I can say that this past week has been the hardest one we've had yet since having two babies. Mostly it was a case of unfortunate timing, but that didn't make it any less hard. It started on Tuesday morning, bright and early, when Riley woke up vomiting. Not good. Not good at all. We canceled all plans for the day, set up a little station for her on the couch, turned on Mickey Mouse while I tried to do a massive scrub down/sanitation of all things affected. And then I also tried to figure out how in the world to keep Riley from touching/infecting Jackson with whatever she had. Riley spent the day pretty miserable, not eating anything, and very sad that she wasn't allowed to hold and kiss and cuddle her baby. I spent the day snuggling two babies, cleaning, being OCD about hand washing, and changing the most disgusting toddler diapers I've ever seen. But no more vomiting, so that was a plus.
Oh yeah and? That same day (Tuesday) Jackson had his 3 month immunizations. And this baby does NOT respond well to those, apparently. Riley wasn't all that bothered by hers, but it really seems to affect Jackson in a negative way. After his 6 week ones he was extremely unsettled that night, and this time was no different. He's not really much of a crier, but he just cried and cried and was the saddest little thing all Tuesday evening, pretty much. Just clearly uncomfortable and all out of sorts. And that night after one decent stretch of sleep, he was up every hour. Needless to say, there was very little sleep, and a lot of snuggling going on, poor little guy.
On Wednesday, Riley was still feeling pretty awful- she barely ate a thing all day, and o.m.g. the diapers that I changed... ew. Jackson was also still very unsettled all day, Riley threw some of the biggest tantrums of her life, I often had two very sad, crying babies, and I was exhausted, physically and mentally. The morning went a little like this: Try and get Riley dressed? Tantrum. Tell her okay you can stay in your PJs? Tantrum. Pick out the wrong story to read? Tantrum. Sing the ABCs TO her instead of letting her sing it to me? Tantrum. Put her milk in the purple cup and not the pink cup? Tantrum. Help her open up her water bottle so she can have a sip? You get the idea... I was trying soooo hard to be patient and sympathetic because it was clear she was just feeling awful, but man, tantrums like that are just emotionally draining.
Thursday was looking up- Riley was less fragile, Jackson was better, but still not himself (again he was up multiple times the night before). Also he seemed to have developed some little fungal infection behind his ear, which warranted a trip to the pharmacy to get some special cream. It was pretty red and inflamed, so I'm sure it had been bothering him all day, which would explain why he was all out of sorts. The entire day he was basically either eating, sleeping, or crying, poor little guy (not as bad as it sounds though, he pretty much slept on and off for 4 hours in the middle of the day... as long as I was holding him). And Mark came home a little early and I got to go out for an hour by myself! With no babies! Of course it was to run errands, but it was just enough time away, by myself, to feel rejuvenated.
Anyway... I'm hoping that tomorrow will be even better. Maybe both babies will be back to their normal selves. Maybe it won't be quite as overwhelming. Maybe we will even manage to get out of the house? Maybe every. little. thing. won't send Riley into a screaming kicking floppy fish sort of tantrum... maybe Jackson will let me put him down for 2 seconds without crying? But if not, we'll park it on the couch AGAIN, read stories and snuggle, and hope for a better day after tomorrow. Wish me luck.
(All photos courtesy of my computer)
RSS Feed