Yuckies
Buba is still sick. He has thrown up every day since Sunday*, and it’s just so heartbreaking to see how miserable he feels. I’m not quite sure how it came about, but our kids refer to vomit as yuckies. Tiny has been telling everyone that her brother is sick because yuckies keep coming up, and we have yucky bins (shallow plastic containers) that we use to attempt to catch the yuckies and save our rugs and furniture; although, unfortunately, our success rate isn’t all that great. As sick as he’s been, Buba really has been a trooper. He HATES when the yuckies come up (who doesn’t?), but he’s always calm and patient in the clean up process that follows (which usually requires a pajama change).
Last night was the first night that Buba had yuckies in the middle of the night. It was about 12:40 am when I heard him whimper. I jumped out of bed and went right in. Tiny, who was also awake and sitting up in her bed, immediately informed me that “Buba has yuckies coming up again.” Of course, that much was clear as soon as I peeked into his crib (yes, still in the crib, but that’s for another post). Buba looked up at me and very sweetly said, “Can you get a paper towel, please?” Bless his heart.
I lifted him out of his crib and quickly inspected him. Fortunately, he didn’t have any yuckies on himself, but his bedding was full of it. He stood quietly while I stripped the sheets and did my best to quickly remake the bed. As I struggled to secure the fitted sheet in only the dim glow of the nightlight, we had this quiet conversation:
Buba: You forgot to bring the yucky bucket.
Me: Do you need it right now?
Buba: No, you forgot to bring the yucky bucket when my yuckies was coming out.
Me: I’m sorry, Bub. But I didn’t know that your yuckies were coming out. I was asleep in my bed.
Buba: Go and get it.
Me: Do you need it?
Buba: No, but keep it up there (pointing to the play kitchen. we had placed the bin on top of it earlier in the day.) so it will be there if I need it.
I finished making the bed and put the yucky bin where Buba had instructed. Fortunately, we didn’t need it again last night. (Unfortunately, it was used several times first thing this morning.) I offered to sit with Buba on the couch for a bit, but he was ready to go back to his bed. So, I tucked him back in, gave kisses and I love yous to both kids, and then starting the clean up process with the bedding.
T slept through all of this. How is that possible?! I came back to bed and he was still sound asleep and snoring. Normally, I would just put in my earplugs, but not this time with Buba being sick and all. I didn’t fall back to sleep until after 2 am and ended up getting only about 5 hours of sleep, because I had an early tutee this morning. I was pretty tired all morning but managed to sneak in a 45 minute nap while the kids napped this afternoon. We’re all hoping for a better night tonight.
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*T took Buba to the pediatrician’s office Wednesday morning, where he was seen by a nurse practitioner. She did a pretty thorough exam and found nothing out of the ordinary. In previous situations, the kids have only had vomiting for a day or two, but she said it could last up to seven days depending on how log it takes the virus to run it’s course. And so we wait. Buba was completely exhausted today and slept quite a bit. We’re hoping we might finally be at the tail end of this thing. Fingers crossed…
Don’t Even Think It
It was just last week when a tiny, little thought popped up in my mind- Neither Tiny nor Buba had been sick in quite a while.
After last winter, where it seemed to be just one illness after another, we were fortunate to have months (months!) of good health in our house. Until last night. When Buba threw up during dinner. We hoped a good night’s sleep might end it all, but he’s had trouble keeping much of anything down all day. Poor kid.
Of course, I know it’s my fault. I should know better than to even think jinxy thoughts like that. From now on, I plan to be much more careful.
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And the winner of a copy of The Kissing Hand (selected by the random number generator at random.org) is Andrea of The Mays Twins! I hope you, Luke, and Molly will all enjoy this book as much as we do!
Tiny & Buba: exhausted illness Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer screen time
by reanbean
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Yo Mama’s Callin’ Ya
Today, I am exhausted.
Last night, just as T and I were about to go to bed, I heard a sound, which I instantly knew was the sound of a child vomiting, followed by a cry that let me know it was Buba. T and I rushed in and instantly began operation clean-up. Once the bedding and child were all changed and clean, we re-said our good-nights and hoped for the best. Not five minutes later, I heard the sound again. Do-over. And over and over and over and over.
Buba continued to be sick from roughly 11pm to 3am. After the third time, T and I devised a plan. He took Buba to the couch in the living room and I stayed in the kids’ room to soothe Tiny back to sleep. She did not want me to leave her alone, so I set up the sleeping bag on the love seat (yeah, not the best sleeping arrangement, but better then trying to sleep on the floor propped up against’ Tiny’s crib) and spent the night in there. Although T was on sick-child duty with Buba so Tiny and I could sleep, Tiny and I could hear every sound coming from the living room (just outside the kids’ bedroom) and remained awake until about 3am. And even then, a nice 3 hours of sleep was out of the question. Buba was still uncomfortable and would cry and moan at least once an hour, often rousing Tiny, which required me to comfort her and remind her that Daddy was taking good care of Buba. I have no idea how much sleep I ended up getting. But I can’t imagine I had much more than a few half hour chunks.
