Will it ever end?

It seems to never end around here- sickness, illness, infections, viruses. . . Enough is enough! When will it all end? Since moving to Price we have had strep throat (some of us had it twice), the flu, Rotavirus, infected toe. That makes two trips to the ER, seven doctors visits, and one well-baby check up! I am sure glad we have good health insurance! Our insurance is probably thinking 'what is wrong with this family?'!!

Last week I took Caleb to the doctor. He had diareah for 10 days and no signs of getting better. The doctor said it was a nasty virus--close to the Rotavirus. Diarrhea could last up to two weeks. We were worried about Caleb being dehydrated and put him on strict BRAT (banana, rice, applesauce, toast) diet with lots of liquids. Not to mention taking him off all dairy and introducing him to soy milk. Luckily he loved the soy milk and drank it better than whole milk--go figure?! Anyway, Caleb is now slowly being introduced back into other foods and seems to be feeling a little better: minus the four teeth coming in and a nasty runny nose and cough that has just started as well!! Ahhhhh!!


On Friday night we noticed Mara's toe was bright red with an infection. She hasn't complained much about it and we don’t know what happened, whether she got a cut or how she hurt it. We've been soaking it in hot water and Epson salt and putting Neosporin on. Last night after soaking her toe again we noticed that it was worse. Instead of being red it was almost purple and completely swollen. We called the nurse and she recommended taking her to the ER ASAP! Mara was already in bed half asleep. Nate and I wondered if whether or not she could wait until morning, but we worried that the infection could spread, get worse and she could possibly lose her toe. So we decided it would be better to be safe than sorry and headed at 8:30 to the ER. We waited and waited and waited. It was a full house! There was only one seat available in the waiting room when we arrived. Mara sat on my lap and we watched the Olympic Ice-skating, read stories, colored, watched all the sick people in the ER and hoped we didn't get what they had....and we continued to wait. Mara finally fell asleep on my lap and I sat cuddling my little girl hoping and praying her little toe would be healed. We finally made it back to see the doctor and he said it was a good idea to bring her in. He gave her four syringes of antibiotics and one pain killer and sent us home with a prescription for the next 10 days to fight off the infection. Three hours later we headed out in the cold of night to go back home and made it in bed at 12:00am!!
This picture does not to justice for Mara's little toe--the middle one is the one that has the infection and although it doesn't look too bad trust me: it looked terrible! I thought Mara was going to have her toe cut off last night. My poor little sweetie--so tired. Notice her sticker: My ER rocks. Ya right! I was NOT impressed with the ER and hope we do not find ourselves back for a long, long time!

On a lighter note:

So it doesn't sound like I'm complaining let me say I am grateful for moments like this that remind me that life is meant to be joyful!

Yesterday Mara was helping me clean the house. While I did the dishes she vacuumed the living room. She loves to vacuum and I love her help! I was standing there by the sink washing away when I hear the vacuum stop, followed by giggles and laughter. Then the vacuum starts again and a minute later it stops followed by more giggles and laughter. This happened several times! I peaked my head in to see what was going on and grabbed my camera to see if I could get it on video but I was too late. The fun had ended! What was happening was Caleb would pull the chord out of the wall and the vacuum would stop. They thought this was so funny and Mara would put it back in and start vacuuming again and Caleb would take the chord out of the wall again! (I know--safetly hazard right?! Ya, but it was pretty darn cute to hear the two children laughing together over such a silly thing!) I was happy that Mara didn't get mad at Caleb and instead laughed about it! I think it would have tried my patience and I would have been holing him and trying to vacuum at the same time! Mara was a good example to me on finding laughter instead of getting annoyed or upset!