A Rough Week

Whew! Last week was a rough one in the Smith house.  Brent put in 96 hours, which should probably be illegal.  We had a suicide in my extended family, then Carter came down with the stomach bug.  Let's just say I'm glad to put it behind us.  We're inching closer to tax day and I'm getting impatient waiting for it to get here.

I'll start with Brent's work...We are on the tail end of this job and neither one of us can wait for it to die down.  He has been working at the same place since June and it has mostly been 7 day work-weeks for him since then.  At this point, if he were laid off for 6 months we wouldn't even mind it a bit!  That's not to say I'm not thankful for all of the money we have been able to save and start driving down our mortgage, but it's just not worth it anymore.  We think after this week, he will either get laid off or at least be cut back to a somewhat normal schedule.

Then, on Tuesday evening, I got a phone call from my mom saying that a cousin of ours had killed himself.  He was a 41 year old dermatologist with a wife and five kids from 2 to 16...so to say it was hard doesn't even begin to explain it.  He had been struggling with depression and it had just become too much.  Depression runs in my family and if anything comes from his death, I hope that people can just learn that depression is just like heart disease or diabetes...it is something you are dealt, sometimes through genetics, and needs treatment just the same.  It shouldn't be something looked at as "crazy" or as a weakness.  

I ended up having to miss the visitation, however, because that Friday morning about an hour and a half into my work day, I got a call from Carter's babysitter saying that he had thrown up.  So I packed it up and headed to get him.  He was in a good mood when I got there and when we got home we even played outside for a little bit before going in for a nap.  I had convinced myself that his milk or breakfast must have just not settled well and that was going to be it.  But when that nap ended up lasting nearly 4 hours, I knew that wasn't the case.  He got up and was feverish and clingy.  Throughout the afternoon, we just sat in the floor under a cover and he drifted in and out of sleep in my arms.  Brent got home around 7:30 and at that point, Carter was really out of it, so I went ahead and took him to his crib.  By 1AM, he was crying for me and I brought him to our bed and turned on some cartoons for him.  He laid on/beside me until 5AM when Brent's alarm went off, snoozing a bit but mainly just laying and watching TV (which he never does!!).  I decided then to take him to the living room to feed him a little bit of breakfast (just some Puffs and a banana) and get him some Pedialite and by 6 I had him back in the crib for a little sleep.  Thankfully, he made it til 8:30 so I could get some rest before the funeral.

Brent's parents came over to watch him while I was gone.  His fever was gone at this point and he was going between spurts of energy and times when he just wanted to be held.  I hated leaving him, but I knew I needed to go.  He did fine while I was gone, but what started as throwing up had turned into diarrhea.  Thankfully, it didn't bother him at all but it gave him the worst diaper rash no matter how on top of diaper changes I was.  

He ended up staying with Brent's dad on Monday so he could finish recovering and he has been back to the babysitter's the past couple of days.  Besides wanting to go to bed about an hour earlier than usual, he is back to normal!  I also think he is getting all four canine teeth right now, so that could have something to do with it all.  That will bring him up to 16 teeth!  But I think we will be done until 2 year molars at that point so I guess it will be worth it. 

Anyways, to brighten things up a bit, I did put out some Easter decor and Brent brought me in some March flowers.  Here's to a fast and better next few weeks!!