sick and tired

We have had wonderful time celebrating Christmas ... at our house and with Graham's family and my own. In the midst of all this loveliness, we've also all four been sick at some point. Yuck.

It started the Sunday before Christmas with E getting a little cough and then a fever that night. Graham took her in to the doctor Monday where they ruled out strep, flu, and an ear infection {word is that she HATED the throat swab. Oh, poor thing.}. We received an e-mail the next day saying that her class's Christmas party had been cancelled because so many of them were sick.

Thankfully, Eden was happy and playful during the days despite coughing up congestion all day. We found ourselves saying, "Spit it out. Do NOT swallow that." all day long. Since it was just virus of some sort, we were able to head to Mobile on Wednesday, but Eden continued to have a fever each night.  Thankfully her fever broke for good on Thursday. Lydia had just a mild runny nose at this point, but Graham started feeling bad once we got to Mobile and ran a fever for a few days off and on. Our first night in Mobile, both girls were up crying a lot! I don't think anyone in the house slept well that night.

On Friday my first official day off for the semester, I started to feel awful. Thankfully we were at Nona and Big Daddy's, so there was help around for Graham while I splept the whole afternoon. I knew I wasn't well when I wanted to be under a blanket in the dark and found myself thinking "Do not bring that baby to me" when I heard Lydia crying. Ouch. I'm thankful that stage of the sickness didn't last long. I had a soar throat each night that weekend but felt fine otherwise.

On Sunday, Lydia started to cough ... dang it. Big Daddy listened to the girls' chests before we left town and deemed them to be ok. He also said it would be ok for me to be around my sister despite my newly developed head cold and soar throat.

Graham muscled through the 3-hour drive in the rain with a slight fever I think and went straight to bed when we arrived at my parent's house for Christmas lunch. He missed the big reveal where Whit and Boston shared the sex of their baby, but felt better by dinner. I have had a runny nose that just won't stop since Monday and Lydia's cough has not gone away.

So, we're headed back to Baton Rouge earlier than expected. I'm thankful that Eden and Graham are much better and that Lydia's disposition has for the most part still been cheerful. While I certainly don't want to spend the holidays sick, it has been so helpful to have family around. Here's a huge apology for getting anyone in our families sick!!

- ashley