The Growing Caldwell Family

Once the thrill of Christmas was over, we realized just how sick Charlie was and that Sarah Graves was sick too. A trip to the doctor confirmed that Charlie had the flu and they felt safe diagnosing Sarah Graves because they are in the same household.    Lots of couch time sleeping and watching TV. These kids love HGTV and Kids Baking Championships! After a couple of days they found the energy to enjoy some of their new Christmas Lego sets.  They are definitely on the mend and feeling close to their usual selves now!

Several weeks ago, I started with the same cough/cold like symptoms that Charlie had back in December.  The cough was miserable and made me feel like I was gasping for air at times, but other than that, I felt okay.  Then, my voice sort of went toward the end of last week.  That was annoying, but still I felt okay.  On Saturday I started having pain when I coughed.  This wasn't good and by Sunday I wasn't feeling too good.  I had a four-year-old birthday party to put on, so I took some motrin and got on with it.  By the time we were cleaning up after the party, I knew I had fever and felt lousy.  I went to bed pretty early and hoped that sleep would help. Monday morning I headed into work with plans to visit the onsite minute clinic after I dropped SG off at school.  I had never visited this clinic before and the woman working there was a nut job.  While in the middle of taking my address she commented that she knew someone on my street...

On Easter Sunday we started Charlie on an antibiotic because his left ear had a discharge for several days and he just didn't seem like himself. His ear continued to have a discharge and he finished the antibiotic on Thursday, so I took him to the doctor on Friday. It turns out that both ears are infected and the left one still has a perforated ear drum. The right ear has so much wax that even after working hard to clean it and Charlie getting so very angry, the doctor could only see 1/3 of the ear drum, but that was enough to tell it is infected. He prescribed amoxicillin and ear drops to help the left ear. We started on the medicine last night. By this afternoon, his cheeks had a splotchy rash and he has been spitting up more than usual. I spoke with the pediatrician on call and she wants us to stop the amoxicillin to determine if it's a reaction to that or something else. Poor little guy is having a time!

Yep, Charlie woke with fever feeling miserable. Aaron took him to the pediatrician and he doesn't have the flu. He has the same sort of virus SG had several weeks ago and then Aaron and I had it. He hates taking Tylenol with a passion and fights wiping his nose just as much. So, he isn't the easiest patient, but he is the sweetest.

Sunday I was congested and by Monday night my ears were hurting pretty bad. Tuesday morning I used our Teladoc benefit and had a three day z pack anabiotic prescribed. Wednesday I felt worse, so Jeanne' came to take SG to school and me to the doctor. The doctor felt I needed a stronger antibiotic so he gave me an anabiotic shot and prescribed amoxicillin on top of the other. Thursday evening I thought I was feeling a bit better and ate dinner with Aaron and the kids and actually managed to take a shower. Friday morning I woke up expecting to feel even better and planned to take SG to school. As I got us ready for school, I realized that I felt awful and it was all that I could do to actually get her there and get home again. Mom offered to come and take me back to the doctor and I gratefully accepted. When the doctor saw me back at first he thought steroids were what I needed to reduce all the inflammation from the infection.. I was pretty upset because he felt the steroids w...

I posted about SG having a yucky virus and then Aaron and I got it and I realized it is a really yucky virus!  Wednesday afternoon I started feeling bad and by the evening I knew I had the virus.  I had a high fever and a blinding headache.  I managed to stay home with the kids while Aaron went to EFM, but was anxious for him to get home because I was pretty much incapacitated.   He started with the virus late Wednesday night and by Thursday morning he asked Mom to come get the kids.  I hate missing even a minute with them, but I knew we couldn't take care of them.  Thursday and Friday passed in a blur as we were both pretty much only able to lie there.  I had a fever over 102 and just felt miserable.  I think all my Emergen C and drinking plenty paid off because by Friday afternoon I was feeling a bit better and willed myself to get up and move around a little.  That seemed to help my headache and by Friday night I was ready for the kids ...

SG has been sick with a yucky virus for 3 days now. She started with a fever on Thursday and we hoped it had left on Saturday, but no such luck. She has a terrible cough and runny nose, too. We went to the pediatrician this morning (thank goodness for Sunday appointments) and she tested negative for strep and the flu. The pediatrician thinks it is likely a different virus a lot of kids are getting that has high fever associated with it. He said it may be a few more days before she is feeling better.

