Easter 2012

So it's been a while since my last post and a bunch has happened to us, so I will just update you in this one post. In March Clint left for San Antonio for Captain Carree's course or how to lead as an Army Captain. Basically 10 long weeks of him being away from his family and other boring Army stuff... (Warning: I will be describing Clark's illness in some detail so if you don't want to know, skip those parts or just suck it up) When preparing for his time in San Antonio we planned on visits. Originally Clark and I were going to go visit him, but due to having to pay for Clark's plane ticket and a hotel it was going to be too expensive. So instead we planned on Clint coming home twice. The first visit was for Easter. The Wednesday before Easter Clark started to run a fever and not feel good. Then on Thursday I took him with my parents to go to the chiropractor. Right after we got there Clark made a weird belching noise. The kid doesn't belch. So I knew something bad was about to happen. I quickly ran out of the office. Just after getting out the door he started to throw up, getting barf all over me and him. I was thankful that I came with my parents because I would have been driving home in a barf soaked shirt or topless...most likely the barf soaked shirt. The poor people in the restaurant across the street and I wonder what the women was thinking when she came up to me and my basically naked baby to ask how far it was to the beach. I made up some distance, wonder if she was cursing me as they had to walk longer then I told them. My dad ran over to the local surf shop and bought Clark and I new shirts, I got my back adjusted and then we went back home. Poor kid! Then Friday night Clint came home for his visit. Clark didn't get to see him until the next morning because Clint didn't get into OC until 10:30. The next morning started with excitement that daddy was home and then more barfing. So Clint and I took him to the doctors office where they told us that he probably had a stomach virus that could last as long as 2 weeks. I remember thinking, we'll be fine in a couple of days. MAN was I wrong about that one! After the doctor visit we came home to dye Easter eggs. We did an Easter egg hunt at Clint's mom's house because she has such a beautiful backyard. Clint's mom and grandma are two very talented women! These are pictures of Clark waiting to dye eggs. He doesn't look that sick because it was the calm before the horrendous storm!

Crashed daddy and baby. I ran to the store real quick and this is what I came back to after we dyed eggs. I had to post this picture because one, they look so much alike and two, it's just an awesome picture of my sweet family. :)

The hunting for Easter eggs. Mommy got a little carried away and he had about 45 total eggs to find between real and plastic eggs.

By Saturday afternoon his stomach virus was starting to bug him and his little bottom was hurting. He would hunt for eggs then have to take a break, but it was nothing compared to what was to come later. The happy family together, even if it was only like 36 hours!

Sunday afternoon Clint had gotten a call from the airport saying that his flight had been cancelled. My brother took him there to straighten things out and they ended up driving to LAX. Then all those flights got cancelled. Clint ended up spending the night in the USO lounge at LAX. Total bummer because we could have had more time with him if we'd known. Oh well. He ended up not getting a flight until the next morning and since it was a cancellation due to weather they wouldn't put him on another flight. So irritating! Clint got back to TX by 1pm and went to the rest of his classes. And got a slight cold on the plane so had to deal with a cold the whole week. As for Clark things just went down hill. He was doing ok but needed more diaper checks as time passed. Most of you know how active Clark is. He is not one to sit still. But as the day was going on, he was moving less and less due to his poor little bum hurting. Everything that came out, gas and more would hurt. Then Monday night he needed a diaper change around 1am. So I laid him on his changing pad and about 2 seconds later he started to throw up. Some how we ended up in my bathroom with him throwing up in the toilet and having diarrhea and screaming in pain. So I decided we needed to go to the ER. I packed him up and got in the truck. Discovered that our milk gets delivered at around 2am because I passed the milk delivery truck as I was leaving the complex Got about half way there (the hospital is about 25 minutes away) and Clark was just as happy and talking and fine, so I decided to turn the truck around. I was thinking, you are fine! Got all the way home, pulled into our complex and he threw up again. :( So that time we actually went all the way. The ER staff was nice and told me about the pediatric waiting room which was nice because no one else was in there and Clark was able to lay on the couch and let me open his diaper which seemed to be helping. ER doc said the same thing, stomach virus. Said they had been seeing lots of kids with it, and it just had to run it's course. We came home and Clark said his diaper needed to be changed again. He was so exhausted. He would lay there just about fall asleep and then poop a little and scream in pain. Every time I picked him up it was worse. Finally he actually filled a diaper with a ton of diarrhea. The second diaper was much more explosive and it shot right over the top of the diaper that was open but up a little and landed in my lap. Crap, what was I suppose to do now? He wasn't going to take a shower with me, so I had to take my clothes off and his, got poop EVERYWHERE! I convinced him to sit on the toilet where we pretty much had a scene from Dumb and Dummer. Poor kid. I was sure he would never want to poop again after that traumatic experience. I got him settled back on the changing pad and quickly washed off in his bath tub. By the time all was said and "done" it was about 5 am. Clark fell right asleep but it took me a little while. We slept in until about 10:30 when the trash truck woke us up. For about the next week Clark laid on the couch and needed to be carried everywhere. I felt so sad for him. Every time little bits of anything would come out, he would cry and say "I still hurt" and have my "change" him. I think I went through a whole tub of Vaseline. I was applying it about every 5-10 minutes for at least a week. I washed my hands so much my hands got so dried out they started to bleed. I finally wised up and bough some gloves. I took him back to his regular doctor on Thursday because he wasn't showing significant improvement. She said the same thing. Stomach virus, but that I was really the only one at risk of getting it because I was changing the diapers. I don't think I've ever changed so many diapers in such a short period of time. We went through a quarter of a box of diapers in 3 days. One box of diapers usually last about a month for us. She also did some fecal (vet term) stool samples to check for giardia or some other parisite, but all was cleared. I figured it was when I started having similar symptoms. Thankfully mine lasted only about a day. It took him at least 2 weeks to get better. 2 weeks of carrying him everywhere. My shoulders are so sore. This momma needs a massage! When he finally was feeling up to it, he went out to play with the neighbors. He had a poopie diaper while I was watching Merrik (Clark's best friend). So both kids came in with me to change Clark. As I was changing Clark Merrik says, "Why are you wearing gloves?" I loved it. Totally made me laugh. Then when we walked out into the garage to through out the diaper Merrik says,"It smells in here!" Cracked me up again. Our cat boxes are in the garage. I just love the innocence but truthfulness kids have! Now Clark always says, "The trash truck is coming to pick up my poopie diapers!" Hilarious! Finally to add to the chaos we are getting ready to move. I have been interviewing rental property management companies, but they are expensive and Clint and I were kind of shocked at the loss we are going to take each month. Some how I'm sure it will work out. We have one more month until Clint is back. I've been busy trying to fix up the house and my dad has been helping me re-grout my kitchen counters. Another story for another post since this one is getting ridiculously long. Just wanted you to know why I haven't made a post in a while. Seems like all the health problems that Clark and I had to have, have ended up happening while Clint wasn't home. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have our parents so close. They have been such a tremendous help! Whether it's to babysit to give me a break or help me around the house or to do craft projects with, for me to vent to or just to visit. Clark and I have been very blessed to have all of them here. I knew I could have called any one of them when I took Clark to the ER and they would have gone with me in a heart beat, but I had no idea what the next day had in store for us so I let them sleep and kept them on hold for reinforcements if needed. Funny how when we first heard we were moving to South Korea people would ask if I was scared. I would say, heck no! I'm just worried about the plane ride and that's it. Now I'm terrified. I've been spoiled by my wonderful family, amazing friends, awesome weather and a home that we can afford, but now it's time to move on. EEK!