Longest day of my life.

1:35 a.m. - Oliver wakes up crying. Sean goes in to comfort him and he starts coughing really hard, can barely breathe, and throws up twice. Once we get him calmed down, I rock him in his room until I can get him back to sleep.

3:00 a.m. - I finally get him back to sleep in his bed.

3:05 a.m. - He wakes up again, screaming and coughing. Sean goes in and rocks him, can't get him to calm down.

3:40 a.m. - I call the night nurse at our pediatrician's office. She says if he's having trouble breathing to take him to InstaCare.

3:50 a.m. - Sean gets Ollie bundled up and takes him to InstaCare, only to find out that it's closed. Oliver falls asleep in the car, so Sean drives all over Utah County while he sleeps. I fall asleep on the sofa for a little while.

6:05 a.m. - Sean gets home with Oliver. I peel myself off the sofa and get Ollie some breakfast while Sean lays down for a while.

8:20 a.m. - Sean gets up and gets ready for work. Oliver is rapidly getting worse. I call his pediatrician and set up an appointment for 10:35 a.m.

9:00 a.m. - Sean leaves for work. Oliver is very upset, tired, and coughing like crazy.

9:15 a.m. - I pile both kids in the car and go for a long drive so Oliver can rest. Stop at McDonald's to get a Mocha Frappe so I can stay awake.

10:35 a.m. - Ollie's doctor's appointment. The doc says he has very severe croup. Suggests we give Oliver a steroid shot and says I have the option of taking him into the hospital for breathing treatments. Because Ollie is having such a hard time breathing I decide to go ahead and take him to the hospital.

11:00 a.m. - We start a breathing treatment with Ollie in the doctor's office because the hospital doesn't have a room for us yet. He screams almost the whole time.

11:30 a.m. - Nurse gives Oliver a steroid shot. Doctor says we can head over to the hospital.

11:50 a.m. - Checked into the Pediatric wing at Utah Valley Regional. Nurses take his vitals while he screams his guts out. We're told they'll have a room for us soon.

12:30 p.m. - Steroid shot is kicking in and Oliver is perking up a bit. Still waiting for a room.

1:00 p.m. - Ollie is getting restless. He drifts in and out of sleep, but wakes up coughing really hard and wheezing.

1:35 p.m. - They finally have a room for us. Oliver is insanely tired but likes wandering around the new room. Sean leaves to go back to work.

1:50 p.m. - Five nurses (yes, FIVE) come into our room in robes, masks, and gloves, scare the heck out of Oliver, and attach monitors all over his little body. When they leave I finally get him to relax and take a little nap while I rock him.

2:30 p.m. - Wakes up crying and coughing. I can't get him to calm down and I'm starting to get really frustrated about the fact that they haven't started breathing treatments yet.

2:45 p.m. - Get him back to sleep again.

3:15 p.m. - Wakes up and doesn't know where he is. Starts sobbing again. I try really hard to keep him happy, but he keeps pulling at the monitors on his body and pointing to the door.

4:00 p.m. - Still no breathing treatments. Oliver's breathing has improved a lot from the steroid shot. I know his croup is manageable and I just want to take him home. I finally work up the courage to talk to a nurse about getting discharged.

4:10 p.m. - The nurse comes in and says the resident doctor wants to talk with me before discharging Oliver.

4:50 p.m. - Resident doctor finally comes in, talks to me for a while and checks out Oliver. Ollie starts screaming hysterically again. He says he's sure Oliver is probably fine to go home and that he'll draw up discharge papers. He says we'll be out "very soon."

5:20 p.m. - Neither Ollie nor I can stand the monitors all over his body and I pull them off so he can walk around the room. He's happy about that for a while, but then goes over and starts banging on the door and screaming to be let out.

5:35 p.m. - The nurse finally comes in with discharge papers. I quickly sign whatever they push in front of me. He gives me a questionnaire to fill out to let them know what they can improve. I don't fill it out because they don't want to hear what I have to say.

5:45 p.m. - After six hours in the hospital for absolutely no reason, Ollie and I are finally on our way home.

6:05 p.m. - We're finally home. The house is clean (thanks to my mom) and there's lots of yummy Sonic for dinner (thanks to my hubby). I scarf down way too many onion rings and popcorn chicken then collapse on the sofa. Ollie eats almost an entire grilled cheese sandwich and fries and is still hungry.

6:30 p.m. - Ollie is really grouchy and tired. Sean tries to keep him entertained while I rest for a bit.

6:50 p.m. - We head upstairs to put Oliver in the tub. I set up a humidifier next to his crib.

7:15 p.m. - I get Ollie out of the tub, dried up, and into some footie pajamas. I slather his chest and nose with VapoRub and give him a dose of Infant's Tylenol. We read stories and he nurses before bed.

7:35 p.m. - Oliver is in bed asleep. I'm completely physically and mentally exhausted. I'd like to think that Ollie will just sleep the whole night, but I have a feeling he'll be up a lot tonight.

