blur.

The last several days have all melted into one. I've mentioned how busy this time of year is for us. My overtime at work began last week too. Saturday I came home from work at 6:30,super excited for dinner since I had splurged on raviolis and sauce and stuffed bread at the farmers market that morning. Dinner was on the table when I walked in and my oldest was on the couch crying in pain.

Evan had just gotten home the day before from a two week visit at his paternal grandparents in North Carolina. They had taken him to our state fair in the morning and in the afternoon a mild headache started. It's not that unusual for that to happen after his once yearly visit to N. Carolina. He stays up late, eats junk food and gets spoiled rotten and comes home out of sorts and emotional and over tired every year. So we didn't think much of it at first. Ibuprofen had seemed to calm his headache Friday night and when I left for work Saturday he was sleeping.

So Saturday when I got home and he was crying on the couch we had it chalked up to a vacation hangover. My husband said he had been crying off and on most of the day,  and he had given him Ibuprofen in the morning, so we tried another dose. After he took it he asked me to call the doctor. As we were waiting for a return call, he got sick. We thought it was from the Ibuprofen. The doctor called, I explained what was going on and she asked if he could touch his chin to his chest. He couldn't, but I had no idea what that meant. She told me with a headache that severe for several hours to bring him into the ER. The Husband already had a gig scheduled with his band, I told him to go ahead. I figured Evan was just dehydrated and would spend a few hours at the ER and we'd go home. The Husband brought our youngest to his parents house and we dashed off in separate directions with dinner still on the table.

At the ER they got us in immediately, which was unusual, but I was grateful because he was in so much pain. When the doctor came in she was asking about tick bites (he's had several), diabetes in the family, said his ears were both swollen and maybe it was bilateral ear infections. Then she asked him to touch his chin to his chest. He still couldn't. She looked up at me startled and asked if I knew he couldn't do that. I told her the dr. on the phone had asked me that too, but I didn't know what it meant. Next thing I knew people were coming in with masks and gowns and putting quarantine signs on his door. They hooked him up to an IV and started giving him morphine for the pain. We got in to the ER around 7:30 on Sat. night and this was all happening by probably 8pm.

So now, I'm freaking out, because I'm here alone with him and I am terrible in emergencies. Seriously, I am the worst person to have around in any sort of crisis. I've been working a ton of overtime and I'm just exhausted, so in addition to being craptastic in emergencies, I'm also super tired and so now I'm crying and looking like a totally incapable mother.


Apparently  not being able to touch your chin to your neck is an indication of meningitis. I didn't even know what that meant, but it was clearly serious. Over the next couple of hours they did blood work, cat scans and a lumbar puncture. By 3am Evans dad had been in and out and Kevin had finished his gig and came in. I was working my way through several extra large coffees. At 3 they let us know they were going to admit him, and we'd be getting a room shortly. I was supposed to be working a 12 hour shift Sunday morning. At 6am, I left the ER (still waiting on a room) to stop at work and let them know what was going on and go home and get a few hours sleep and a shower while Kev was there.

Since then everything is a blur. It's hard to keep track of what day it is most of the time. We're incredibly lucky that we have an amazing state of the art childrens hospital here. We've been staying at Golisano Childrens Hospital. There are two gorgeous childrens floors with every accommodation you could think of available. Evan has had his own room (which was quarantined until yesterday, but I think all rooms are singles) a flat screen TV, private bathroom, PS3 with a library for movies and games. The staff and the care level are really exceptional.

I've been averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night staying at the hospital all day every day with an exception of about 2-3 hours a day during which I go home and shower and change. Work has been amazing and covered all my shifts this week. I know it's a lot of extra work for them too since it's opening and everyone is already overworked and exhausted.

We're waiting on the bacterial cultures to come back and they're hoping to discharge him today, but I don't know for sure. He had a rough night last night and needed more morphine. Today he's back on Tylenol but he's slept all day and the hour he was awake didn't want to eat, drink, watch tv or anything. Today has not been a good day. Yesterday he was up and walking a little bit for the first time since this all started, and it might have just taken to much out of him.

