The dreaded...

We've been battling the dreaded H1N1 virus since last Wednesday.
Seth somehow got H1N1 and brought it home.
Thankfully, Brian and I are still healthy. We haven't caught it yet.

Seth's fever started out at over 103 last Wednesday. It would come down with ibuprofen (Tylenol didn't touch it) but the fever would shoot right back up as soon as it was time for more medicine. Seth had a high fever for about three days. His fever finally broke on Saturday and has been gone since. From everything I've read and have been told, no fever means he's no longer contagious. If Brian and I were going to get H1N1 from Seth, it would have been within the first 48 hours of Seth being at home sick.

Since we've broken Seth's fever, he's been showing the other symptoms of H1N1 more. He's fatigued. Oh, my word, is he ever. His energy levels for the day are gone within two hours of waking up. He sleeps 12 hours every night (or else he's a grumpy butt) so I know it's not lack of sleep.

He's lethargic.
His appetite? Gone. Completely gone.
Sore throat? Check. He sounds like he swallowed a frog.
Body aches? Yep.
The cough is the worst. Right now we're trying to keep him from getting pneumonia, so he's on a medicine to help clear up the fluid/mucous in his chest. If the medicine doesn't work, I really fear he'll be hospitalized.

H1N1 has had a massive breakout in our little town. We had a pregnant woman pass away from the H1N1 virus. She and her unborn baby are the first deaths in our town due to complications from H1N1. The other deaths in the state have been in counties that are further south. We're in the northern part of our state.

I guess I don't have to worry about getting Seth the H1N1 vaccine now. After he gets rid of the bug, he'll have the antibodies to fight it off. I guess that's a positive thing right now.

Seth hasn't been in school since last Wednesday. I don't see him going back to school till at least Friday of this week. There's no school on Monday next week, so he may not go back to school till Tuesday next week. The H1N1 has really kicked his little butt.

I'm thankful that Brian and I haven't caught the H1N1 yet, but I'm so sad that Seth has caught it. Watching him try to fight this off is heart wrenching at times. He's had coughing fits so bad that he's puked. He also has busted blood vessels in his eyes from coughing. We've also dealt with fever-induced nightmares (oh, those were not fun) and a sore chest from too much coughing.

When the H1N1 vaccine was in production, I was totally against it. I'm leery against most vaccines, both old and new (I don't agree with having to have the chicken pox vaccine before you attend Kindergarten). However, Seth has had all vaccines required to keep him healthy. After watching what Seth has went through with the H1N1, I really hope that most people out there are vaccinated against this. If you can get the vaccine, please do it. H1N1 is a nasty bug to get rid of. There's nothing the medical professionals can do. Yes, they can prescribe antivirals like Tamiflu to help ease your symptoms, but your body has to fight it off. Everybody reacts differently to the H1N1 virus. Just because someone didn't have it very bad doesn't mean that the next person won't develop a life-threatening complication.



So far today, Seth's been... well, not himself. He slept a full 12 hours last night, waking up once for more medicine. He was complaining of being tired at 10:30 this morning. His appetite is non-existent. I got a piece of toast in him this morning and had to fight to get a sandwich in him at lunchtime. He's drinking as much fluids as I can get into him. I've made him homemade Pedialyte to help him. He's not coughing much today, thankfully. When he does cough you can hear the mucous in his chest. He's not doing much other than lay around, which is fine. He needs his rest so he can get better...

Hope for Seth to recover quickly from this illness. It makes me so sad to see him like this. I miss my "normal" little boy.

Apparently I'm not a good blogger...

Man, I'm having a heck of a time keeping up with everything... my blog included.

Our life has been eventful, to say the least.

We had to make the hard decision to put Smudgie to sleep on September 14. Along with her allergies/asthma, she developed a mass between her heart and her lungs and it was causing her lungs to fill up with so much fluid that she couldn't breathe. She also had a positive feline leukemia test. The vet was very nice to us about the whole thing and was very understanding. Seth and I cried (and Brian rolled his eyes at both of us) but we're moving on. Smokie's adjusting well to not having Smudgie around. Seth's already begging for another kitty (Smudgie was his cat) but we're going to wait till the first of the year or so.

