Epic Fail

I love my boys.  Truly, I do.  They are both little miracles that make me smile and laugh and fill my heart with a love I never thought possible.  But sometimes....sometimes this whole parenting thing is for the birds.  And sometimes, no matter your attitude and fortitude, there are entire weeks that are primarily EPIC FAILS.

This is one of those weeks.

It started off so innocently too.  We had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend.  Spent the holiday with some wonderful friends that were kind enough to invite us back after we spent the holiday with them last year as well....Thanksgivingukkah (they are Jewish).  We had friends over for dinner on Friday night, after attending the model railroad show where Jeffery was in heaven!  And we had our friends and former neighbors over for brunch on Saturday morning and then went with them to pick out our Christmas Trees -- 3rd year running!  It was a wonderful weekend.

And then Monday came and it all went downhill -- quite literally for poor little Jeffery.  It was time for lunch so we started to go downstairs.  I was holding Jakob and was right behind Jeffery.  Well, on the 2nd step down, Jeffery tripped and couldn't catch himself.  The next 2 seconds felt like an eternity as I watched my precious little boy tumble down an entire flight of stairs -- 12 to be exact -- hitting almost every single one on his way down and then crashing into the wall at the bottom.  I know it didn't happen this way but I could swear to you that the whole thing happened in slow motion.  By the time I had safely secured Jakob in a crib and went flying down the stairs, Jeffery was up and sobbing hysterically -- all good signs actually.  I gave him a thorough check but still had Dave come home to stay with Jakob while I took Jeffery in to the Pediatrician.  They gave him a clean bill of health...told me that most little kids will take a tumble like that at least once (wait.  you mean this could happen again?!  oh dear lord!) and sent us on our way.  Jeffery is now a little less confident on the stairs (fine by me) and 4 days later, is still telling me about "falling downstairs".

Tuesday morning, around 3:30am, Jeffery cried out from his crib and got more and more agitated; completely unusual for him.  I found that he had been sick so I brought him into our room and set him up in the pack n play....and called the on-call pediatrician as I know vomiting is a sign of a concussion.  The pediatrician reiterated what Dave had already said...basically that he would have been sick hours earlier had it been a concussion...and told me not to worry. But with Jakob feeding at 2, 4, 6, and 8 am....and dealing with Jeffery (who only wanted mama)...I maybe got 3 hours of sleep.

Yesterday was spent with both boys struggling with runny noses and Jakob developed a nasty dry cough -- which kept both him and me up a good portion of the night.  He is too little to give any over the counter meds to and I didn't know how or if I could treat his cough...which sounds like a seal barking...so it was back to the pediatrician.  Diagnosis?  Croup.    Seriously.  I just can't win this week...and neither can my boys.  There is basically nothing I can do to help poor little Jakob (who turns 3 months today) except bring down the humidifier, sit in a steamed up bathroom with him, and stick his head into the freezer for a couple minutes.  

And all of this as I am dealing with very little sleep (for the past 2 weeks, Jakob has been waking up to be fed at 2, 4, and 6 am.) and now I have a scratchy throat and feel a little off.  Grrrrrr!  I am ready to be done with this week and ready to get this house back to normal.  Really.  Dear Week: I'm waiving my white flag and crying "Uncle".  Enough already!  :)