Giere Life: Germs, germs go away...come again NEVER!

We have been a house full of germs the past 2 weeks and it has not been fun! Here's a run down of the sickness here...

Tues. Sept. 2 - Hannah starts a fever - can't go to school

Wed. Sept. 3 - Hannah basically spends all day on the couch w/ a high fever off and on - can't go to school (she attends preschool Mon-Wed.) Ellie and Sam seem to be doing okay, although Ellie did have a runny nose.

Thurs. Sept. 4 - I thought Hannah was getting better, low-grade temp...at approx. 2:30pm, she starts crying really hard and says that her ear hurts. I call the dr. and they get us in that afternoon...double ear infection. The doctor's reaction when she looked in her ears, "Wow, these are BAD!" I have the doctor look at Ellie's figuring they'll be the same, but they weren't...no infection, however, they did have a lot of fluid in them....infection seems imminent. Start antibiotics for Hannah...

Fri. - Sept. 5 - still layed up, but seems to be improving

Sat. - Sept. 6 - a little better, still runny noses everywhere and Hannah starts a cough

Sun. - Sept. 7 - Ellie starts a fever and is MISERABLE.

Mon. - Sept. 8 - Ellie's fever is worse, Hannah complains that her ears still hurt, 4 days after being on the antibiotic. Hmmm, that's not right. Call doctor's office, they "squeeze" us in at 5pm. Hannah's ears have not improved at all and Ellie's are now both infected. Switch Hannah's antibiotics, Ellie starts on the same. No school for Hannah.

Tues. - Sept. 9 - Ellie wakes up with one eye stuck shut from the "goop" in them. When I went in her room to get her that morning, she stood up in her crib and in the saddest voice I've ever heard simply said, "Mama, eye...Mama, eye" as she pointed to her closed eye. I was able to get a warm, wet wash cloth and convince her to let me wipe her eye. Hannah goes back to school since her fever had been gone for days and her energy level was returning to normal.

Wed. - Sept. 10 - Hannah returned to school again. Ellie wakes up from afternoon nap looking much better...you know how you can just see it in their eyes, she actually looked refreshed. Still has major runny nose.

Thurs. - Sept. 11 - girls are improving, Sam has a goopy eye and runny nose. Fantastic.

Friday - Sept. 12 - both girls are continuing to improve, although they are still more fussy than normal...which sometimes causes MAJOR issues for Mommy. For instance, when I went in their room in the morning, Ellie was standing in her crib crying and Hannah was standing right outside of the crib crying (my guess is that E hit H b/c she got too close...). Hannah would not tell me what was wrong, so I left the room (after I was very kind and sympathetic), she cried harder. So, for the first 10 min. of the morning, H cried...for NO REASON!!! Needless to say - since I am NOT morning person and really, no one wants to start the morning w/ kids who are crying for NO REASON - the day did not start out well. Crabby kids = crabby mommy. Things did improve throughout the day w/ a little orange juice and play time...

Today, Saturday, Sept. 13 - both girls woke up happy!!! Sam seems to be doing better too. His eyes have cleared up pretty well and his nose is not too bad. (thank you Lord for the goodness of Mama's milk!) And even though it's a rainy day, I'm happy too! :O)

Okay, as I type this I realize it probably sounds like I'm looking for a pity party...I'm really not. I just thought I'd fill you in on our life...Throughout this minor illness, I continually reminded myself that the colds/infections they were dealing with are not serious and I was thankful for that. And, now that they are improving, I realize the past 2 weeks really weren't that bad. In fact, it was kind of nice after a very busy summer, to lay low and stay home for a bit. (I was able to get out once in a while, so I didn't go totally crazy.) And so begins the cold and flu season. I'm hoping my kids got their sickness out of the way now, but I'm sure we'll have several other days like this in the coming months...

Here's a few pics from yesterday afternoon, when the girls were in better spirits... (notice Ellie's red scab under her nose...poor thing has had it wiped so much, she cries every time!)