Brian's been working pretty regularly. It's so nice to have him back to work. We're working on getting bills all caught back up and hopefully getting a month ahead on the major bills so we don't have to worry about falling behind again. It's a work in progress.

Seth's had an array of health issues. Two ER visits and multiple doctors visits have resulted in Seth being put on medicine for his reflux (Zantac) and his allergies (Zyrtec & Nasonex) full-time now. I used to only have to give him his allergy medicine in the Spring and Fall, but now he's developed severe allergies. I'm going to try to get him in to an asthma & allergy specialist that we have in town to figure out what we can do for him. The poor kid is miserable most days.

Seth's having issues in school yet again. His teacher put him on a behavior chart and is making him get 14 stamps in order to attend his class Halloween party at the end of the month. I don't agree with it at all and I've voiced my opinion to no avail. Brian and I are talking about switching schools for him soon. Seriously, I shouldn't have to tell my kid to quit talking and to quit asking questions. The whole point of school is to learn and you can't learn if you're constantly being shushed.

Seth also got sent home from school today for tummy issues. His reflux is acting up for some reason. He's laying in his room watching a movie right now. I'm hoping that helps him fell better so he can go back to school tomorrow. I'm spending my evening disinfecting the house.

Brian and I are working on getting the kitchen ready to be redone. We're painting the cabinets, walls, putting up some new border, and putting some new flooring in. It won't be a very expensive project since we're doing the work ourselves (the FIL even offered to help!), but it will be time consuming. I'm looking forward to getting rid of my yellow kitchen!

We took Seth to a local pumpkin patch yesterday and we're all ready for fall now. I got three huge pumpkins (one for each of us), a big bale of hay, two sets of fodder shocks, five gourds, a set of Indian corn, and a white pumpkin for $40. I didn't think that was too bad of a deal.

That's about it from us. Life has just been overly hectic with the usual daily activities...

Sick kid.

I've had a sick kid since Sunday. He's had belly pain to the point of screaming and crying curled up in a ball on his floor. Two ER trips and a trip to his doctor this week haven't made a difference -- no one can figure it out. The only thing we know for sure is that he's dehydrated (duh, you'd be dehydrated if you puked nightly, too) and that his allergies are acting up a bit. His pediatrician put him on Nasonex and an antibiotic in hopes of getting things better with him.

Seth finally woke up this morning and proudly proclaimed that his tummy felt better and that it didn't hurt anymore. Thank goodness!

I made him some a homemade electrolyte drink to help him get rehydrated before going to school again. He's missed school all of this week so far. He's hoping to go to school tomorrow, but he knows that right now it's a wait and see thing. If he doesn't go to school tomorrow, then he won't go back till Tuesday due to the Labor Day holiday on Monday.

I wanted to post this recipe for the electrolyte drink. It's handy to keep around! You likely have everything at home to make this and it's cheaper than buying Pedialite at the grocery store.

Homemade Electrolyte Drink
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Mix it all up in a pitcher and serve to sick kiddies!


Other than the sick kid, I've also had a sick husband. Brian went to the ER on Sunday evening and was diagnosed with Acute Bronchitis for the second time in a year. He was put on an inhaler and an antibiotic and told to lay off of work for 2 days. He did what he was told and he's finally feeling tons better.

I've also had a sick cat. Smudgie, my youngest cat, was officially diagnosed with asthma on Monday. She spent the weekend with fluid in her lungs (I'm still trying to figure out how that happened). She was given a shot of lasix and a shot of an extra-strong allergy medicine. We now have lasix pills to give her if she ever develops the fluid on her lungs again and she now takes a daily allergy pill to help keep her symptoms under control.

It's been an exhausting week, to say the least.

Vacation week!

Brian's been on a week of (paid!) vacation this week. His vacation time started at 6:45 last Sunday, so it ends at the same time tomorrow evening.

We obviously couldn't afford a big, fancy-pants vacation due to the fact that Brian's been furloughed for the better part of seven months, but we made do with what we had.

