"Hell, Part II"

I must not be living very righteously, because I had another visit to hell and back. If you missed the first one, you can read about it here. Some of you have commented on my lack of posting during the past two months...so here we go:

It is with great emphasis that I say goodbye and good riddance to 2008. There is a reason why there was no Christmas greeting in your mailbox from the Buecher family. Nobody wants to get a letter filled with cynicism, sorrow, pain, suffering, sarcasm, and pure unadulterated whining accompanied by a picture of crying, tortured kids and angry, sweaty, blood vessel bursting mom and dad. Instead, I will post here--where you have heard and seen enough of that to have your palate already prepared.

We began the holiday season already beaten down by weeks of vomiting, head colds, antibiotics, and sleepless nights. My brother Jeff invited us to spend Christmas with his family in Utah and we vacillated back and forth for a few weeks. We finally decided to go. The Sunday before Christmas we realized there was a major storm coming our way, so we had to leave a day early on Monday, and didn't get away until about 1:00. We knew we'd only be able to drive about half way, and planned on staying near Grand Junction, CO. What should have been about a 4.5 hour drive took us almost 7 since the storm had already started in the mountains. Both girls had woken up that morning with bad congestion and the baby had really yucky, goopy eyes to boot. When we arrived in Grand Junction, Grace threw up at the McDonalds (actually it was Fruita, CO if you'd like to avoid it). After a terrible night in the hotel with both girls fevering and coughing and snotting everywhere, I was resolved that by daylight, we'd start driving back home again and skip Utah all together. I-70 Eastbound was closed indefinitely when we woke up, so we could stay and have Christmas in Fruita at the La Quinta, or keep driving to Utah. I called the pediatrician on our drive and got convinced that the baby did not in fact have pink eye, rather just a lot of congestion that was making it's way up and out through her eyes.

Sometimes when we are taking long road trips with the kids Dave likes to pull over on the side of the road to take a few scenery pictures. It's a big hit with all of us in the car.

We arrived at my brother's house and immediately started contaminating everyone and everything in sight. I am pretty sure Grace threw up again that night, but it's very blurry. By mid-morning Christmas Eve, it was evident that a trip to the urgent care was necessary, so we spend the better part of the day hanging out with the other sick and depressed people in the South Jordan locale. Diagnosis: Pneumonia and double ear infections for Grace, and conjunctivitis and ear infections for Elise. Prognosis: A very unhappy Christmas for the Buechers.

In the afternoon, another coughing/vomiting episode for Grace, followed by ginger bread house making, (Dave's is on the left--the outhouse with the lean-to wood pile...because you never know when you might need to build a fire while you're taking care of business. Stuart's is on the right)the nativity, and the Christmas-Eve-gift-opening-disaster where Stuart's gift was a Christmas blanket I made when all he really wanted to open was a toy. Seriously, what was I thinking? Usually the Christmas Eve gift is pajamas, but I thought I'd mix it up a little and throw down a blanket. So after his hiding and crying episode, I rummaged through the gifts that I couldn't remember what they were and found a toy for Stuart to open. Here's Stuart opening the blanket....

I am not sure if you can see the disgusted look on his face, but the cousins behind him are laughing because of his disgusted reaction.

Here's one of me so lovingly making the blanket a week or so before Christmas:

Here's the smile and the toy that saved the evening:

Grace and Elise missed out on the Christmas Eve festivities (thanks to small mercies) since we put them to bed early.

We spent another night of fevers, coughing, and general misery and as we headed up the stairs from the basement to join the rest of the family on the top floor for the processional down the stairs, Grace threw up again.

Santa did a great job in saving what was left to salvage of Christmas morning, bringing Stuart a matchbox mega-rig shuttle, which we lovingly encouraged and guided him to add to his list.

Grace pretty much whined and cried in between (and during) most of her gifts, but was generally pleased with Santa's choice of all things Disney Princess.

The rest of our time in Utah was spent playing Rock Band World tour: and watching the Disney Princess Christmas movie over and over and over again. A totally inadequate thank you to my brother Jeff, his wife Mary, and all their very, very tolerant and helpful children for putting up with us.

There was more vomiting on the drive home. For reference, the Subway in Green River, UT, and the Burger King in Glenwood Springs, CO.

As a capstone to our fantastic holiday, I left the all the antibiotics in Utah, so there was a lot of phone calls during the last two hours of the drive trying to get new prescriptions prepared, then a late night run to the 24 hour Walgreens here in Littleton.

Then, because we are gluttons for punishment...

Early this week I decided it was time to try giving regular non-allergy formula to the baby for the first time (Her GI doctor wanted me to do it in mid December, but...) So I gave it to her in the afternoon and about an hour later she started to rub her eyes like crazy. I thought she might be getting the conjunctivitis again, but then she started itching her ears. After a few minutes I started to get suspicious so I took her clothes off and she had hives all over her chest and belly. I was getting really nervous that her allergic reaction would escalate and I would have to rush her to the ER, but luckily it did not effect her breathing, so we dodged the bullet on that one.

We seem to be barely coming out of the fog now, although I took all three kids in to the doctor on Wednesday and the baby still has double ear infections.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you from all of us.

Goodbye 2008. I shall not miss you.

Onward and upward.