Last week feels like it was a blur.  Sarah Graves was sick Sunday night and still didn't feel great on Monday morning.  Then, Charlie started with some sniffles.  Tuesday afternoon I started feeling like I had a stomachache and by Wednesday morning I knew it was the stomach flu.  Thursday I was feeling better and by early Friday morning Charlie had started with it.  His seems to have done like Sarah Graves where he seemed better Saturday and was sick again early Sunday morning.  I have decided that when you have kids, especially a child that shares your bed, you need guest rooms so that you have extra beds waiting with clean sheets for when the unexpected happens during the night! We had some fun too and I will post about those events soon!

Friday morning, Sarah Graves woke up saying that her bee bo (bellybutton) hurt, but asked for breakfast.  She promptly threw up and I figured we had the stomach virus that so many others have had.  I made arrangements to stay home with her and let her school know she was sick.  Shortly after, she asked for something to eat and I gave her 1 cracker.  I made her wait a little while before she could have more crackers and before I knew it a couple of hours had gone by and she wasn't sick any more and was eating me out of house and home.  I'm still not sure what to make of this strange occurrence and the throwing up came back again Sunday night after we were all in bed... We did have a fun day together just the two of us at home.  In this picture she decided to make her new car seat into her pirate ship!  She was excited by the two cup holders on it and when I told her that one was to hold snacks she replied, "I think I need a snack.  Pirate get hu...

This is our third cold since Thanksgiving. Apparently, Aaron and I have little immunity because we keep getting them right along with SG and Char Char. I just finished a round of antibiotics and Charlie was finally breathing through his nose before it was back again. At least we were well for Christmas! Charlie has the cutest puppy dog slippers.

Our princess has been battling asthma and this past week she came down with pink eye, too.  We were at the pediatrician last Sunday because her asthma flared up, she was running a low fever, and had a terrible cough leaving her gasping for air.  Thankfully, the pediatrician did not recommend liquid steroids again, but suggested that she take two puffs on her steroid inhaler and we up the frequency of the albuterol.  That cleared up the asthma pretty quick. That seemed to calm the asthma down, then Monday her teacher called saying her eye was hurting and she suspected pink eye.  We headed back to the pediatrician.  It was pink eye and we got an antibiotic eye drop.  Poor little princess is so practiced at the pediatrician that she willingly sticks out her tongue, takes a deep breath, and lets them check her nose and ears.  She also very excitedly looks forward to the popsicle and treasure chest!   She had to stay home from school for a cou...

I posted several weeks ago that we took SG for allergy testing and while they recommended that she start the allergy shots, Aaron wasn't convinced that was the best course of action.  I was ready to go for it because I didn't know of any other alternatives.  He did some research and learned about another method of building immunity through allergy drops or sublingual immunotherap y.  This treatment is like allergy shots, but it is given in the form of drops placed under the tongue.  I started checking into it and thankfully we live in a big city and there happened to be a kids' ENT not too far from us that offers this method. Yesterday we went for what I expected to be a consultation to get started with the allergy drops and instead, I got a big lesson in allergies.  The doctor explained that because SG is so young and has not had a long history of struggles with allergies she would like to try medicine first.  She also looked at the results of SG's allerg...

We knew that fall allergies had hit early and Sarah Graves was hit hard by them.  She didn't feel well on Friday evening and fell asleep laying on the sofa.  She seemed okay on Saturday, and wanted to spend the night at Lovie and Pops' house.  I managed to let her stay, but couldn't believe at two and a half she was asking to sleepover.  As it turns out, she had so much congestion that she started to cough a lot and started throwing up during the night.  The same thing happened during her nap on Sunday.   After talking to a nurse, we decided to try her on benodryl to dry up the congestion better and keep her from coughing so much.  That worked, but it knocked her out, so I knew it couldn't be a long term solution.   Tuesday, I brought her to the pediatrician with us and the doctor felt her lungs sounded tight and warranted a breathing treatment.  The breathing treatment brought her oxygen levels up and they felt we should go home w...