So, to give myself an 8 minute, 40 second break this morning, I plopped Tiny and Buba down in front of my lap top and let them watch this very brief Rudolph cartoon from 1952 streamed from Netflix (it’s the first of several Christmas themed shows for kids, but we haven’t seen any of the others). It was not the first time they’d seen it. We’d watched it several time the last time they were sick. They were excited to have the opportunity to see it again, and I was happy to have the 8 minutes and 40 seconds to lay on the couch.
Things have been going relatively well today in spite of last night’s events. But it was their lunch time banter that let me know that Buba really is feeling pretty well. They kept calling the same words back and forth to each other with a lot of giggles in between, so it was hard, at first, for me to make out what they were saying. But once I really stopped and listened, I could hear it pretty clearly:
“Go on home, Red Nose. Yo Mama’s Callin’ Ya!”
Yep, that’s the price I paid for my 8 minute, 40 second break. And while I don’t love that they find the insult so hilarious, I’m still pretty sure it was worth it.
Unfortunately, Our Time Has Come
We’ve been lucky so far. Up until recently, Tiny and Buba had only had a handful of mild colds, one stomach bug, and one nasty case of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. But suddenly, it’s getting hard for me to remember the last time our kids weren’t battling some sickness. Since October, they’ve both had one cold after another. For the most part, they don’t interfere with their ability to participate in activities, but occasionally they’re miserable enough that it makes more sense to spend a day or two resting at home.
But it’s been particularly bad since the beginning of November. The mild colds became more severe. Tiny and Buba’s noses seem to be running nonstop, and they’ve developed barking, hacking coughs that wake them in the night. Just when it seems that they might finally be getting over whatever they’ve got, we seem to start all over again. I’ve called the pediatrician and described what we’re dealing with, but so far, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to take them in. And many of the kids who attend the same activities we do seem to be in the same boat as us.
With the Thanksgiving holiday, we had a few extra days of no activities, and I was really hoping that that would help us get over the hump and back to good health. No such luck. Although both kids were needing fewer tissues and doing much less coughing on Thanksgiving Day, yesterday afternoon, Tiny developed a fever. I figured it was just the beginning of another cold, but this evening her fever was even higher. And then she started vomiting. Ugh! Buba was fine yesterday, but had a fever at bedtime tonight. Ugh!
So, it seems that our time has come. I’ve finally gotten my kids involved in activities (many more compared to the last two winters when we pretty much just kept to ourselves because the germaphobe in me was so paranoid of RSV and H1N1), and now they’re getting exposed to all sorts of germs and bugs. This just may be the year where we are constantly sick until summer. And I know that it will build up their immune systems (our too, as we battle though illnesses along with them) so, hopefully, they’ll be better able to fight off illnesses in the coming years. But, man, does this stink.
Hoping Didn’t Help
When Buba got sick with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, we hoped Tiny wouldn’t get it. Days went by and she seemed fine. But then, last Wednesday night, she came down with a fever. We hoped she would get a mild case, since the virus took longer to appear in her. And we hoped she’d handle it better than Buba, since she tends be more of a trouper when sick. But, unfortunately, hoping didn’t help.
Tiny’s fever lasted for 3 days and then the mouth sores began to appear. Sadly, she has gotten way more mouth sores than Buba, and to say that she’s miserable is an understatement. Yesterday was so bad. Tiny didn’t want to eat anything, and had a very difficult time sleeping. She woke up in pain five times last night, and each time when I went in she would mumble through her tears, “It’s hurtin’. My tongue is hurtin’.” (She has sores all along the perimeter of her tongue.)
I have continued to give her the generic Children’s Motrin, which she takes very well, but she’s still in a great deal of pain. Today she went through several periods of intense crying where she was completely inconsolable. She screamed and cried so much that she nearly lost her voice. It broke my heart to see her so upset. I can only hope that today was the worst of it and we’ll soon be on the road to recovery.
Fortunately, Buba is feeling much, much better. He’s still eating mostly soft foods, but he is clearly not in much pain (no longer taking any Motrin) and is just so much happier than he was all last week. I’m hoping that HFMD will soon be a distant memory, and that my kids will be the lucky ones who never, ever get it again.
