A Weekend of Small Triumphs and Small Setbacks

Yesterday, our family was finally able to make it to Sears to get our family Christmas picture made. After rescheduling two times because of someone in the family being sick on the other two appointment times, we finally made it there! Caleb wasn't the most agreeable for picture taking, as he has been having a really hard time with teething lately, but we managed to get one really good shot of the four of us. And the photographer was able to zoom in on one of the pictures to capture a cute shot of just Caleb and Ethan together (even though Caleb was holding a cell phone in his hand to keep him happy!) But we'll take what we can get! I actually already posted the one picture of the four of us off the Sears website and put it on our family website we are using for our Christmas letter and greetings this year. You can see it at the link to the side titled, "My Family Website." Our Christmas Update letter is not written yet, so not on there yet, but check back later, and hopefully we'll have that updated. So, the picture taking appointment was our small triumph for the weekend!

The small setback comes in the form of . . . you guessed it, sickness! We were getting ready to go to church this morning, and realized Ethan felt hot. We took his temperature, and he had a fever! Last Sunday night, Caleb had a fever that ended up lasting four days until Wednesday. I took Caleb to the doctor on Wednesday, and they prescribed an antibiotic that we could choose to give him if he still wasn't better by Friday. Everyone's been so sick so often lately, I didn't want him to have to be on another antibiotic, but since the doctor thought he may have an upper respiratory infection, and he still wasn't himself on Friday, I went ahead and got it filled and started giving it to Caleb on Friday. I was hoping that was the end of sickness again for us. Until this morning, when now Ethan has a fever! So, we stayed home from church again. I am really stressed out with all this sickness. It literally has been that one of us has been sick in some shape or form every week since the end of October. I am really frustrated and tired from dealing with it and writing about it, but I figured writing on my blog about it might be one way to deal with it for me. I just really hope that Ethan's fever will clear up without another trip to the doctor, and also that he will be better by this Friday so he can participate in his preschool Christmas program and class Christmas party. He already had to miss his Thanksgiving preschool party because he was sick. I just don't want him to miss another special event. I know it is illogical thinking to think there is something I should be doing better to keep them from getting sick, but that is how I feel right now. We have cleaned everything backwards and forwards throughout the house, have a new respect for hand washing and using antibacterial hand gel when soap and water aren't available, and I just don't know what else to do! And today my mind has been running away with me on all the "what if's" . . . what if there is something really wrong with the boys, which is why they keep getting sick over and over and over again. But wouldn't the doctor have found something all the times they've checked their blood work if there had been something more wrong medically speaking? I just have to pray that Ethan will get better and we will have a break from sickness for at least 2 weeks would be nice! I am so worn down and stressed. Any prayers for the health of our family would be appreciated. I know dealing with a fever is nothing in comparison to what many families deal with more seriously medically speaking every day. I am just so worn out and this was just NOT what I needed to awake to this morning! Please pray for patience for me as I continue to try to do the best I can to help take care of sick children.