We rented a movie from Redbox and had a movie night with Seth. Seth wanted to rent Bolt. I think it's now his new favorite movie cause there's a daddy train in the movie.

Seth went to my mom's house and stayed the night with her one night this week. Brian and I went out to dinner (which we haven't done for many months) and had a nice late evening walk (which we haven't done since I was pregnant with Seth).

We took Seth mini-golfing. It was cheap fun for us. Seth had a blast!

Today we topped off our week of vacation with a trip to Blennerhassett Island. It's a historical island that's near our home. We got to take a sternwheeler over to the island, which was Seth's first time ever on a boat. He was nervous at first, but he quickly got over it when he realized that it was a slow boat. Even better, Seth got to steer the boat when we went to the island AND on our way back to the mainland after our trip to the island was over!

We toured the Blennerhassett Mansion. There's a few things in the mansion that belonged to the Blennerhassett family, which I thought was nifty. The mansion was built in 1802, so for those few pieces to survive for that amount of time is pretty spiffy.

We also went on a horse-drawn covered wagon ride. That was also a first for Seth. He thoroughly enjoyed it!

We spent about three and a half hours on the island before coming back to the mainland. Seth totally enjoyed himself. He made quite a few new friends, too. He loved the tour guides in the mansion and asked them a million and ten questions. They were so courteous and answered every single question Seth asked. I got lots of compliments from others that toured with us and the tour guides themselves about how Seth was a smart boy and how well his questions were worded. I also got complimented on how inquisitive Seth is. Curiosity means they're smart, right? If so, I have a mini-Einstein on my hands.

Now that we're all wore out and exhausted from being in the 90 degree heat for most of the afternoon, we're enjoying an evening at home.

I have lots of pictures of our excursions over the past week, but I'm nervous to post them here. If you're my buddy on MySpace, that's where they're at.

I'm going to go enjoy my last night of vacation snuggling with my hubby. This is the last night that I know he'll be home for, so I'm going to make the most of it. I'm going to enjoy snuggling him in bed, too. I miss that the most when he's working...

Good news abounds.

A quick rundown of today's happenings...

Brian went to his rules refresher class. Apparently there are new rules and regulations in place and Brian has to have a physical and he has to take his PODS (it's a 5+ hour long rules test completely done on computers) before he's allowed to hold a job. He goes for his physical on Wednesday morning and he can't do the physical and the PODS in the same day because they're two separate pay claims. So, he's going to go take his PODS tomorrow at one point and hopefully he'll be back to working full time by the end of this week.

Brian is getting paid for all this stuff. He made $280 just today! Of course, after taxes, we won't see much of that. A little bit is better than nothing, right?

Also, Brian was told that the company is not planning on furloughing him again this year. So, he should have a job through at least December. Yeah! They're also opening up the boards specifically for these guys to hold jobs and work. Double yeah! Good things are finally happening.

The only downfall to all this wonderful news is that if Brian fails his PODS that he has to wait a full seven days before he tries to pass them. So, hope that he passes them on his first try. He's never failed them in the past, so hopefully it won't happen, but I'm just worried because he's been out of work for so long that he might be a little rusty with the rules, so to speak. It doesn't help that they added a few new rules while Brian was out on furlough status.

Also, we won't see a paycheck until at least the 22nd of August. Hope that we can make all our bills last till then. We have a little bit from unemployment that we'll get tomorrow and then the rest of our money will be from the yard sale we're having this weekend.

Seth goes on Thursday morning to get his last shot for kindergarten in the fall. It's his second chicken pox shot. Thankfully, it's the only shot he needs. Seth's not excited about it but when I told him that he had a choice of getting the shot and going to school or staying home with momma all day long, he quickly changed his mind. He loves school!

Everything's almost ready for our big yard sale this weekend. We're having it Thursday through Saturday. The weather looks great for Saturday, but Thursday and Friday are forecasted to be filled with rain. Yuck. Do a no-rain dance for us!

Oh, I must mention that I have one amazingly smart little brother. He recently took his ACT exam for the second time and scored a 32 on it! He has colleges knocking on his door! He's heading up to a college in mid-August to check it out and see about going there. My worry about the college is that it's one of the top party schools in the nation and I'd hate to see my brother get mixed up in something like that. He's a smart kid, but he has zero common sense.