Sickness Strikes
Saturday morning, neither Buba nor Tiny was up when the moon changed into a sun (at 6:35am) on their Good Nite Lite. This is very, very unusual. Buba’s normal wake up time is between 6 and 6:30am. I think Tiny would sleep later, but once Buba is up she tends to wake up shortly after. T and I didn’t think much of the few extra minutes of sleep. Perhaps it was the beginning of a transition to sleeping later in the morning. One can only hope so, right?
By midmorning, I was beginning to see the sleeping in as a symptom that something unpleasant was headed our way. Buba was pretty lethargic as we attempted to run a few errands after breakfast, and even began to cry and request going home while we picked up new books at the library (something he loves to do!). Not good. He barely ate any lunch and fell right asleep when I put him down for a nap, without his usual routine of bouncing and singing in his crib. He cried a bit in the middle of his nap, but managed to fall back to sleep and got in the full two hours. But he was a complete grump when he woke up. Also not good. By that time, he felt warm to me, so I took his temperature- 102.6! I gave him a does of generic Tylenol and within an hour he seemed like his normal, happy self. I decided to give him another dose before bedtime, to make sure he’d be comfortable for sleeping, and hoped we were dealing with some sort of 24 hour bug.
Saturday morning, Buba was screaming for me at 5:45am. Very unusual. I went right in and he was hot. I gave him another dose of the medicine and asked him if he still wanted to rest since the sun was not glowing yet. He agreed to rest quietly (and did!), and I went back to bed. But Saturday wasn’t a great day either. Buba was cranky and still not eating much. At bedtime, I took his temperature again (he was due for another does of medicine), and it was a whopping 103.1! Not good at all. After taking the medicine, he slept from about 7:30 until 11:00 when he woke up crying for me. He still felt warm and it had been four hours, so I gave him another dose of the sweet smelling, purple stuff and hoped he’d make it until the morning.
Buba woke up at 5:20 this morning, and I went in immediately. He didn’t feel as warm, so I asked him to just rest until he saw the sunshine. I wanted to take his temperature before giving him any generic Tylenol, but knew that Tiny would stir if I took him out of his crib. He rested quietly (maybe even went back to sleep) and was up calling for me the second the Good Nite Lite changed. Finally some typical behavior was back. And he seemed to be in good spirits. I hoped that we were through with whatever bug he had caught. I checked his temp and it was down to 100.1. Not great, but better.
I asked Buba what he would like for breakfast and he requested raisins and a strawberry breakfast bar. He was standing at his high chair saying, “Eat! Eat!” so I put him right in and threw some raisin on the tray. Buba stuffed several into his mouth and then started to cry. One by one, he pulled them out and threw them on the floor. Not good. Tiny joined him, and I handed them both a plate containing a cereal bar, some yogurt, and some cut up frozen strawberries. Buba ate most of the cereal bar, a few bites of yogurt and all of his strawberries. Things were looking good. Until I went to brush his teeth.
I know Buba is getting at least one of his second molars, so I brushed very, very lightly, but he screamed and started swatting at the toothbrush. Never before has this happened. I removed the toothbrush, and found it lightly covered with blood. I didn’t waste anytime getting myself and the kids ready and out the door to our pediatrician’s office. Fortunately it was still early enough for us to be seen as a walk-in. We waited forever, but once he was seen, it didn’t talk long for the nurse practitioner to conclude that Buba has Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (so far, with no rash). Very common for a kid his age, very painful, and no real treatment.
So now we just do what we can to help make him more comfortable. I’m alternating generic Tylenol and generic Motrin, but he’s still noticeably miserable at times and not sleeping well (which means I’m not sleeping well). He hates the Motrin and vomited the first dose I gave him, which is not good since that’s the one that will help with the pain. Thus far, Tiny is showing no symptoms, but it could be just a matter of time. And wouldn’t you know it- this is the one week of the summer that T is teaching an enrichment class for his school district.
I know we’ll get through this. We’re certainly not the first family to be hit with this nasty virus. Still if you’ve been through this already, any tips you have to offer or words of encouragement would be appreciated.
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I realize I’ve been quite wordy lately. Thanks for reading all the way to the end. 
celebrations Tiny & Buba Toddlers: apples Halloween illness pumpkins well visit
by reanbean
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20 months old
Rachel over at Motherhood.Squared writes the most beautiful updates about her twins. This is my first attempt at following in her footsteps.
The last three months have gone by so quickly. It seems we’ve fallen into a nice groove, and our days flow by rather smoothly. Each day is much the same as the one before, but also very different, because you both are learning and growing so much every day.
