Category: JSL

Happy Valentine’s Day To My Beautiful Wife

B, Holidays, JSL, Sick

The past few days have been rough ones at our house.  JSL has come down with a stomach bug that’s got him… well let’s just say both ends are experiencing unexpected exiting procedures.  So our days have been packed with worry over JSL and our nights (with JSL invading our bed) are just packed.

Needless to say, this isn’t going to be a very romantic Valentine’s Day.

Still, I wanted to send this message to the woman I love.

 

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Also, Happy Valentine’s Day to JC Little, aka Little Animation, the creator of Pickle Weasel.

When Parenting, Exciting Can Be Bad And Boring Can Be Good

Health, JSL, Parenting

Digital_Thermometer_7094 (6) SmallOn Friday, I was feeling the End Of The Week Blues.  That moment when you wish that you could whip out a Universal Remote Control and hit fast forward until the weekend arrived.  I was craving a little excitement outside of the office.  I tweeted "Is it the weekend yet?"

I should have known better.

No sooner did I tweet that than I got a call from B saying that JSL was running a 101 fever and she was picking him up from school.  Yes, it looked like we were in for an "exciting" weekend.

JSL has had five febrile seizures (including one where he stopped breathing, turned grey, and required rescue breaths to start breathing again) so any fever is a dangerous and scary prospect.  We gave him medicine and his temperature stayed at around 101.  (It’s quick fluctuations in temperature that cause febrile seizures.)  We could tell he wasn’t feeling good when he turned down macaroni and cheese (his favorite food) for dinner.

That night, he slept in our bed so we could monitor him and quickly help him should his temperature rise.  At around 2 in the morning, he woke up complaining that his stomach hurt and he felt like he was going to puke.  I helped him to the bathroom but it became clear that something else was up.  I asked him if he was hungry and he said "yes".  We got him to eat a rice krispy treat.  Sure, it’s not the healthiest thing, but it was easy to feed him at 2am and gave him a quick shot of sugar.  (We correctly guessed that low blood sugar + hunger was mistaken for "gonna puke.")

JSL said he felt better and fell asleep.  B fell asleep too.  I lay there trying (and failing) to fall asleep, mostly worrying about JSL.  Then, just as I was getting to sleep, B yelled my name in panic.  I shot upright expecting to see either JSL seizing or something seriously wrong with NHL.  As I shot up and asked "what?", I saw JSL sleeping soundly next to B.  B woke up and informed me that she had had a nightmare about being in trouble and unable to yell for me.  She finally tried so hard to yell that she yelled in her sleep.  Needless to say, I couldn’t get back to sleep after that.

Thankfully, JSL got better after that one day and night.  The next day, his temperature returned to normal and no other symptoms manifested.  Any fears I had about JSL having the flu or another serious illness we proven wrong.  (There really was no sign that JSL had the flu to begin with, but I can’t help it… I’m a worrier.)  Most of all, I re-learned two parenting axioms that I tend to forget.  One: When you are parenting, exciting can be bad and boring can be good!  Two: Never ask The Universe for excitement without specifying exactly what kind of excitement you’d like.

NOTE: The "digital thermometer" image is by Alvimann and was obtained from MorgueFile.com.

Oh What A (Long) Night!

JSL, NHL, Parenting, Sleep

nicubunu_Emoticons_Sleeping_faceElection night was a very long night both for good reasons and bad ones.  First, I got home from work and B, the boys, and I went out to vote.  Unlike some other places where people had to wait in line for hours, we were lucky.  There was only a short wait to vote.

As we were going to the polling place, and all through the voting procedure, though, JSL complained about his head hurting him.  We figured he might be hungry, but as we arrived home, he proved us wrong by puking all over the floor and his coat.

I cleaned up the mess while B tossed his coat in the wash.  Then, after dinner and some time working on Lego Shelob, we got the kids ready for bed.  Just as they were settling down, though, JSL complained that his stomach hurt.  A quick run to the bathroom spared us a second big mess.  It was obvious that he was going to miss school the next day.

While JSL settled on the couch, we turned on the election day coverage.  I kept following along and interacting with people on Twitter as polls began to close and projections were made.  Slowly, the electoral votes were assigned until, at around 11:20pm, Barack Obama was declared the winner.  In hindsight, that’s when I should have called it a night.  Instead, I followed along awhile longer.  And by "awhile", I mean 2 hours.

At 1am, I climbed into bed (made crowded by JSL’s presence between B and me).  I didn’t sleep long, though.  At around 2am, NHL woke up coughing and congested.  He was obviously having trouble settling and couldn’t come into our packed bed, so I climbed into his top bunk to lay down with him.  Thus began 4 hours attempting to soothe him so he could rest and sporadic sleep.

Needless to say, I’ve been feeling a bit tired today.

What do you do when you’ve had a long night with little sleep?

Disclaimer: The "Sleeping face" icon is by nicubunu and is available from OpenClipArt.org.

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