It all started last week...

Kieran woke up last Tueday around midnight with a horrible cough and a high fever. We gave him some medicine and sat in the hot bathroom with the shower running trying to help him feel better. We called the doctor's office and talked to the nurses line--those are the people you get when you call after hours-I don't really know why we call because they tell us the same thing--take your child to the ER! The nurse thought Kieran's breathing sounded bad enough to be seen. So, off to Children's Hospital I go with him. Chuck stayed home with Kiptyn--who was happily sleeping through the night, oblivious to his surroundings!

The nice ER doc told us Kieran had a bad case of the croup--which he has had before--and they gave him a dose of oral steroids and said he should be better in a couple of days. We got home at 3 a.m. and Kieran was already feeling better from the medicine.

Friday came, Kieran was still running a fever, took him to see our doctor and he prescribed 3 more days of oral steroids. By Sunday, he was much much better--but mommy was exhausted because the medicine REALLY messed up Kieran's sleep! So, all was on the mend at our house, until 5:30 a.m. Monday morning...

Kiptyn woke up with a high fever and not happy!! I gave him tylenol throughout the day and held him--that's the only way he would sleep. He started vomiting at 3 p.m. so I called the doctor's office. The nurse told me what to do and call back in the morning if he still had a fever. Needless to say, Kiptyn and I didn't get much sleep Monday night--the poor little guy felt miserable! Off to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon.

The doc looks him over and confirms he has an ear infection---ugg!! So, back to the pharmacy for more medicine--different child this time though. So, we now have a bottle of the pink medicine in our fridge--you know the kind you took when you were a kid and it actually tasted good?! Well, Kiptyn doesn't think so! It takes two of us to give him his medicine.

So, here we are on Wednesday and we seem to be on the road to health again. The sun is shining today (finally!) and we all got some sleep last night. Kiptyn is smiling again and that can make anybody's day better! Overall, I'm thankful that it's just nasty cold stuff and not something worse--Spring is around the corner--and I can't wait for it to get here!!!

A few of the necessities at our house recently (for mommy and sons):

This pretty much explains it all:
I'm sure by next week, I'll have a much happier picture to share with you!