This was seriously the longest, most stressful day of my life. So glad it's over and that Oliver is at least feeling a little better. Now I'm off to take some cold medicine (oh, did I mention I'm sick too?) and zonk out. We'd all better get healthy soon or I'm going to lose it. I've had my fill of sickness for the entire year.

Still sick.

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately.

The boys and I are sick.

Still.

I'm starting to think I'll be stuffy and achy for the rest of my life.

But even though I'm doomed to an eternity of runny noses, humidifiers, and cough syrup, I thought I'd at least do a post to tell all you out there that read my blog (all two of you. Hi Mom and Dad.) what we've been up to while cooped up in our germ-infested house.

The Nichols clan has been busy

Making collages…

Drawing pictures of Angry Birds...

Waiting for snow…

Drinking healthy spinach smoothies…

Driving up Provo Canyon to get some fresh air and eating yummy dinner at Dairy Keen in Heber…

Singing in the tub…

Making messes…

Making fresh-squeezed orange juice...

And watching movies in a blanket fort.

I've also been going to Karve four to five times a week. It's been a great way for me to feel a bit better and start getting in shape. It's definitely working too; in two weeks I'm down six pounds! Woo!

I've also picked up a new hobby - crochet! I've been knitting for a few years now and decided to try my hand at something new. I've had so much fun making baby clothes for my aunt's soon-to-be new baby, and now I'm working on a couple of throw blankets.

Well time for me to load myself with vitamins and climb into bed. I'll post regularly again when we're all feeling better.

Seven Months: A Hair Update.

It's been seven months since I buzzed my head, and since that time my hair has grown a lot! It's been an interesting process trying to grow my hair out and still make it look nice. My hope is that by late summer it'll be long enough that I can cut it into a cute a-line and then continue to grow it out from there.

Here's my hair today. 

Not bad considering that a little over half a year ago it was nothing but stubble, eh? 

I plan to keep growing it until it's at least down to my shoulder blades. I know taking care of long hair is a pain, but I really miss having long locks! I'm sure it'll be a few years until I reach my goal, but in the meantime I'll keep taking good care of it; I only use salon products, get trims regularly, and I don't dye it anymore (although I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep that up; I keep finding grey hairs! Yikes!).


I'll post another hair update at my one-year mark, along with the pictures I've taken along the way!

The maiden voyage of Big Red

For Christmas the boys got a humongous, fancy shmancy two-seater Radio Flyer wagon, and since then the wagon has been sitting in our storage closet, awaiting the warmer Spring weather. Well, turns out we didn't have to wait quite so long! The weather here has been oddly warm and sunny, so this past weekend we took Big Red out on her first voyage to the park!

Mommy pulled the kiddos while they enjoyed the view and the fresh air.

Once at the park, Mommy laid the seats down and made herself a little bed (The boys got me sick and I wasn't feeling so hot).

Then the fun commenced with climbing..

sliding...

 

tunneling... 

swinging...

and muscle-flexing.

We were there for quite a while and had lots of fun getting our wiggles out after being cooped up in the house for so long.

As much as I love this weather, we need some SNOW! Hopefully we'll get some soon!

Anyone in need of a slobbery baby kiss?

Well alright, here you go:

He's so cute I almost can't stand it. Seriously.

Karve: Week 1

This is my first week of Karve classes, and what a week it's been so far! As I mentioned in my New Year's post, Karve is a low-impact, one hour workout that combines ballet barre work, pilates, and yoga. Because it's so low-impact, I wasn't expecting it to be super difficult; boy was I wrong!

The very first class I was dripping with sweat by the end, completely worn out and feeling - frankly - out of shape. I knew I'd let myself go a bit since my knee finally gave up on me (or I finally gave up on my knee), but I didn't think I was in horrible shape either. Add the difficulty level to the fact that every woman in my class looked like they stepped off a supermodel runway, and I was feeling more than a little out of place. I'm one of those people who gets really intimidated by exercise classes anyway, so it took all my energy just to focus on myself and not think about the other people in the room.

That said, I absolutely, positively LOVE this class. It's challenging, creative, and every class is slightly different. It targets practically every muscle in my body and every set of exercises is then followed by intense and deep stretching, aiding soreness and allowing those muscles to become long and lean instead of bulky. I've only gone to three classes so far, and I'm already seeing a difference in my muscle definition, particularly on my thighs and stomach. Gotta love that!

I've committed to going 4-5 times in the month of January, and at that point I'll decide if I want to continue for the rest of the year. I definitely think I'll stick with this class though. It's pricey, but it offers the kind of intense, body sculpting workout I need without damaging my joints and killing my knees. And if I'm already seeing results on day three, I can't imagine what changes I'll see come swimsuit season!

I love that January is a time for reflection, change, and a chance to start over. Here's to a healthier, happier year!