Monday, April 13, 2009

Our trip to Dallas for Easter

Been a while again since I posted since we just got back from vacation. I was going to try to post a "13 month update" for Ethan last Tuesday before we left but he ended up being home sick AGAIN. Talk about stressful...trying to pack and work and all that stuff while having him home sick. I wanted to rip my hair out! And it probably would have been a good idea to send him to the doctor with Blythe on Tuesday (since I had set it up to have her staple removed so we wouldn't have to go to the doctor in Texas). But I wasn't thinking real clearly and quite honestly figured it was just another virus that would go away soon.

We left Wednesday at the bright and beautiful hour of 4am to head to the airport. For those of you thinking it might be a good idea, I wouldn't recommend it. Especially since that was 3am at our final destination. Ethan looked like death, but we gave him some nightime childrens cold medicine so he'd sleep on the plane. It worked until the landings (2 planes to get there - one to Detroit and one to Dallas...you know, because Detroit is right there on the way to Dallas). Ethan screamed and screamed during the landings. We made it to my cousin Amy's and he was just pathetic - only wanted to be held - poor thing.


Poor Ethan could hardly breathe through the night and had his daily morning throw up of mucus and milk. So we decided he definitely needed to go to the doctor. Fortunately in my search for Blythe's staple removal, I had already called my insurance to get the nearest urgent care facility, so we took him there. Come to find out he had a cold (or likely bronchitis since that seems to be what I picked up), and also an ear infection and a sinus infection. Dr. Lee didn't really speak English, but he was skilled in hand gestures so eventually I think I understood everything he said. He prescribed Zithromax to knock out the infections quickly (so maybe he wouldn't be in so much pain on the way home!). I gave him half the medicine dosage and he immediately threw up. Later I gave him the other half, which he kept down for a few hours. The next day we gave him his medicine again and he immediately threw up. So this wasn't doing us much good - he wasn't even getting the antibiotics to clear up his infections! The doctor thought maybe he was gagging on it, so we should try mixing it with juice. I thought maybe he was allergic to it since I am too. But I was willing to try mixing it first. So we did and he kept it down. Until nighttime when he must have thrown up everywhere in his bed and then slept in it. Oh, that sounds like no fun at all. So that confirmed the allergy. We got him a new prescription and was able to get a few doses before we had to leave on Sunday. I think his ears felt better, but I don't think he much cares for the confined spaces of an airplane so he felt inclined to scream (and I mean like really scream non-stop, barely taking a breath) for a while until we took off and then again after we landed and had to wait for another plane to move from our gate. Fortunately flight #2 on the way home he slept the whole way. So he's feeling much better now, though he's got this new tantrum he likes to throw by arching his back and throwing his head back and crying. He does it quite often. Fun times. When he did it this morning, I did look in his mouth and noticed he's cutting at least 2 molars. I'm sure that's not fun either.

So that's Ethan's story, which was the not-so-fun part of our trip. Otherwise, we had a GREAT time! Thanks so much to our gracious hosts Mik and Amy and their girls Anna and Mia. We were hoping on Thursday to go to the Dallas Arboretum with the kids and pack a lunch and stuff, but that was Ethan's day at the doctor, which also happened to be the only day Blythe took a nap, so maybe it was better we just stayed at the house and "relaxed". Might as well never make plans anyway when traveling with small children. Braden and I were able to have a nice dinner date out since Mik and Amy babysat one night. Friday we all headed to Ga Ga's house (my grandmother) to hang out for the day. My mom, dad, sister, brother, sister-in-law, and niece all headed down to Dallas too, so we all met up there. The weather was beautiful, so we just hung out outside for a good part of the day. My cousin's son Kole and my uncle Dave taught Blythe how to play baseball. Here's a clip:



Friday night, we took the party to Mik and Amy's where we had pizza and stromboli and drank wine and beer and then played with the breathalyzer Mik and Amy had. "Okay, I've had 3 glasses of wine...wonder what I'll blow". 0.03 for those of you wondering. I had a lot of pizza and stromboli.

Then Saturday was the BIG Easter egg hunt down in Red Oak, Texas at my aunt Rose's house. This was the 30th year of the egg hunt there and those of us who were at the 1st one got green t-shirts. I was less than 1 at the first hunt, but I was there! Those who were not (like Rose's daughters, my brother Doug, and our husbands, wives, and kids), purchased yellow t-shirts from my cousin Sarah that said, "I may not have been at Easter 1980, but I got here as soon as I could!". Cute.


It was an amazing day of great weather, great family, great food, great music, and great fun. Blythe didn't win the Easter egg hunt, but she did find 17 eggs, which was a lot. The winner found 32. Our tradition is to dye empty (real) eggs, fill them with confetti, and put tissue paper over the hole. So after we find all the eggs, we crack them on people's heads. Here's my mom getting Lynette pretty good!


I'm really hoping we can make it down there on a much more regular basis for Easter, as it is so much fun. Hopefully the next time we'll all be healthy! Here's a few more pics from the trip for your enjoyment.

Anna and Blythe playing in the bathtub:


Blythe, Mia, and Anna on the swing at Ga Ga's.


Blythe playing in a band:


Ethan in one of his better moments:

1 comment:

aichiba said...

Poor Ethan! I'm glad you guys made it home safe. We had a great time and hope you guys come back next year :)