On the mend...

Well, we've had a rough last couple weeks with all of us getting sick! First, Steve and Austin got a little cold. It passed quickly and I got it after them. Right as I was getting better from that cold, I started getting a bad sore throat and another cold with a cough. I got worse and worse throughout the week, while Austin started having trouble with gastroenteritis and was having diarrhea and throwing up all over daddy and the floor. One night, we had 3 pajama changes and 2 full bed changes overnight due to massive diarrhea. My poor baby!

He got over the vomiting within a day, though. In fact, on Wednesday (3/25), the day started with Austin throwing up all over daddy 4 times in rapid succession....and ended with Austin climbing into the pantry to retrieve the Oh's cereal and then sitting on the floor in the kitchen happily munching away.

Unfortunately, Steve got the lower GI part of it for about a day in there, too. While they were fighting off the GI bug, my cough and sore throat got much much worse. I was coughing so badly, I would end up on the floor gagging and gasping for air. Despite cough drops, NyQuil and cough syrup with codeine all combined, I couldn't stop coughing long enough to fall asleep and ended up sitting up all night on the couch so Steve could sleep in our bed. Amidst this horrible cough, I was lucky enough to get Austin's gastroenteritis too! I lost 6 pounds in one day! I spent the weekend pretty sick and had to call in sick on Monday. Oh, we were all miserable!

Austin then started to get my cold symptoms and I took him in to clinic to peek in his ears after getting home on Wednesday (4/1) since he had been complaining that his ears hurt. Allison was very sweet and helped me out by peeking in his ears...and sure enough, he had an ear infection too. He's now on a 5 day course of amoxicillin. Despite the fact that he loved his Augmentin in the past when he had periorbital cellulitis (and Augmentin is amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid), and amoxicillin tastes better than Augmentin, he refused the amoxicillin. The first attempt at giving it to him, he screamed and spit the medication back in my face. After that, I got him to take it by offering him chocolate milk in the medication syringe without the medication in there, and then adding some chocolate milk to the medication syringe with the medication. Now, with a little bit of coaxing, we can get him to take it (only with chocolate milk mixed in, of course!).

Now, we are quite happy to be all on the mend and feeling much better. We have been taking advantage of the somewhat spring like weather and going to the park to play when I get home from work. Austin is as rambunctious as ever and just loves to be outside. We can't wait for the warmer spring weather to arrive.

As is no surprise, Nanny remains Austin's favorite person on earth! He occasionally picks up the phone and states, "I call nanny." and starts pushing buttons. Here he is talking to Nanny on the phone.
And when Nanny came down for a day to play this past week so Steve could go to work, they built a fort out of kitchen chairs, his bedrail, and the quilt on his bed. He thought it was pretty cool and had fun reading his Curious George book and using his flashlight in the dark of the tent.

Today, I had the day off. As the April 15 tax deadline is rapidly approaching and I was home for the day, it was a good time for Steve to go into the office to get work done without Austin and I to distract him. Austin and I had a fun day at home together. We decided that all the tax accountants were probably getting tired right before tax deadline and could use some treats on a Saturday at work, so Austin and I made cookies for them. We had lots of fun and made a big mess!

Yes! I get to use the mixer!
Gotta get it all off the sides of the bowl, Mommy!
Then the best part...licking the beaters!

One of Austin's favorite new things is playing with a bunch of plastic spoons he found in the pantry a couple weeks ago while I was making the dinner for Nanny's birthday. He now likes to spread them out all over the kitchen floor, then gather as many in each hand as he can hold, and throw them up in the air to hear them clatter down on the limestone tile. This kept him entertained while the cookies were baking and mommy was cleaning up the bowls and pans. (And yes, he did have a change in wardrobe since the baking pictures, because the first shirt got soaking wet when he pulled a bowl full of water out of the sink and poured it all over himself).
Austin also now has another new game that he thinks is so hilarious that he cracked himself up at the dinner table tonight just thinking about it. He will ask mommy or daddy to feed him a bite of food that he has put on his fork, then when you get it near his mouth, he grins, turns his head away, and yells "Yop!" We're not exactly sure where that came from or what that's about, but that's his new thing. It's sometimes kinda cute, but usually quite annoying as we're trying to coax him to eat his dinner.

After making cookies, we went to Daddy's office to bring everybody the treats! We made chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal butterscotch chip cookies (aka oatmeal scotchies). They were really yummy. We got back, had some lunch, then Austin took almost a 2 hour nap...beautiful! We spent the rest of the afternoon playing downstairs in the playroom and having lots of fun. Here are some pictures of our playtime today...

Coloring...
right handed?

Or left handed?

What do you think, Mommy?

Playing piano...

Running around the playroom...

Austin likes to sit on the bottom of the stairs, wait for me to say "I'm gonna get you!", then giggle and run toward me,
until I catch him and tickle him and he collapses in a heap of giggles. He then jumps up, declares "Again!" and positions himself on the edge of the stairs again.

He also likes to spin himself around in circles or run in circles...
Until he falls down dizzy...
Wish I could snag some of that extra energy!

We're very excited for Easter next weekend! Steve will head into work on Saturday, then we'll pop up to Nanny and Grandpa's house, have a yummy dinner at Grandpa's golf club with the family, then get ready for Easter morning! I think Austin will have fun with Easter treats and an egg hunt this year. On Sunday, we'll head over to Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Tim's house for our big family gathering. It's been a long time since we've seen some of the cousins, so it will be great! They wont' believe how big Austin has gotten and how talkative and rambunctious he is.

A blessed Easter to all of you as we celebrate the risen Christ and the hope that Easter brings!

To quote Veggie Tales Easter Carol...

"There is nothing left to fear
Nothing, Heaven knows
For He died for us to give us life
And to give us hope, He rose."