Welcome February!

Boy, I am glad to see January gone. It was a rough month at our house. First, Jeff finally got a diagnosis for his several months of nausea. He had H. Pylori, a nasty bacteria that lives in the lining of the stomach. He took two different antibiotics for the course of two weeks. Thankfully he has felt well for over two weeks now. Looks like the antibiotics worked!

Three weeks ago Emily threw up and later that day told me her throat hurt. Uh-oh. I looked and sure enough it was red with white bumps. So off to the doctor we went and were diagnosed with strep throat.

Two weeks later (which was last week), Benjamin woke us in the night making horrible breathing sounds and acting like he was gasping for air. After a rough night of trying to make him comfortable, I took him in to the pediatrician the next morning. After getting blood drawn and chest x-rays (NOT a fun experience with a 16 month old who did not feel well), he was diagnosed with a severe case of croup so the doctor admitted him to the hospital. We were there from Wednesday morning to Thursday evening. He was made more comfortable with breathing treatments and steroid shots.

During a visit to see her brother Wednesday afternoon, Emily started throwing up in his hospital room. UGH! ENOUGH ALREADY! She frequently complains of her tummy hurting. So last Friday, the day after getting home from the hospital with Benjamin, I took her to the doctor where she had to get blood drawn to check blood counts and also check for H. Pylori (it's contagious). Luckily all her blood work checked out just fine. But she is now on a prescription antacid for a month when the doctor wants to see her again. I think she just might be the kind of personality who carries her stress in her stomach. Lastly and unfortunately, I came home from the hospital with a head cold which I generously shared with my husband.

That was our January...

So, I'm really hoping things will start to look up for us. We have been so sick this winter for some reason and the medical bills are starting to stack up (Benji's hospitalization, my trip to the ER in Dec. and Jeff's procedure in July in addition to the other office visits).

Okay, I'm done whining. But we could sure use some prayers here for better health.

On a positive note, I am excited to be starting a candle business to help make ends meet. I will be selling candles from Southwest Candles and hope to start doing some home parties soon. I'm hoping it goes well! I'm just waiting on my shipment of samples and then I'll get started. I'm also going to be teaching a graduate level Counseling class for my former full time employer starting in March. The one night a week, six week long class, is a fun one for me.

Unfortunately, I haven't taken any photos of the kids since the first of the year so none to share this post. Hopefully next time! Until then...Happy Valentine's Day!