Mo babies, mo problems.

TWO THOUSAND TWELVE IS HERE!! WOO HOO!!

Oh, wait. It’s been here for a couple weeks now.We’ve just been too busy to pay attention.  The kids have been sick since Christmas.  Seriously.

The children have been trading illnesses in what appears to be a game of virus tag.  Considering there’s only two of them, the back and forth is pretty constant (not that I’m volunteering to get into the mix! I’ll gladly stay healthy!).  Seriously – I don’t know how families with more than two kids EVER have a healthy winter!  The latest tag back smacked Gussy pretty hard as he is currently fighting pneumonia and an ear infection.  Boo. Hiss.

So.  2012 has been plagued by illness thus far, but who wants to hear about snot and phlegm??  Not me.  I’ve had my fill.  Between the coughing and fevers and tears there have been some shining moments, too.  So let’s focus on those!  One new and exciting development in the family is THIS:

I spy with my little eye . . . something PINK and SPARKLY!

That’s right. We maimed our kid.  But all in the name of  culturally imposed gender norms. So it’s totally cool.  Seriously, though, Nola’s been talking about ear piercing for a while.  She’s also been talking about owning a unicorn, though, so Nola’s interest alone wasn’t the deciding factor.  We figured she’d likely get her ears pierced at some point, and if she decides she hates them later in life, she can just let ‘em close up – a la mama’s nose ring (hopefully Nola’s rebel phase is as short-lived as my own).  Anyway – there was some minor convincing involved when it was go time and I almost thought we’d call it quits once she sat up on the chair (I was prepared to offer ice cream to encourage Nola’s choice to go through with it, but I drew the line at anything that might result in PTSD).  But, much to my surprise and delight, Nola sat on the chair stoic and calm, and confidently declared, “I’m gonna be brave about the hurty part.” And brave she was, indeed! She didn’t even make a peep when they pierced through her tiny little lobes! I couldn’t believe it!  She was thrilled with the results and we’ve been playing “ear piercing store” almost non-stop for the past 2 weeks.

The other big news in the family is that Gussy is now helmet-free!!  Booya!  All in all the helmet turned out to be a pretty short-lived and totally bearable experience and Gussy’s once lopsided melon now seems to be growing right on track. If you care to follow the back story on the Gussydome you can find it here, here, and here.  This is one of Guster’s last pictures in his helmet, and while I think he looks all sorts of adorable, I am more than happy to have that blue contraption in the basement and my baby’s sweet, soft head resting on my chest!

The helmet came off Tuesday and by Wednesday morning, Gus decided he simply couldn’t live without another piece of durable medical equipment.  One trip to the Children’s ER*, one chest xray, two breathing treatments, and one pneumonia diagnosis later, and Gus got his wish. A shiny new nebulizer** to fill the void left by his helmet.

*Riverside has a separate ER for kids and, as someone who once waited in an ER with a bloody toddler while several seemingly FINE and decidedly NOT bloody adults were called ahead of us, I am totally on board with the kids-only emergency  department.

**Fact: An infant using a nebulizer is a pitiful sight.  Fact:  As pitiful as my kiddo was, he is a healthy kid who is strong enough to weather this illness while so many other children are not.  We are so blessed to have such a healthy family and I feel really lucky that our medical misadventures so far have been relatively minor.

All this illness around the house has meant SEVERAL days off of work for me. And a lot of things have piled up. So. I’m signing off for now and heading into work. Yes – ON A SATURDAY. Put that in your government workers are lazy pipe and smoke it

Here’s to a healthier week ahead.

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