I think I hear a bowl of ice cream calling me...

It's about time!

Somehow, someway, we were presented with some good news today.

My husband was finally recalled to work after over six months of being furloughed.

This is good!
My husband won't be the low man on the seniority totem pole (yay!).

Now let's just hope that they actually open spots up and let him work! The trainmaster said that Brian should be working by Tuesday, so we'll see.

Brian goes for a rules refresher class Monday morning and he might need a physical before he can go back to work. I think the rule for physicals is six months, but I could be wrong. If that's the case, then he won't need a physical because he last worked in late April of this year.

If he doesn't need a physical, it's possible that he could be back working by the middle of next week.

Things were looking so gloomy. Bills are piling up and we have no way to pay them. Hopefully with Brian's call back to work, things will finally start turning around. I miss financial stability.

And, it figures that Brian would get recalled to work the week before the big yard sale I've been planning for about a month now. It's okay; I can manage. I'd much rather have a regular paycheck. I can manage taking care of the yard sale by myself if they'll just let him work! Plus, I'm sure I can bribe my little brother for some help. He's willing to do just about anything if you bribe him enough... usually with money of some sort. He's a teenager with a car and no job, so of course he's going to want money!

I just wanted to share my good news.
Keep your fingers crossed for us. Just because he's been called back to work doesn't mean that it'll happen, but it's a lot more promising than being on furlough status!

General ramblings.

Alright, first thing on my list today is a vent.
I have a few fellow railroad wives/significant others that follow me, so they'll totally understand this vent.
The new hours of service (HOS) regulation went into effect on the 16th. Prior to the HOS going into effect, the terminal that my husband works at was barely keeping things running with the very few amount of people that they "allow" to keep working. My husband was also told by the trainmaster himself that he was coming back to work this week.
It didn't happen.
We need this! Gah!
Hopefully things will hit the brick wall like they usually do and my husband will be back to work before too much longer.

Alright, vent over.

Second order of business...
How the heck do kids grow so fast?! Seth has outgrown every single pair of underwear he owns. His feet have grown to the point that his socks are barely fitting him. He has one pair of shorts that fit him properly. Thankfully he has a few pairs of jeans and t-shirts that he can still wear (thank goodness for cheap clothes!). But, seriously, what did I feed him to make him grow so fast?! We got a clothing voucher from the state for clothes for Seth, so I'm planning on using that very soon. Seth's tushie won't stay in the undies he has for much longer.

Has anyone been shopping Kroger's awesome Mega Sale? It's been great! I've been stocking up on things and have been spending less than a dollar most of the time! Example: I got 7 packages of Playtex Gloves, two boxes of Kleenex, one Scotch-Brite scrubber refill for my dishwand, and five cans of cat food for my cat with no teeth and spent less than $2! You just can't beat that! The Mega Sale continues this week and I'm armed with lots of coupons and ready to go! I'm going to start tomorrow and hopefully have a good week and get everything I'm wanting. Free cleaning gloves, free cat treats, cheap tissues, and even some cheap food and pop ($.49 for Coke 2-liters!).

I'm planning a yard sale sometime soon. I've already talked to my neighbors and we're trying to come up with a date to have the sale together. More people participating = more customers. Seth's going to have a lemonade stand and the money is going to help pay for a new bunkbed mattress since he decided that it would be fun to rip gigantic holes into the mattress he's using now. There are at least 20 1-2 inch (some bigger than that, even) holes in his mattress and he also took the liberty of ripping the stuff inside of the mattress out. *sigh*

Anywho, I'm hoping to have the yard sale in the next two weeks or so. I need the money to help make my mortgage payment. Brian's unemployment just doesn't cut it.

I'm also looking for a job. I've just started, so nothing's came my way just yet. I would love to find a job cleaning a few people's houses (I can do that on my terms -- get there early in the morning and be done by lunchtime!) but I haven't stumbled upon anyone who's interested just yet. If it's meant to be, it'll happen.

That's it for me.
Hope y'all have a good week!