A virus that won't quit and sleepless nights

Maddox first got sick on Friday, October 11th. Liam came down with the same virus on Thursday, October 17th. Here we are one week and one day from the day Liam got sick and Liam is STILL sick. We have been to the doctor. He is having difficulty breathing, so we have an inhaler and pregnizone to contend with. He is doing well taking the inhaler, but is quite resistant to any liquid medicine at this point. I really, really, really just want him to feel better,

Thankfully, Liam has continued sleeping through the night, despite being sick. Maddox did not and it took him a while to recover from waking up at night. Last night, he finally slept through the night again.

In comes Puggie, who did not sleep through the night. I was up with Puggie for over 2 hours. He was restless and in turn being quite loud, and I could not fall back to sleep.

For those who do not know, we vowed that we would never have a dog who slept in our bed. It is just not for us. Puggie was crate trained right from when he came home with us in 2005. Cut to February 2013. Suddenly, Puggie started crying in the middle of the night. And by crying, I mean a high pitched, crazy screaming dog cry. He essentially was saying, "If you do not come and get me, I will make sure I wake up Maddox and Liam." And after about a week of that, we then had a dog who shared our bed with us.

He is a bed hog. He takes up a ridiculous amount of room for a 23 pound dog in a king size bed. He can have restless nights from time to time. Perhaps it is his allergies, perhaps it is just old age.

So to sum things up, Liam is still sick and I have not had a good nights sleep since October 10th. I find myself being very snippy and woe is me when I do not get enough sleep. Please hang in there with me and offer any bit of encouragement that you can. This Mama is tired.

I am slipping

I am slowly (or quickly), slipping into a woe is me mentality.

I am exhausted.

I have not slept a good nights sleep since Friday, October 12th. The boys have been both been sick throughout that time, resulting in late night wake ups, snuggle sessions, steam bathroom sessions, and pretty much once I am UP, I am doomed for the night.

We have had a few doctor visits, today's resulting in another "scary" parenting moment, when it was discovered Liam was having trouble breathing. A neb treatment later, he is doing better.

We have had car issues. Like so many... like one where I was essentially stranded at the preschool waiting on Joe.

We have had house issues. Like new windows to be installed. Like a ceiling exhaust fan that completely crapped out. And tonight, the discovery of a leak?? around the AC vent in Liam's room.

The boy's have been difficult. Difficult may not even begin to cover it. First we had about 9 days of downpour rain and they have also been sick, so we have been pretty confined to the indoors. Our boys are not indoor boys, like not even close.

I have begun to use the word "like" like I did in high school. Clearly, I am exhausted.

We have love though. We have an amazing support system. We have 2 beautiful boys, who bring us endless happiness. We have apple crisp, because Maddox and I made some, and hey, what can't be cured with a little Fall baking.

Tomorrow is a new day. Liam has some medication now and Maddox is completely over being sick. Maddox still feels the need to be waking up in the middle of the night. I am guessing because he loves me soooo very much and wants to be with me. :-)

I will not slip. I will not be woe is me. We have way too much to be thankful for to become bitter over little stuff like this.

That's all. I just needed to work through all that night. #carryon

Scariest moment yet

At 10:28 this morning I experienced one of my scariest moments of motherhood yet.

We were enjoying some playtime outside. Liam was going up and down the slide and Maddox had set up a construction site behind my chair using part of the grass and part of the patio for his trucks and cones. I was drinking coffee, admiring the sunshine, that we had not seen in nearly a week, what with the buckets of rain mother nature had dumped down on us. I had even just 'Instagrammed" a picture showing the blue skies.

So there is the scene. One son directly in front of me, sliding joyously. The other son, working so hard on his construction site. I turn to ask him how it was coming along, and he was not there. An empty spot in the middle of his site, where he had just been playing. 

Seriously, I think I threw up a little. I jumped up. Screaming for him. I ran to the front of our house and ran around the entire way, making my way to the back of the house again, repeatedly, screaming his name "MADDOX" at the top of my lungs, in shear panic. Checked behind the garage. No Maddox. Suddenly realized, I had left Liam ALONE in the backyard, made my way to him and grabbed him from the slide, STILL screaming Maddox's name and "HELP", pressing the number "9" on my phone, preparing to make what was going to be the worst phone call of my life, to report my 3 year old son missing, the back door opened and out came Maddox, saying "I had to go pee." 

I cried, he cried. We talked about how he needs to tell me when he is going inside. I told him how scared I was. How thankful I was that he was sitting with me the chair. He cried some more. I shook for nearly 30 minutes. Even writing this now, I am shaking. 

We have nice neighbors. We all cordially say "hello". Ask about each others kids. Let each other know when we are heading out of town. No one... no one... checked on us. A midst my screams (and running around our yard like a crazy woman), which our many elderly neighbors I am sure did not hear, but others had to have heard, no one checked on us. I would like to believe everyone was at work... 

I hope I never experience that fear again.