Sickeys- It should be our new last name.

What a week we have had. A couple of weeks ago I whined about being stuck at home, quarantined, and possibly even sick with the swine flu. Well, I was never quite sure if we actually got it. Little J had a low grade fever for about 5 days, at times he was slightly fussy, but mostly he was just J with a fever. He could have been teething- we have been dealing with the pending eruption of the eye teeth (is that how you spell eye in those teeth? You know, the K9's, or as I have decided, his Vampire Teeth) for a month or two already- so it is hard to tell if he was sick or not. Well I decided that he was better and that he needed to re-learn how to get back to sleep in the middle of the night without Mommy intervention. After all, Mommy needs to sleep at night too.

I think there are a lot of Mom's out there like me, I can not stand to hear my baby cry, let alone SCREAM, when I know the reason he is crying is because he wants me. But I also know that SLEEP is very important and very underrated and so I am having to learn how to deal with letting my baby cry. The Wheeler family is big on White Noise and their favorite kind of White Noise if from a Box Fan. So each night there is a box fan in each bedroom, turned to the highest setting possible. I also place a pillow on top of my head to muffle any other noise that my Mommy ears can pick up. The first couple nights were really hard. I could still hear him, and worse I could hear phantom crying- I hate phantom crying! (Does anyone else hear babies crying when they aren't?) But finally, FINALLY we started to get full nights of sleep again. Then on Wednesday morning I woke up around 2 and I couldn't go back to sleep, all seemed quiet in the house and so I wandered downstairs and watched the History Channel until I was tired again and then slept on the couch for a few hours. Ken came to see me before he left for work and about an hour after that I went to get J up for the day.

As I entered his room I could smell it. Vomit. Yuck. I am not good with Vomit, in fact I call myself a sympathetic vomiter, because usually just the smell or sound of it is enough to get me to join in the Non-Fun. Luckily some sort of Mommy Override kicked in and I was able to help my sick little baby all day with out being "Overly Sympathetic". The poor baby had a fever as well and so he was super cuddly all day long. He and I both had to change our clothes a few times. I did 4 loads of laundry and discovered that I can cover my couch in blankets and protect it from the yuckiness....I didn't think about covering the carpet until it was too late.

It must have been a 24 hour virus, because by 2 am the next morning he was hungry. How do I know? Well he was sick, so I raised my ban on Mommy visits in the middle of the night and when he cried I went to comfort him. As he lay on the changing table I noticed that he was signing. "Milk" he said. "You want some Milk?" I asked "Milk, Milk, Water." came the signed reply. "OK, do you want Milk or Water?" "Food, More Food, Milk, Water, More Food" I am pretty sure there were a couple of "!" in there too. Those little hands were flying and I was laughing. So we got the new diaper and then took a Sippy full of milk down stairs. He had been so forceful about his need for Milk, Water and Food, but in the end he only drank about a 6th of the milk then he turned and put his head on my shoulder. We sat together like that for a few minutes and then I took him back to bed. I went to bed smiling, envisioning those little hands telling me exactly what he wanted. "Food, More Food"

Thursday was a pretty normal day- No Vomit- that is all I really cared about.

Friday wasn't quite as normal. I made a decision about my physical well being that day. My knee has been hurting me the past couple of weeks and I decided that the wait and see period probably needed to come to an end. I needed to make a choice. The first choice I made was that I would have to stop running for a while, and so on Friday I walked....my knee still hurt. I decided that I needed knew shoes, maybe that would help, after all my shoes are too old and they needed to be replaced anyway. So I did some research online and after Ken got home from work we took a shopping trip so I could try on some new running shoes. We hit two or three stores and then it was time for dinner. Luckily there was a Wendy's nearby and so we had a Value Menu Meal.

About an hour after eating, I started to feel sick. I knew then that I should have taken my Chicken Sandwich back when, after taking my first bite, I felt that it wasn't hot enough. So I had what I believe was a very cleansing case of Food Poisoning. No fever, just aches and pains and Non-Sympathetic Grossness! Yuck. I HATE being sick. Luckily Ken was there to make sure I was OK as I sat on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night. On the bright side on Saturday afternoon I weighed 3.2 pounds less than I had on Friday. Too bad that on Sunday I gained 2 of those pounds back, Food, it will do that too you. Anyway, I am feeling fine now.

Ken had taken a bite of my sandwich and all through the day on Saturday he was fine, but when the night came he started having similar symptoms, Nausea, Aches and Pains. Unfortunately for Ken the fan was on High and I had a pillow over my head, so I didn't hear him when he was awake in the middle of the night hoping for an end to the sickness....Sorry Sweetie.

We were both pretty tired from the week of wretchedness at our house and so last night we went to bed at 9:30. This morning I woke up at 5:15! Bright Eyed, and if I had a tail I am sure it would have been bushy. We are happy to be healthy again. Here hoping that we stay that way.

And finally, I want to update you on my exercise and weight loss...After my venting email my Brother in Law, Lets call him T-Dawg, or maybe Mr. Soprano, (hmmm you know who you are, what do you want to be called?) anyway, he sent me a message telling me that he understood where I was coming from and that he was trying to get in better shape- he doesn't need to lose weight, just stay healthy. He invited me to be his Workout Buddy- well his words were "Let's follow up with each other" but that, to me, means that we are Buddies. So anyway, it has been really nice. I always tell Ken when I work out and he always smiles and tells me I am doing a good job, but when I don't workout, Ken doesn't push the subject. But now I have someone who will push me, and I can push him. The fact that we are separated by 500 miles or so will keep us from physically hurting each other if we slack off too much. But so far both of us have done really good I think. So Thanks Workout Buddy, Your Great!

Hopefully I will have new shoes soon, and a few weeks of walking will be good for me. I also need to do more and better stretching exercises, so if anyone has some favorites, let me know. Next month I am going to give running, in my new shoes, a try and if my knee still hurts I will go see a Sports Medicine Doctor. Wish me luck.