It's Been Rough

The New Year hasn't been so good to our families.  It seemed like January was filled with bad news after more bad news.  Grandma Otte passed away.  Karen & Riley lost their baby.  Adam's mom had some setbacks with her cancer.  Many of my coworkers experienced accidents, illnesses and sudden loss of family members.  

February was no better.  The day of Grandma Otte's funeral, I started to run a fever.  I fell ill with influenza and hardly got out of bed for 3 days.  Shortly thereafter, Annie was quite sick with a fever for 6 days.  To follow suit, Vince and Vera both tested positive for influenza and strep.  Adam also had a terrible cold.  It took him & I nearly 2 weeks to feel completely better and normal again.  The both of us missed several days of work due to kids' illness and our own.  I went to the doctor's office 5 times in 15 days.  It felt like all we did was dispense meds, take temperatures and go to the doctor.  I went on a rampage of disinfecting the house and spent 3 or 4 days deep cleaning and washing everything I could in hot water.  I must've done 15 loads of laundry to wash every blanket, pillow, coat, towel, bedding, stuffed animal...  I ran the diffuser and applied oils constantly.  As of this moment, we are all healthy, and I hope we have taken our turn for the winter.

While we were in the thick of illnesses, Adam's mom had an appendectomy and spent 6 days in the hospital.  And to top it off, Vera came home from school with a broken tooth one day.  We are so thankful that Rosie is out of the hospital and on the road to recovery.  I am also thankful that Vera's tooth was an easy fix at the dentist.  To be very honest, I'm ready for life to settle down for a while.

I saw this on Facebook while all of this was going on.  It was perfectly timed, and a great reminder for me!

Though I was healthy while the kids were sick, we wore masks at the doctors office so not to pick up any other nasty bugs crawling around.  Poor Vera felt so lousy (and looks equally lousy) in this picture.

Antibiotics and smiles for everyone in this picture.  Oh, the snuggles aren't so bad, either!  :)

Grandma Otte is 60 & Papa is 65!

To celebrate Mike's birthday at the end of January, everyone went to Marian's Piazza on a Sunday afternoon.  It was a fun afternoon together.  The kids enjoyed running around the restaurant and eating cake.  Thanks to Mindy for taking and sharing these pictures!

Mom turned 60!  Unfortunately, we weren't able to get everyone together to celebrate.  Between illnesses and busy schedules, it was hard to pull off.  Vera, Vince and I made a short visit to drop off her birthday gift.  Annie had to stay home because she was sick.

The following week, we made a girls trip to see The Sound of Music at the Schuster Center.  The weather was dreary and wet, but it was a fun afternoon out.  I came home from the performance and watched The Sound of Music on DVD.  Consequently, I had the songs stuck in my head for 2 days.