So. That's what's been going on with us the last several days. Oh and I have 30 lbs of tomatoes I got Sat. morning planning on processing that night. They're probably rotting on my counter. School starts next week and I haven't finished shopping. I'm supposed to be hosting a bachelorette party on Friday at my house. I don't really have the time to be taking a week off of work and I don't know how it's going to affect the rest of my years benefit time (which doesn't reset until next July). Everyone tells me not to worry, just to focus on Evan, and I pretty much am. I mean, I'm not going to work, I've thrown all the party info completely in someone elses lap. The days will come and go, and things will either get done or not get done. And while I'm in the hospital all day everyday, and obviously Evan is my first concern, of course I worry and think about these other things. I mean, the rest of the world is still spinning, even if it doesn't look like it from this 12th floor window.

summer snapshots series four

Still busy, busy, busy and no end in sight. My academic year work schedule began again last Sunday so quite a bit of overtime coming up, I won't have a day off again until the 2nd. We bought a car, well a van, and it's not new but it was triple what I've ever spent on a car before and it makes me a little sickish. The next few weeks are still going to be jam packed but I should be posting with a little more regularity in the next week or so. I haven't even been keeping up on the blogs I like to read on a regular basis and I didn't realize how much I liked that little bit of time spent glimpsing into other peoples days and moments.



Anyway, I hope to be here more soon, but in the meantime here's a peek at what we've been up to:

 What 30 looks like. That happens to be a sweatshirt I've had since I was 15.

 My baby turned 7. SEVEN. Oh, my. We got him the soccer net, we need to find a good spot on our yard for it still. He wants to be a goalie.

See you again very soon!

Summer Snapshots Series III (and birthday season begins!)

My moms birthday kicked us off on August 4th

mmmmm cake and ice cream

Mom and sister Holly at the Family Campout. My dad has 11 siblings and most of them (and their families) get together once a year for a weekend camping trip. It started when I was the age my oldest is now. It's been neat watching the generations go by. Now the cousins that were kids when it started are bringing our kids.

Mom and sister over for my birthday today. I know we all look pregnant, but only one of us actually is (ha!) Holly is due in February.

One of my favorite wines, which is giving me killer heartburn right this second. Is this what 30 is like?!

This boy cracks me up.


Kev cooked me scallops and steak tonight. nom, nom. And he is the official birthday cake maker. 2 birthday cakes down, 4 to go!

Next week I go back on my academic year schedule. Back to evenings at work, and 12 hour Sundays. :sigh: It's also opening, so overtime the next few weeks, right in the middle of birthday season and back to school. This time of year is always insane. I'll be continuing with snapshot posts for the rest of August and then hope to be spending a little more time in this space. . .

quote for the week (i turn 30)

Maybe in 10 years, or 20 years or more (or less!) I'll laugh over how seriously I took turning 30. It's not that I'm afraid of it (anymore). I'm a little sad about leaving my 20's behind. A little scared of what my 30's might bring. I always thought I'd be more, have more, by the time I turned 30. But 30 always seemed so far away. Now it's 4 days away.

It just seems so solid. Such a heavy, tangible number. In some ways I feel lost - like I should have 'found' myself by now or something. In other ways I feel like I'm moving towards a more 'real' me. Like everything that I do discover about myself now is the authentic version. I'm no longer just trying things on for size, playing dress up in someone elses life.

I think the above quote needs to be my theme for my 30th year. It's a little bit of everything I need.

Summer Snapshots: Series II

Spent some time hiking at one of our favorite local places. It's the first time this summer I've been able to head out there and I'm so glad we made the time.

Squeezing in small batch nightly canning sessions.

And our first grilled pizza of the summer. I can not believe how quickly this summer is flying by.

Hope you're enjoying your days. See you soon!