bring on the new year already

it's almost mid-july and this family is ready to start 2013. 

we are ready for, and more than deserve, a healthy year for all of us.

it has been a long few months between doctors and hospitals visits, and that is hard for any family to handle. it feels like we were jinxed, as if we were just on a roll of bad luck. i want my kids to be healthy. and believe me, that is not something i take for granted. like all of life's best lessons, i learned that one the hard way.

healthy kids = one happy mom. remember that. 

i am going to have to do a 14-month post on hadley because right now, this girl is so many things wrapped into one little, chunky-monkey package. she is smart. she is silly. she is feisty. she is temperamental. she is so completely hadley, trucker hat and all.

i'll share fourth of july parade pictures as soon as i can locate my camera. misplacing my camera seems to be something i do pretty frequently. after having two kids, my brain is no where near what it used to be. i feel like kelly bundy from 'married with children.' remember that episode where for every fact she has going in, she has one coming out. that is totally me on a daily basis.  and the one tidbit that is coming out of my head is usually the important one!

snapped up this pic of the girls with my phone before we headed out to the parade. aren't they so festive.

my sister and i took our girls to see the new katy perry movie on saturday. it was a fun girls day out for sure. i love seeing caroline with her cousin, cailyn. they are bcf's= best cousins forever. go ahead, you can use that one.   i will even go so far as to say the movie was pretty entertaining, with a bit of sad on the side seeing her go through her divorce. this movie also gave me a strange sense of appreciation for not becoming the rock star i was once destined to be. it looked like way too much work... touring, staying skinny, and all that other stuff. does that make me sound lazy?

hard to believe that in less than 24 hours caroline went from this (envision arrow pointing up) 

to this (envision arrow pointing down)

this last round of sickness to hit our house was/is awful. sunday, phil started his day with a trip to the ER. one ct scan and two spinal taps later, they confirmed he has viral meningitis. a few shorts hours later, i was at the children's hospital with caroline. she was vomiting and complaining of a major headache. i was paranoid she had meningitis too, so off to the ER we went.

caroline was an absolute mess for two days with this major headache and vomiting. i have never seen her look so in pain, so helpless. i can't even explain to you just how horrible it is to sit back and have to watch your child endure horrible pain and not be able to do anything about it. monday morning when she woke, she was balled up and in tears. i took her to the ped's office to demand more pain medicine. you heard me, i demanded. i played the role of tough girl for a minute. the tylenol and motrin weren't even touching her pain. thankfully we won. she was prescribed loritab and it worked. it knocked her out and let her sleep her headache away. she woke up tuesday morning back to her old self. she was ready to eat, play, and complain as usual. today she seems 100% back to herself.

as far as the viral meningitis goes, it knocked phil down. i have never seen him in such pain. it was rather unfortunate timing as well, given that caroline was sick too. i felt like phil got the short end of the stick as far as attention and care goes. i pretty much only went in to the bedroom every four hours to make sure he was alive and to give him drugs and water. other than that, he was pretty much on his own. and from what he told me, he preferred it that way. so for the past 3 days he has been in bed, on drugs, waiting to heal.

needless to say it has been a hellish week. i am thankful to say (and i shouldn't even let the words come out of my mouth as i know i am going to regret it the minute they do) that hadley is great at the moment. caroline is feeling good and off to grandma camp. now we wait for healthy phil to return.