Oskar Demonstrates the Importance of Nap Time

After weeks of illness I am thrilled to announce that we are ALL happy and healthy. We were viciously attacked by the flu just after Christmas. It just so happens that Oskar was the only one who got the flu shot and he is the one who brought this plague upon us and brought us all down. It is incredible to me how much the flu hurts. I've had it twice in my life and thankfully this time wasn't as bad as last time, but it was still absolutely awful. After the flu past we each had lingering issues and illnesses, however.

Oskar kept waking up with his eyes sealed shut from eye goop. I'm not going to apologize for how gross this is because none of you had to deal with the clean up. He had no other signs of pink eye so we waited a bit to take him in. We went in and discovered that, long story short, all his mucus was draining through his eyes while he was sleeping. Penicillin worked its magic and Oskar is good to go.

Dan had a cough that was doing nothing but just wouldn't quit. After about 5 days it was just gone. I was left with a terrible sinus infection. It actually made my teeth hurt. That was a new experience for me. After powering through bronchitis in November and December, and having gotten through the flu, I was fed up with powering through. Thank you Z-pack. I love you. Then earlier this week my stomach was attached with metaphorical knives. This hasn't happened since college and its return was quite unwelcome.

It seems I've been sick since moving here. It is beyond annoying. We are lucky though that we have jobs and schedules that allow us to be sick and heal at our own pace. So so so lucky.

A couple days ago we decided to go to Costco. This is not a rare occurrence. We enjoyed a lunch while there ($8 for the whole family, and that's only because Dan got a fancy sandwich) and we were super pleased with how well Oskar ate his food. We were going to pick up a couple things at Target, but Oskar fell asleep in the car so we thought we would bring him home so he could get a good nap. The transfer to his bed was successful, but about 10 minutes later he was giggling and singing. The day carried on and he fell asleep on the couch at 5:00 for a couple hours. No big deal, these things happen. What ruined everything was that Oskar was on antibiotics which need to be taken with food. He woke up and ate a bit and we put his medicine in his milk... and then forgot about it. Oskar woke in the night saying he wanted his milk (that he hadn't finished). I was exhausted so I got it out of the fridge and gave it to him and he fell asleep. A while later he was crying in his sleep. Dan went in and noticed that he had moved down to the middle of the bed. This was weird. Never happened before. Dan put him back and went to bed. Couple hours later- my turn. I pick him up,cuddle with him and watch a movie. He smelled a little weird, but again, I was exhausted and it was just a weird-ish milk smell. That's not new. At the end of the movie he reached for his cup again and drank some and fell asleep. I investigate my assumptions.

Sure enough- vomit all over his bed, that his father unknowingly placed him into when he moved him back up the bed. I had noticed his PJs were wet when I picked him up. I thought it was pee so I changed him and didn't think about it until I kept smelly his funky head. I threw the laundry in the washer and it clicks- the milk must have been weird! I'm rinsing out his cup, in which the medicine had turned the milk an exceptionally weird color. And what's that I hear? A vomitty Oskar on the couch. For never throwing up when he was little he sure is making up for it now. I call in reinforcements. Dan, who is disoriented at best when woken suddenly from sleep, pulls it together and helps. Oye. I love how this second episode was minutes after I had started the laundry too. Too late to add it in.

In spite off all illness, the holidays were a win. We were able to see many family members and I ate a lot of puppy chow.

I'm not sure how many of you know, but I am the Handbell Musicians of America Area 7 Publications Manager. Pretty much it means that I put a newsletter together 4 times a year. After this current issue, I will have *successfully* completed a year of newsletters. I say successfully with stars because while the year will have been completed, I don't think the people who read it know that I really don't know what I'm doing. I mean, I try, and I'm generally happy with the outcome, but it's really a guess and check process. I feel like there is a level of deception here, like I'm tricking people into thinking I have experience that warrants this responsibility. I don't. I went to school to design buildings and research cultures. And they won't even let me do those things...

We had a sparky outlet incident in our kitchen when we unplugged our popcorn popper the other day. I'm afraid to replace the outlet because I don't know what I will find in there that may have caused this. It's probably nothing, but I remain hesitant.

I hope you are all enjoying your start to the new year! And that you are and remain healthier than we have been.