Winter sickies

I have about 15 unfinished posts about somewhat interesting topics, but I haven't been able to complete them for whatever reason. This week has been less than stellar. Lacey has some type of plague. It started with croup overnight followed by a fever and then standard cold symptoms. She is still spiking fevers (its been 5 days now), she has absolutely no appetite, although she is drinking plenty, her cough is nasty and she looks like crap. I took her to the peds twice to have her checked for EI, strep, bronchitis, but she is looking clear of infection. I figured she would be on the upswing by now, but no deal. Today we had the pleasure of our very first cough-till-ya-puke experience. Poor Lacey, we felt so bad for her. At least she did me a favor and gave it up on the hardwood floor instead of the carpet. Since she is totally disinterested in food we blended frozen blueberries/raspberries/blackberries with silken tofu and some juice and we spoon fed her that over the course of the day. She wouldn't take any chicken noodle soup or soft bread or cheerios even. Poor little bugger.

I have not left the house all week other than preschool dropoff/pickup and going to the peds, which is kind of tough for me. Even though I am not a super-social person, I get cabin fever easily. I am not the stay at home mom that actually stays at home! Hopefully she turns a corner tomorrow or we will be going back to the pediatrician. Just in time, Lana, Bill and I all have sore throats--here comes Round 2! Ugh.

I thought last winter was bad with the sickness, but this year has been worse. We have had 4 colds since Christmas, roughly one/week. That doesn't count the 10 we have had since September. Luckily, the first 14 colds have been pretty mild and normal in duration, but this one has the potential of knocking us out. We have blown through the Costco sized tissues and its only January! We are getting ready to do a bunch of traveling, I really hope we get the sickies our of the way before our trips.

So that's me whining about illness. It could be worse though, it could always be worse.

I am also feeling pretty low this week b/c I heard that a co-worker of mine from my postdoc passed away unexpectedly. He was 38 and leaves behind a wife and two very young children. I can't stop thinking about it, the senseless tragedy of it, how his wife and kids will carry on. I know many people think that everything happens for a reason and its God's plan and all that, but I don't really see how his kids will be better off without him. Plus, he was a really nice person, who was really smart and successful.

Well, that was depressing. It also puts things into perspective, like not being able to leave the house b/c your kid is a booger factory. Totally not a big deal. At all.