At the 18 month well visit, you both measured 31 inches tall. Tiny weighed in at 18 pounds, 11 ounces, and Buba weighed 20 pounds, 14 ounces. The pediatrician’s only concern was about Buba’s head size. It seems Buba’s head circumference had not grown since the 15 month check up, and the doctor wrote up orders for us to have his head x-rayed at Children’s Hospital to be sure the head bones were still capable of growing. Of course, everything came back a-okay, but having your head x-rayed was not at all a positive experience. So, we took you out to lunch at Friendly’s to try to make up for it. You gobbled up the hot dog and orange slices we ordered for you and still had room for black raspberry ice cream at the end.
Several days later, you both came down with your first stomach bugs. Buba was the first, and Tiny followed just one day later. For a week, I tried to shower you with TLC while trying desperately to get you to drink the Pedialyte. These were not fun days, but you both handled yourselves very well, and even managed to appear in very good spirits between bouts of sickness. Although we couldn’t get out and about in our usual fashion, you enjoyed walks around the neighborhood and playing in the front yard.
On the more typical days, we try to get out for at least one field trip. Some days, we go to the library for storytime, to the local playground, or to a friend’s house for a playdate, but often we just run errands. You know many of the day employees at Stop and Shop, Ace Hardware, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Target, the bank, and the post office. You say hi and bye and smile and play peekaboo, and you love all the attention you get while we shop.
At home, you play and laugh together (although there are plenty of moments when you don’t get along), and I love to watch you spin yourselves dizzy. You like to wear hats and stand up on your riding toys, even though it’s not allowed. And you both love to walk around the house wearing various objects – an empty book box, one of Mommy’s old slippers, your trick-or-treat bag- on one foot. You are very active, as most toddlers are, but you also enjoy sitting down with your ever growing collection of books.
This fall we enjoyed many new activities with you. We had lots of fun apple picking and eating apples as we went along. You loved the juicy honeycrips we picked, as well as the cider donuts we bought before going home. The following weekend, we picked pumpkins, and you both had a great time carrying the little ones around. But the best part seemed to be watching the tractor plow the field. You both yelled, “Tractor! Tractor!” as it went up and down the field.
Then came Halloween- your first one going out in costumes. The costumes I bought at the twin sale were quite big, but we made them work. You wore them to a party at the senior center and for trick-or-treating in the center of a neighboring town and around our neighborhood. You had so much fun collecting candy in your bags, and everyone thought you were so cute.
Tiny, you know all the routines in our day and are quick to let me know if I forget to do something or change how something is done. You watch everything we do, and want to do as much as possible on your own. In the morning, you wait by the dresser as I pick out your clothes, and quickly snatch them from me while running off to try to dress yourself. Sometimes you come very close to getting your shirt on properly. You insist on wiping your own tears and runny nose, crying “titu (tissue)!” until we get one for you. You seem to learn new words and signs every day, and love to repeat words and phrases you hear us use frequently. You are headstrong, independent, and you want to do what you want to do. But you are good at following directions, especially when we are out in public. Buba can get away with nothing under your watchful eyes. I hear your piercing screech or loud “no-no-no” if he even thinks of doing something naughty. But when he is sad, you are so very comforting, bringing him his stuffed koala and giving him kisses to make him feel better. You show great affection for Monkey, Panda, Meow (a gray cat) and Cookie (a mouse wearing red overalls), and love to sit them down so you can read to them.
Buba, you are so loving and playful. When we go out to a storytime or playgroup, you think nothing about plopping yourself down in another mom’s lap or tilting your sweet little face up to give a kiss on the cheek. At home you love to hide behind your crib or under the kitchen table and call “Mommy!” repeatedly until I come and find you. When I ask you to come to me so I can put on your jacket or put you in your high chair, you turn and run in the opposite direction and laugh and laugh as I run after you. At 15 months, you spoke fewer than three words, but now your vocabulary is so extensive that I’ve lost count. When you say something that you find funny, real (bye-bye Poofty (Poofty being our cat Pokey)) or nonsense (ma-ma-ma mu-mo), you say it over and over, giggling in between. For a long time, you were more than willing to give into Tiny’s demands for toys in your possession. But now you are more assertive, standing your ground and holding on tightly. You are even so bold as to try to take toys from Tiny! You are getting better about playing with other kids, but still love to go off into a corner to play with the wire and bead toy or sit with a stack of books. You enjoy kisses and cuddles from Quack Quack (the big yellow duck), Meow (the cat), and Koala. And you especially love playing with “baby bida (baby spider)” who sings the ABC’s while you dance.
It is so much fun to see what loving, smart, funny kids you are becoming. Your laughter and smiles warm my heart, and I am so proud to be your mother.
Love you!
Mommy