The Family That is Sick Together…

I cannot tell you how excited that I am that it’s Monday. It’s usually a day that I dread, but there is nothing dreadful about today. If you’ve been following me on twitter, you have seen that MacKay has been sick since last Sunday. He’s still not completely better, but he’s getting there and finally returned back to work today.

Last Sunday MacKay said he started to feel a bit achey. He went to bed early that night and to avoid myself getting sick as well (because we all know that two sick parents is complete hell,) I decided to sleep on the couch. He woke up the next morning and reluctantly went to work. Rather than coming home early, he tried to stick it out and came home that evening feeling even worse than before. He immediately went to bed that night and I slept on the couch again.

He was up all night with horrible stomach pain and stayed home from work for the rest of the week. Not knowing what it was, I kept myself and the girls as far away from him as possible (which is quite hard in this small apartment.) He was quarantined in our bedroom and I was on mommy duty, nurse duty, and dog duty 24 hours a day for the rest of the week.

My goal was to keep the girls out of the way of MacKay for as long as possible so that the three of us didn’t catch anything. Lucky for us, Harlan had Camp Kidville last week, so that kept us out of the apartment for the morning. The afternoon was when I had to get out some of my creative skills and try to balance it all.

We spent most of our time at home so that the girls could nap and I could get dinner ready. But that didn’t mean that we didn’t find ways to have fun.

Avery is so close to being mobile, it’s not even funny. She is trying her hardest to crawl to everything, especially when you put a toy in front of her.

Harlan has been the best coach and big sister she could ever be. She’s always right by Avery’s side pushing her along trying to teach her how to crawl. It is the cutest thing ever. They love spending time with one another. I always catch them doing the cutest things together when no one is looking. (Here are some of the cutest moments I’ve caught on camera.)

I tried to take advantage of my time last week and as soon as I put Avery down to bed, Harlan and I spent some quality time together. I let her sleep on the couch with me for a little slumber party.

We even had a date night one night and I took her to the playground and out to dinner. Unfortunately, the time that we get to spend together, alone, is a rarity. The date night that we spent together was just as fun for her as it was me. She has become such an intelligent little girl that is full of so much laughter. I love every second of quality time I get to spend with her.

Towards the end of the week, MacKay’s condition only got worse. He could barely get out of bed and I knew something was off. On Thursday night, I took him into the ER to get checked out.

After a few hours and through many tests and IV’s, the doctors had no conclusion as to what was wrong. They suggested he go see a GI doctor the following morning. He did and they concluded that he was infected with e. coli. The symptoms could last as least a week and he needed to stay rested.

On Saturday morning, things got a little bit more interesting when Harlan started exhibiting the same symptoms as MacKay. I immediately called her doctor who told me to keep her on the BRAT diet until she begins to feel better.

She wasn’t as bad as MacKay was, but had some sort of bug, which makes me question what the doctors said about MacKay’s e. coli infection. Either way, that left me with two sick ones in the house and me to take care of them.

That left Avery and I, the only healthy ones in the house, to stay away from the sickos and try to continue to stay healthy. So we spent some quality time together while I locked Harlan and MacKay in the sick room (aka our bedroom.)

MacKay is officially back to work this week and I haven’t heard from him yet, which is very good news. Camp is officially over and Harlan starts preschool in two weeks, so in the meantime the girls and I are spending quality time together exploring the city.

It’s weeks like last week that make me truly value the time that I spend with my family. Although it was tough trying to balance it all, there is no place that I would have rather been.

For more pictures, follow me on Instagram, @amommyinthecity!

I’m chronicling my adventures on Babble.com! Check out some of my Babble posts at Baby’s First Year.