he started puking, flung open his door, and attempted to catch the throw-up with my hands. I don't know why that's always my first instinct, but it really never turns out well for me! I took him out of the carseat, sat down on the curb in my work clothes, stripped him naked, and attempted to clean him off as best I could with baby wipes. Thankfully I had a change of clothes in the diaper bag and a vacant carseat that I could put him back into.

We were at the doctor's office for over two hours while they did a strep test and a CBC (oh, and Grant puked on me--and in the sink in the exam room--again), only to hear the same frustrating, there's-nothing-we-can-about-it diagnosis we've gotten every other time: a virus. (I've since decided it was hand, foot and mouth disease. They both have been acting like their mouths were bothering them, and they got a rash on their hands and feet that has turned into a few little blisters for Grant... we'll see what happens with Reid).

Here Grant is with his daddy, who stayed home with him on Thursday before flying to Philadelphia that evening:

And here are the boys after Ryan had left for the airport... at least they had their horses to distract them for a few minutes. (Yes, Grant finally rides his!)
 

By Friday evening Grant seemed to be doing better--or at least was fever-free--but by this point it was pretty obvious that Reid wasn't feeling so hot either. Ryan didn't get home until 9 so I was alone for the bath and bedtime routine, which typically isn't a big deal anymore, but WOW they were cranky.

On Saturday morning I could tell before I even got Reid out of bed that he was running fever -- pink cheeks and sad, pitiful eyes.

Uncle Bret came over on Saturday to keep Ryan and the boys company while Mom, Memaw, Steph, Morgan and I went wedding dress shopping with Randi Kay for a few hours. Afterward Mom and Morgan (who is home from Disney World this weekend for a quick visit) hung out for a couple of hours to try to cheer them up but nothing worked. I even took them on a looooong wagon ride, which is usually a cure-all, but even that ended in tears (theirs, not mine--though I wanted to!)  

This morning we basically just tried to survive. The Elmo singalong was on repeat in the DVD player, which helped a little, but for the most part there was nonstop whining, crying and whimpering all day long. 

After naptime we headed to Honey's to celebrate Bret's birthday and the fact that Morgan's in town, and even that didn't make them happy. Basically the only respite we got all weekend was a 45-minute ride on Papaw's ATV, which the boys LOVED. Ryan drove it around the subdivision and through the pasture, and they were so happy. We got up close and personal with some horses and cows and the boys were thrilled, moo-ing and neigh-ing the whole time. 

Then, just before dinner, to top off our fabulous weekend (ha)--the left side of Grant's face broke out in terrible hives. We quickly doped him up on some Benadryl and they faded in 30 minutes or so, but for those 30 minutes he was the most pitiful thing I'd ever seen. We have no idea where it came from. I'm not sure if it was being around the hay in the pasture, the bug spray, or playing with Smokey and then rubbing his eyes.  

Anyway, this has been a whole lot of words to basically say that I could not be happier to have these past several days behind us. I am praying that tomorrow finds us all fever-free and officially on the mend... and also praying that all these sick-bugs will start getting fewer and farther between. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired; I HATE when these babies don't feel good!!!