Catch up and sickies

Last week I was in Buffalo, NY for my first week of work. I was a bit worried to leave the boys for almost a whole week. Layla had only been working with us for one week and although she caught on very quickly and was doing a good job, I was wondering how she would do on her own. Luckily, MaSha was willing to help out. She came by several times a day each day to check in on Layla and the boys and make sure everything was OK. She also stayed through the evenings to help Thomas with dinner, bath and bedtime and spent the night at our house. We were all glad that she will willing and able to help out!

When I got back and asked Layla how she did on her own for the week, the one word she gave me was "exhausted"! Giiiirrrrlllll, I know!

As far as Buffalo goes, I was, of course, on the lookout for CJ & Sammy, but didn't see them. Bummer. I was also surprised that when the plane landed, I didn't see any snow on the ground. I mean, doesn't Buffalo have a ton of snow throughout the whole winter?!?!? I was scared to head up there considering there was a huge storm that dumped about 8' of snow about 2 weeks before my trip, and I am completely unequipped for those types of conditions. Carolina girls typically don't have snow boots and heavy coats! So I was surprised not to have any snow when we got there...and dare I say it....I was actually a little disappointed. What?!?! Anyway, I attended a new employee orientation, met a bunch of my new co-workers, sat through some meetings and enjoyed my time there in the office. The last night I was there, we had a small Christmas party with our group from the office. Lo and behold, it started snowing that night. And it didn't stop. The next morning, there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. It was so pretty! I was glad to get to see some snow, especially when it had recently fallen and was all white and powdery and hadn't gotten all dirty and yucky, and especially when I know that I'm leaving town to go somewhere warmer! We got out of town just fine with no weather delays. All was good. I was so excited to get home and see FOUR of my boys!

View from my hotel room in the morning of the day I was leaving

Snow on the rental car

Goofy boys! They had so much fun playing with this clown glasses.

Stokes

Ryan

William

So anyway, I've been home for almost a week and have enjoyed spending some time at home! The bad news is that we have some sickies on our hands. All three of the poor little guys have some sort of cold or virus. They have runny noses (and it's a lot of snot!!!), watery eyes and are coughing, sneezing, wheezing, and are just plain pitiful! With the exception of getting hand, foot and mouth disease over the summer, they haven't been sick at all. This is really our first illness. It breaks my heart. In addition to his cold, William also has something going on with his eye. His eyelid has been red on and off for a while now but it's gotten much worse and his eye has been super crusty when I go in to get him in the morning. I took him to the pediatrician yesterday afternoon and he got a prescription for antibiotics for the first time. Stokes and Ryan didn't seem like they were quite as sick as William so I'm holding off on taking them in to the doctor unless they spike a fever, their coughing gets worse or it sounds like they have a hard time breathing. Ryan got worse as the day wore on today so I'm hoping that the Benadryl, Vaporub, suctioning, a humidifier and some TLC will do the trick. BTW, new moms and expectant moms, you NEED this Nose Frida for suctioning! It's awesome. But here's a warning: babies don't like it.

Pitiful :(

Check out that snot and swollen eye lid! Bless him!

Yet another snot-shot! And it's mixed with food.

Poor Ryan seemed OK this morning, but got progressively worse as the day wore on. I believe we may have a trip to the pediatrician looming for tomorrow. I feel so bad for my little guys!

Stokes is taking more and more steps and is quickly becoming a real "walker". I'll try to get a video soon so y'all can see him in action!