And Then There Were 3: I’m SOOOOOOOO tired of SNOT!!!!

Where in the world is spring and where in the world is my can of Lysol?

The last few weeks have been seriously rough at our house! First, Evan had a nasty cough/snotty nose and what do you know?? 2 days later Jacob wakes up in the middle of the night with a 103 fever. BOOOO! That was a solid 3 days of no sleep for mama and Jacob. Did I mention he was also cutting 3 teeth at the same time? Poor little peanut was absolutely miserable. I will say though that I am fortunate my children like taking medicine so we had a nice routine of Benadryl, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, repeat. Unfortunately I had the pleasure of catching it as well…severe migraines, snotty nose, and a 3 day sore throat…BLEH!

We cut it close with family pictures on Saturday and made the trip to Earlham for Pam to take our pics. It was a pretty good trip down. The trip was 1hr 10 min and the van was packed! It was Adam and I, all 3 boys and our friend Sarah. Braden rode all the way in a vertical car seat and did awesome! We had to make one emergency stop for Evan at the Hickman Rd exit due to one 3 year old kicking and crying “I HAVE TO PEEEEEEEE!!!!!” We also had to convince him that he could NOT pee in the grass OUTSIDE the gas station and that he had to go inside with daddy. Braden, not to be left out, threw a hissy fit then so I took him out and suctioned him and vented his belly (should have seen this as a warning sign for what was to come…more on this later). Then we all got back in the van and headed to Pam’s.

The picture taking was great! The boys cooperated for the most part. Jacob never smiled and most of his pics are of him eating puffs to keep him sitting in one position (they are actually quite cute) and Evan hammed it up like no other. Not to be too uneventful, in Byersdorfer fashion, Evan climbed a bar stool and I told him to get down before he hurt himself and as I turned to tend to Jacob I see out the corner of my eye, Evan face planting on the floor. (Palm to forehead for his mom…should have seen that one coming) Luckily no head injuries, black eyes, etc. but after that we called it a wrap which was probably good since the boys were all rubbing their eyes and sucking thumbs. At one point Evan and Jacob wanted to be held at the same time so I was holding them both and next thing I know, Jacob body checks Evan and tries to knock him out of my arms. Jealous much???

Anyway the pics turned out great (http://photographicsbypam.smugmug.com/Children/Brothers/16463634_QPQjv#1238771651_a2SiE) and I can’t say it enough WE LOVE YOU PAM!!! The ride home was uneventful as all 3 boys took a much needed snooze so that was nice.

That night Evan and Daddy went back to Fairbank and went camping and at 1am Braden decided it was time for him to come down with all the same crud the boys had earlier in the week. I awoke to Braden’s apnea monitor screeching to high heaven, his vent alarming, and his pulse ox going off all while hes throwing a fit, coughing and gagging. Josie (our night nurse) and I changed his trache, suctioned, did a breathing treatment, and kept taking him off his continuous feed to vent his belly. He was so miserable. I think finally at 3 am we got him comfortable enough to nap. Ugh it was rough. And true to form at 4am Jacob was awake (LORD HELP ME!!!) Not to mention we also had a new nurse who had not worked with Braden at 7 am so I was up helping her as he had had an equally rough early morning. I finally broke down and gave him some Benadryl and that seemed to help. Hes been off and on OK the whole week except for yesterday. His secretions are going back and forth between thick/yellowish/white to almost water consistency so its been a battle. This morning he was able to cough up quite a bit of junk (which makes my stomach turn thinking about that visual) and ended up pooping the bed so he felt pretty good after that. This afternoon/evening though we are back to battling keeping his lungs cleared. Hoping we are able to get him over the hump and on the mend so say some extra prayers for Braden that he can beat this nasty bug! Im thinking we need to fumigate our house with a giant Lysol bomb!

This weekend and next week are going to be super busy. This weekend we are planning a trip to Cedar Rapids to see Adam’s grandparents who have never met the boys and then go hang out with Adam’s cousins Blake, Larry and their families, Adam’s parents, and Adam’s brothers and their wives so that should be fun. Sunday we will be staying in Waterloo with my family and visiting with my grandparents and then Monday we will head to Iowa City for Braden’s appointment with Craniofacial, ENT, and have his hearing checked. Wednesday and Thursday Braden will be admitted to Blank Children’s hospital for a sleep study, bronchoscope, and meet with a dietician. Friday we were invited to go to an Easter Egg hunt and cookout at a coworkers house. Saturday is Evan’s 3rd birthday party and VEISHA and then Sunday is Evan’s actual birthday….PHEW! That’s a lot! Hopefully everyone will be feeling better by this point!