January: Two Thumbs Down

So. Clearly I did not resolve to blog more often, or more interestingly. Ah well. Here's what's going on with me: everyone in the house seems to be taking turns being sickly, in varying degrees. Addy and Eli have both had flu, been running fevers on and off, and then ear infections (including a very traumatic trip to the doctor that involved having to hold Addy still while a nurse irrigated her tiny ear canals.) I fortunately got put on a proactive dose of Tamiflu when Eli was first diagnosed with influenza, so I've basically just been fighting it off. I felt run down and my throat hurt for several weeks, and it still does some mornings, but usually feels fine by the afternoon. Jim's finally getting sick now that the kids are mostly recovered, but fortunately the baby never had more than some sniffles and a bit of a cough.

UNFORTUNATELY, Eli seems to have some kind of intolerance for amoxicillin, because he has had diarrhea for days and days now. It started at the tale end of his antibiotic regimen, and he's been off it for twenty four hours now, so I'm really hoping the tummy troubles will clear up in the next day or so, or I guess I'll have to take him BACK to the doctor to see what could be bothering his system besides the medicine.

As you may imagine, this has all really thrown a wrench into my plans to spend every spare moment with my sister and Baby Smith. Stupid winter. Stupid germy disgusting winter.

Oh, also Jim's doing this Biggest Loser-type diet with his coworkers so we've been eating a metric ton of fruits, vegetables, eggs, and whole grains around here, and no one's had red meat in two weeks. Jim's lost almost fifteen pounds already, but he's also come close to blacking out a few times, so, uh, my jury's still out on how nutritious this is as a long term lifestyle. I also think I'm putting red meat back into my own diet because I noticed my milk supply taking a noticeable dip about a week into the Healthy Food Project. (Worst part about the milk decrease? Baby, who had been going to bed routinely around ten and not waking until four or five, suddenly awake and hungry three to four times a night again. Ouch.)

Fortunately we got that sorted out, mostly by my, uh, eating more, and drinking more water, but also eating oatmeal twice a day and drinking a giant Guinness one night. Who knows if those things actually help that much, but it feels better to be Trying Things rather than just nursing and nursing and hoping eventually things will pick back up.

Also! Early this month I lost my wedding ring, and was feeling really tragic about this, though I tried not to mourn it too much vocally because the kids would either get all sad for me or chastise me for losing something so special. Which, uh, is basically what I was doing myself. But lo and behold, Addy found it tonight! And guess where it was? Tucked into a tiny rip in her bedspread, nestled between the top quilt and the backing. A spot which I keep meaning to fix but haven't, and in which I've seen Eli ferret away little treasures of his own many times. So uh, I'm pretty sure how it ended up there, but I couldn't even muster up the anger to care because I was just SO HAPPY to have found it (and to not be the guilty party in misplacing it, since obviously it got put there by LITTLE HANDS NOT MY OWN.)

And... that's about it, for us. Basically the highlight of this month for me, other than Smith's birth, obviously, has been the return of The Office and 30 Rock Thursday night. Livin' the dream, here.