We had Sarah Graves adjusted at the chiropractor last week to give her immune system a boost and Dr. Laura reminded me of some good advice: At the sign of runny nose or congestion, start using saline nose spray Help her ears drain by holding her nose while she drinks Probiotics are made ineffective by the antibiotic, but double up for several days after the antibiotic is complete

We went into the weekend hoping that Chubby might want to come a few days early.  We have pretty much everything in place for him and feel as ready as we will ever be.  Clearly, he didn't share the idea. We had a good day Saturday, but I could tell that Sarah Graves didn't feel quite like herself (a little more clingy and lethargic than usual) and she took a nap for over four hours!  Then, she woke during the night on Saturday night crying that her ear hurt.  We got her some Motrin and I laid down with her until she got back to sleep and she slept quite late on Sunday. Not knowing what the week would hold, I wanted to get her looked at by the pediatrician, but we didn't want to miss her last Little Gym class either.  We hurried to her pediatrician who has hours on Sunday, but they are by appointment only.  So, we headed to a minute clinic in hopes of getting in and out before gym class.  They were super-speedy and really nice to her.  She had ...

We had a great holiday weekend and I have lots of pictures to post from that. Tuesday morning, I woke SG for school to find she was warm and quite listless. The child who doesn't slow down or stop jumping wanted me to hold her and was content to lay on me for about 30 or 40 minutes before I just couldn't carry her anymore. I called Lovie and she came to our rescue so that I could go into work. SG's fever went a little higher and just after lunch we were headed to the pediatrician. SG had laid in bed watching TV and sleeping most of the morning and add a fever and I felt we had to get her seen just to be sure, especially with me headed out of town for work. They tested her for strep, but that was negative, so it was likely she had a virus. The pediatrician immediately chalked it up to having recently started daycare. Yay! I called our chiropractor, Dr. Laura, and made plans to get her in that evening. She adjusted SG and told us about a an elderberry extract suppl...

We had a wonderful Christmas and I have lots of pictures to post about it.  Our enjoyment of the day after Christmas was interrupted a bit by the fact that Sarah Graves has an ear infection.  She started telling us yesterday that her ear hurt, but she was still in good spirits.  I was in hopes that ibuprofen would keep her comfortable until we got to the pediatrician, but it was worse during the night and she was up quite bit.  We were some of the first to get to the pediatrician this morning and sure enough, she has an ear infection.  They gave her antibiotics and an ear drop for the pain.  She had a good nap today and seems to be doing fine.  Hopefully, she'll be back to normal and will sleep well tonight.  I know I need it!

Sarah Graves wasn't just having a hard time sleeping Thursday night, she was coming down with a cold.  She has a bad cough, chest congestion, and an icky runny nose.  She hasn't been running any fever, so we haven't been to the pediatrician.  Right now, we are treating the symptoms with saline nose spray, ibuprofen to help her sleep, and the nose suction device that she can only handle for a second.  Boogie wipes are the best things ever!  My mom bought them the first time she had a cold and I thought she was being a bit over the top, but these work so well and keep her from having a raw, irritated nose.  She actually sticks her neck out so you can wipe her nose.  We've tried teaching her to blow, but she isn't interested in doing it.  We have some good news that my grandmother came home from the hospital on Friday and has home healthcare and my mom looking after her.  They are treating her with blood thinners in hopes that the blood clot wil...

I started with a cold on Sunday and now Sarah Graves has it.  It's not an awful cold, but it doesn't make you feel real good.  Last night we were at the chiropractor and she noticed that Sarah Graves had a cold.  She recommended that while she is nursing or drinking from a bottle, we pinch her nose for just a second.  She said that it will help to move the fluid out of her eustacian tubes and works to prevent an earache.  As someone who still gets earaches as an adult, I appreciated the tip.  I've never been to a chiropractor myself (this bothers our chiropractor) and so I'm not totally sure of how much it actually does.  It has helped Sarah Graves' spitting up so much that it hasn't been an issue for a couple of months now.  It is supposed to help with immunity as well as overall well-being, so I guess we will see how it works out this Fall and Winter.  The chiropractor did impress me when she told me that her 3 school age daughters have n...

Thursday evening Sarah Graves was irritable and had a little runny nose.  My Mom suspected that she was coming down with a cold, but she ate and went to sleep like normal...for a few minutes.  She quickly woke up and was fussy.  She and I spent many hours walking and she would sleep for an hour or two only to wake up crying.  I can only imagine that if you have never had a sore throat and stuffy nose it is hard to believe that this awful thing has happened to you.  How upsetting to find that nursing and sucking on your paci make you feel like you are going to suffocate.  The next morning we gave her a little Tylenol and that helped her sleep for a few hours.  She didn't feel too good on Saturday, but yesterday she started feeling better.  We bought a humidifier, my Mom gave her a bath with the baby vapor bath stuff, and a saline nasal mist helped us to suction out her little nose.  (Aunt Lexie, we made sure to tell her who to t...