The week from hell!!

Oh boy!! Where do I start?? I think this will be a long post so sit back and enjoy the read!

Sunday (March 22) my Aunt Becky and her kids, Megan and Vaughn, were at my grandparents in New Roads for Spring Break, so the kids and I took a little ride to the country to visit. Now, Anya was just getting over whatever cold she had and Steven's was just revving up. When he woke up from his nap he had a horrible croupy cough. As the evening went on he was very clingy and you could tell he did not feel well. I set up the humidifier, read up on the croup, and went ahead and put him to bed. He actually slept fine, even though I didn't. I kept waking up every couple of hours to check on him, and then I had to get up at 3:30 to get ready for work.

After he woke up, Chris called and said he and his mom felt he needed to go see Dr. Fakouri (our wonderful pediatrician!), so I called and got him an appointment. My wonderful co-workers let me leave to go meet them at the doctor's office, where she confirmed my suspicion about the croup and then proceeded to tell me he had an ear infection (the second since January). So we got a steroid for the croup and antibiotic for the ear infection.

Tuesday he seemed to feel better so while Anya was at school Steven and I ran to the outlet mall in Gonzales to run to Carters and Baby Gap for a few clothes. That afternoon a guy came out to look at the AC duct work under our house which needs some repairs due to wild animals having a party down there. They also said under our shower had some wet boards. So we also need to replace that. We were actually planning to get a new shower soon, and suspected it was leaking so it came as no big surprise, but it's still something else added to the money pit we call a house!

Wednesday actually started off great. I decided we were going to try potty training again, and Anya went on the potty 7 times, and had only one accident!! Still no pooping on the potty, but I'm still thrilled at the progress. I think she is pretty excited with herself, too! I made some yummy rice and gravy for dinner and Mom and Dad came over. My stomach was starting to feel bad and I was feeling mildly nauseated, but nothing to get excited about. I went to bed around 10 (I had to get up at 4 for work the next morning). Around 12:30 in the morning, it started to thunder, which woke up Anya, who ran into our room. We sent her out a few times, but we could tell she wasn't going to stay in her room while all the noise was going on. Around 1:30 or so, I had met Anya in the dining room (she was again on her way to our room) when we heard a loud noise outside and my front door started to fly open. Chris grabbed Steven and Mom and dad came downstairs. By then it was pretty much over. The power was gone, so Chris grabed the flashlight and he and daddy started to assess the damage. They discovered half a tree on my dad's truck (which he somehow drove back to Morganza!!), the top of a tree snapped off on the roof over one of our upstairs bedrooms, which had some sheet rock on the carpet and water already dripping down the wall, and another limb (that was actually pretty small considering the damage it did) over our BRAND NEW front porch. It pierced the roof and some of the ceiling boards are missing. I think we also have some shingles loose up there. Another really big limb moved the AC condenser (I didn't know that was the name for the AC thing outside) off it's spot and pushed it into the gas meter, which caused a little leak. All sounds really bad, but all fixable, and we are all okay. We went to bed to try to sleep (Anya came to bed with us). As soon as we got settled we saw lights and heard voices outside so Chris went to investigate. It was Greg Merriweather from Channel 9 checking out the "carnage" as Chris says. He ended up interviewing Chris, which ended up on the news!! Chris finally came back to bed, so I got an hour sleep on top of the 2 I had gotten earlier in the night.

I woke up Thursday morning at 4 and tried my best to get dressed in the dark. I couldn't flat iron my hair and put my makeup on in the dark, so I didn't even know what I looked like until I got to work. It weren't pretty!! My stomach hurt worse, and really bad on the lower right side. I was nauseated and had also developed a cough overnight, but pressed on. I knew it could be my appendix, but hoped it was a bug or an ovarian cyst. Plus I was so tired from the overnight events that I figured it was making it seem worse than it was. When I got home, I pretty much ate dinner, helped get the kids to bed, and went to bed myself. Chris had obviously been pretty busy while I was at work getting someone to come put some tarps on the roof, getting someone to come fix the gas leak, and starting to clean up the yard.

Friday morning we woke up, still in the dark. My stomach felt a little better, but still hurt on that right lower side. I called and made an appointment with Dr. Tabor for early in the afternoon. I didn't want to go through the weekend if it was something I needed to be worried about. Ms. Gail had taken Anya to see Sesame Street Live earlier that day (which Anya LOVED), so she stayed with the kids so I could go to the doctor. She decided I needed a CT scan to make sure it was or wasn't my appendix, so I went down the street, drank that HORRID contrast, and did the scan. By this time it was almost 5pm. I went home, hoping it wasn't my appendix, but knowing it could be. Dr. Tabor called me within an hour saying, yes, it was my appendix, and I also have pneumonia!! She said she was going to find me a surgeon on call, and I of course told her I wanted to go to my own hospital. I started packing me and the kids. Ms Gail and Mark would keep them overnight. We went ahead and brought them over beings their house is on the way to the hospital. While we were there I got the call that Dr. Dupre was going to do the surgery and to go ahead and get checked in. I had already called my co-workers to say I was on my way, and of course they were so sweet to stay late and check me in (Jennifer, Jamie, and Linda - you rock!!!). I went ahead and stayed overnight. We didn't even know if we had power at home yet, although when mom and dad left the hospital they went to our house and called us to say we had power.

Saturday morning, I ate real food. No post-op nausea!! Went home around 10am. Of course we had been without power for almost 48 hours, so mom gutted the fridge while I wrote everything down. I felt pretty good considering. I ended up moving around too much, so by mid afternoon I moved to the couch where I stayed most of the evening.

Today is Sunday. The week is over!! Anya is still doing pretty good with her potty training. Very few accidents, but she will not have a BM on the potty. I am pretty sore. I move slow. I hate that I can't bend over or pick up Steven. The coughing from the pneumonia hurts more than anything. My appetite is not back to normal, but I can eat real food without any problems. So many people have called, emailed, or stopped by to check on me and say they are thinking of me and sending up lots of prayers. To all of you - THANKS!!
I hope next week is better!!

update

I just realized I haven't posted in 2 weeks!!


Things around here have been pretty quiet. At my last post, we have stopped potty training. Nothing has changed on that front, I am sad to say!


On Wednesday March 3, our neighbor Katherine Claire turned 3, so we went to It's My Party to jump for about an hour, then to McDonald's for lunch. I think it was the first time I ever took Anya to McDonalds! We had a lot of fun with Tina and Katie Claire. Steven even tried to get in the action, too!!

That Saturday we went to the zoo for Katie Claire's party. Tina threw a wonderful party, and the kids had a lot of fun.

On Thursday the 12th, Mom and Dad took the kids to Morganza for 2 nights. Chris and I went out to eat, twice! That's more than we usually do in a month! We love our children, but it sure is nice to have them out of the house every now and then!

On Saturday the 14th was the St. Patrick's Parade. We had a couple of people over, and did a brunch. It rained on and off, and after about 30 minutes or so, we left. It's so nice being only 3 blocks from the parade!

Sunday was Angela's birthday so we went to Ms. Gail and Mark's for dinner. I gave up sweets for Lent, so I had to pass up the cake. Sacrifice!

potty update

Well, just an update on the potty training. We hardly left the house all weekend so Anya could be close to a toilet, but it didn't really matter. She only went twice Friday and once both Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday I was at work and she did not go at all. I was up at 3:40 in the morning and when I got home the last thing I wanted to do was fight with footprints of urine through my house!
This morning she is at MDO, so when she gets home, I guess we will start over again! I have decided to give this through tomorrow, and if it doesn't look like she is going to get it soon, I'm going to stop for a few weeks and try again.