Well, well, well... Here's another blog post where I am updating you on the month plus that has passed since I last posted. Let me just sum up the last several weeks in case you are interested in reading why our world has felt a little out of sorts as of lately...
Late November, we traveled to Indiana to spend time with Brad, Jacki & Luella for Thanksgiving and also to celebrate Luella's first birthday. We
drove... yes, all 14 hours and it was quite the event. But we made it and had fun. Gemma was somewhat not herself and extremely cranky, which we just assumed was from the traveling and being out of her element. Thanksgiving Day, I came down with a stomach bug that left me in bed sleeping for basically the entire day. The following day, Gemma woke up all stuffy and definitely sick. She had what we thought was just a nasty cold. The poor girl was just not herself and super snuggly and just a plain old sad sight to see. The drive home showed us Gemma was really sick... she slept almost the entire day. Her face and little body was so.. ugh I'm choking up just thinking about how she looked. My heart broke a little bit.
We got home on December 1st after a 15 hour car ride home. We were absolutely exhausted as Gemma had woken up once if not twice a night all 8 nights we were away. Plus a long drive like that.. wow. Hit by a truck didn't really cover it. Another tough night, and then the next morning, she started having stomach bug symptoms. The evening came and it was clear she couldn't keep anything down. We took her to the ER about 10pm. Long story and details aside, they had to send us to Yale Children's Hospital because they were full in Bridgeport. Turned out, Gemma had an ear infection, sinus infection, AND the stomach bug. No wonder we were all so spent.. she was uncomfortable and I felt so lame for not knowing that she had an ear infection. She really is a trooper because she kept on going until those last few days of our trip. After about 36 hours at Yale and two doses of IV fluids, they sent us home with antibiotics our baby girl who was able to eat a little bit more.
A day after we came home from the hospital and we realized the transmission in our only car was on its way out... And then... Two days later, we return home after running errands to find out our oil tank was empty. Rookie renters- we didn't realize it was that low. Luckily, we have amazing family who are always willing to lend a hand!
A few days later, I realized Gemma had a bad diaper rash {which we anticipated from all the stomach bug-ness and the antibiotics}, but it turned out she had gotten thrush from the antibiotics as well. This poor child. We had to change her antibiotic again and then give her a new prescription diaper cream with a steroid in it. Well a few days later, her diaper rash wasn't healing and the steroid was actually too much for her and was burning her skin! Ahh, I was almost fed up at this point. The blood-curdling screaming and trembling was unbearable during diaper changes, and my heart was in pieces because I knew we were going to have to keep changing her. Soaks, nakey time, and a newer diaper cream {that was less harsh} plus some burn cream to treat her irritated bottom... And about 80 days later {that's exaggerated.. more like 7 days later} it's almost back to normal.
Bryan got a promotion at work and I couldn't be more proud! He has worked so hard and essentially had his responsibility already handed to him 6 months ago as a trial run to see how he would do.. He pleased his bosses enough for them to promote him two weeks before Christmas and give him a nice bonus. Yaaaay hubby!
Before I could come up for air... the holidays came and went! We bought a car two days before Christmas and somehow managed to get all of our shopping done on time. I am still feeling super exhausted as most of December felt like I was under water and couldn't come up for air, but it was a wonderful holiday this year and I am somewhat sad to see it go. We are feeling blessed though and are grateful to have our family, friends, a warm home, and jobs.
Hoping you all had a lovely Christmas!
{for reals.. did I really just write that on January 7th?}
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