It has finally come to an end! Amy will be returning home tonight! Granted, her flight gets in at around 10:30-ish... and then she has about an hour drive to get here, and she's only had about 4 hours of sleep in the last 36... Well, she may get here tomorrow... by a few minutes.
All last month I'd been trying to get together with a fellow stay-at-home-dad in the same area. We met at the Botanical Gardens, but we've been too busy to really let our kids (both girls around the same age) have any play dates together. Last week it was icing, so we cancelled. This week, well...
Addy has been having a runny nose for a few days now, ever since the storms hit on Tuesday. I figured it was part of teething or the cold weather. Yesterday they didn't let up, but I wasn't too concerned. But this morning it was a little worse, and she was even warmer. Since she's not been getting better, I figured it was time to go to the doctor's. OK, my wife suggested it, but I would have gotten around to it!
Addy was good in the car to the doctor's. She was running around the waiting room, playing hide-and-seek with herself in the mirror and exploring the bathroom. But the moment the nurse practitioner opened the door, she screamed and ran to me. She threw her arms around me tightly and would NOT let go, even for them to take her weight. I guess she remembers those shots...
I was able to calm her down with the doctor came in to see us and she was mostly fine from then on, but the doc gave us less-than-pleasant news. It turns out that, yes, Addy is bona fide sick. RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) is apparently going around, and Addy got it. To us adults, it's like a cold. To her, it's a bad cold that might last a couple of weeks! And to top it off, both of her ears have ear infections. She probably got it from the play ground we went to on Monday. I hope everyone there is alright. Of course, I probably have it too, and now I'm convinced I have ear sympathy pains.
So now I know why she hasn't been sleeping so well and has been fussier than normal. I get the antibiotics and saline nose spray, run a few chores, and then head home. I dont' want to be out in the cold for very long with a sick toddler! This means that I will instead be homebound all day with a sick toddler. Joy of joys.
Did you catch that sarcasm? Cause I was laying it on pretty thick right there.
I was hoping that the antibiotic would put her to sleep, but it seems to be made out of red bull and fairy dust. After a rather normal, albeit late, lunch, she was bouncing off the walls. Normally she's out pretty fast, especially when I rock with her and sing. This time, she was more interested in tickling my arm, pulling on my facial hair, swinging any limbs that she could, twisting in circles, reading the same book 10 times, and pointing out that there were no kitties in the room at that moment and there most certainly should be. I finally gave up and put her into her crib at around 2, hoping she'll just calm down and sleep. At 2:30, I realize that the contact complaining from her room is not going to end, and when I walk in she's even more awake than ever. Just... shoot me.
I can hardly describe what it is like to be homebound for the 3rd day with a sleepless, sick toddler while I'm feeling sleepless and sick myself, missing Amy, and starting to feel a mixture of ennui and depression coming on. Thankfully, we were able to have a decent dinner and she seems to have gone down for the night fairly well.
If it seems from these last few posts that Addy is a terrible child or that I am a pessimistic, terrible parent, please realize that this is only what I'm letting you see. She's actually a joy to be around 90% of the time... ok, 80%. I also know things could easily get much worse... for instance, I only have one child. One of my facebook friends was talking about having to deal with 3 and a puppy, with biting, vomit, and other unpleasantries all around. I am grateful, I really am. But I also really cannot wait to see my wife and get some me time again.
PS - I mentioned vomit again. Let's see if this boosts my page views.
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