Life is Good (Again)!

This may be another long post, please bear with me! These have been a tough couple of weeks on the Eich family, all having to do with being SICK. I guess it kicked off when we were still in our apt. and Andrew brought swine flu home with him from Tokyo (lovely). Then shortly after we moved to our new house Connor came down with a bad cold. He got over it, but along the way he passed it to me in the form of a nasty sinus infection (I have already written about this). I got some antibiotics for it but before they could work their magic I ended up at the ER at 10pm on a Saturday night (and for those that have not experienced this before- the ER on a Saturday night is NOT a fun place to be- all the crazies are out!!). Basically my sinus infection had escalated so badly that I literally felt like I had been shot in the face. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I felt like I could barely breathe. So they hooked me up with an anti-inflammatory steroid (I think that's what finally helped) and pain meds and I was good to go. Fast forward three days, the infection was finally gone, but I started to have a reaction to the antibiotics whereby I threw up literally every 1-2 hours for almost 24 hours. It sucked. At first this scared Connor and he would cry every time I'd have to make a run for the bathroom. So I told him that Mommy was only pretending to throw up- that it was a fun game. From then on whenever I'd have to throw up he'd run to the bathroom with me and pretend to throw up beside me, giggling the whole time (which made me laugh too.) Even now if you ask him what Mommy sounds like when she throws up he can do a ridiculously funny and eerily accurate impression. I got over this as the antibiotics wore off but it was no more that a couple days before Connor came down with another cold over the weekend (this is not the norm for our family!!). On Monday of last week I took him to his pediatrician's office for what I thought would be a quick visit. However after listening to Connor's breathing (and a whole lot of tests) he advised us that we should take Connor to the hospital ASAP. Apparently his breathing was too rapid and his blood oxygen levels were too low. I was scared to death. Once we got to the hospital, Connor had to be hooked up to oxygen (NO FUN for a toddler) and monitored constantly. We spent three long nights in the hospital, with either Andrew or I sharing a bed with him and the both of us at his side at all times. It is absolutely the most helpless feeling to see your child so sick. He was such a trooper too- just laying there in the bed in his little hospital gown, Puppy tucked under his arm while watching cartoons and reading books, little tubes up his nose. Finally on Thursday morning his levels returned to normal and they allowed us to leave. He had been diagnosed with viral pneumonia. It's now the following Tuesday and he is 100% back to normal, thank goodness!! It continues to amaze me just how sick kids can be yet how quickly they can totally bounce back. Here's a picture I snapped on Andrew's phone of Connor once he was feeling better. He was zooming around on a toy car, about to crash it into the nurses station ;) As you can imagine, everyone at the hospital just loved Connor and got a real kick out of him!

To all our family and friends that knew what was going on and how worried and scared Andrew and I were, thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers- we are so appreciative!!

Now that last week is behind us, and ALL of us are feeling a-okay, there is so much that I am thankful for at the moment, here's a few:

* The health of my family- finally!!
* Our house and our new town which we are so in love with. I am still shocked at how friendly and welcoming everyone is here. All the Moms talk to me on the playground. Everyone says hello. My neighbors have come over to introduce themselves and make sure we were off to a good start. One even brought a bundt cake. I just didn't know that happened anymore!
* That this past weekend I got to go away for a girls weekend in Atlantic City and had a blast! I was going to cancel given the week we had just had with Connor and all but he was totally better by the weekend and Andrew encouraged me to still go. So glad I did!
*When I got home I got to see what Andrew had bought while I was away- a riding lawn mower (I knew it was only a matter or time- he has been talking about and researching these things for as long as I can remember). As you can imagine, Connor has loved going for rides on the tractor, and I really get a kick out of their matching John Deere hats.



*Our amazing weather right now. We've been eating lunch outside on the patio every day for the past few days. Connor can entertain himself for long periods of time out in the back yard, just throwing rocks or kicking the ball around. This morning I even read for a bit while he was busy out there playing. So fun! All of the snow has now melted which is hard to believe, being that this was our street only last week:

*This weekend we're getting our first sitter here so that Andrew and I can go out to dinner. We're going to The Melting Pot, one of my fave date spots only to be found in the burbs. It's seriously been years and years since we've been to one and I am sooooo excited!
*Also worth mentioning is that two weeks ago Connor started pre-school. Obviously this is a big deal deserving of its own post but I the time just got away from me. It's only for two hours two days a week but I can't even put into words how much he loves it. Literally every day he asks if we're going to school. I love to peek in his classroom and see what he's doing. The other day I looked in and he was standing at an easel in a little smock painting. Today he was holding hands with the other kids doing "Ring around the Rosy" and then sitting down for a show and tell (they were asked to bring in their favorite stuffed animal, obviously Connor brought Puppy!). Every day I bring home all of Connor's beautiful artwork from the day which I've been hanging in his playroom. They also have all sorts of activities during the week outside of the classroom (free- too!) On Friday afternoon they showed a Dr. Seuss movie for the kids and had a pizza party. This Sat. morning is a "Dads and Donuts" (this makes me laugh a bit) thing for Andrew and Connor to go to, and a chance for Andrew to see Connor's classroom and to meet some other Dads. My intention was just for Connor to be exposed to other kids right off the bat since we don't really know anyone here yet but its turned out to be so much more than that and we both couldn't be more pleased!
*And last but certainly not least, I am so happy and thankful to announce that we have another baby on the way!! Baby Eich 2.0 is due Sept. 7th, I'm 14 weeks along right now and finally feeling really, really great (all that sickness made for an extra tough first trimester, not to mention the whole move/new house thing!) Here's a picture of me sporting my new baby bump (and yes its mildly ridiculous that I'm showing this early but apparently that is to be expected the second time around and I'm not really minding it too much). Pardon the gym clothes.

Needless to say, we just couldn't be more thrilled! We know Connor is going to be the best big brother in the world and the spacing of the two kids is just perfect for us. We are already so looking forward to meeting this new baby!

Life is Good!!