Let's Talk about January

Now that it's February, I'd like to talk about January and what a lousy month it was. 

An Ear Infection

Remember how I said that I was probably going to post more Christmas stuff in mid-January?  Yeah.  Well, on Jan. 13th I came down with a little cold.  I felt generally crummy, but no big deal; I can handle a little sneezing and watery eyes.  Then it started getting better and I thought I was through it when my ears started being bugged.  I spent Tuesday night awake.  I cried for a long time.  Eventually, after realizing sleep was futile, I sat on the couch and read.  I fell asleep out of complete exhaustion (while sitting up, mind you) at 5:30 a.m.

That day I went to the doctor.  I know I'm sick when I pay $20 to see the doctor and then another $35 on meds.  I don't spend $55 on ANYTHING.  But it was well worth it to be able to sleep Wed. night (and every night thereafter). 

Even though I could sleep again, Thursday and Friday were awful.  Usually Rob has some flexibility in his schedule, and he can be home when I'm feeling lousy.  It wasn't the case on those days.  So I made sure my kids didn't die and threw them crackers for lunch and made frozen pizzas for dinner.  They were glorious days.

Anyways, I was getting better steadily after that, and I'm nearly 100% now.  I would say 100% without the qualification, but I still can't fully hear out of that ear.  It's still popping and obviously has liquid in it.  But whatever.  I'll take it.

What I've Learned from this Ear Infection:
1 - I can semi-take care of my kids with an ear infection.  When I have a fever, usually I faint and therefore can't get out of bed at all.  I was thankful that didn't have a fever and therefore could get out of bed, even if I did spend all day on the couch.
2 - Ears are wonderful things, when they work right.  When they don't, they're horrible things.
3 - After not hearing nuances in sound for over a week, it's fun when the hearing starts coming back.  Noticing what 2 ears really do for you:  most importantly, I've found, 2 ears adds depth to sound, and a sort of sharpness or clarity to it.
4 - If everyone heard their own voice echoing inside their head, no one would talk loudly.  Yelling at my kids was impossible for about a week, simply because it was physically painful to me to raise my voice at all.  (Really, I shouldn't yell at them anyways, but it is at times useful to be able to raise your voice.)
5 - "Accomplishing" things is a matter of perspective.  On Friday my accomplishment was not sending Teancom away in the morning because I was too tired (this was about my ONLY accomplishment all day).  On Monday my accomplishment was doing some laundry.  On Tuesday my accomplishment was finishing the laundry and the dishes that had piled up for over a week. 
6 - I ought to be a little more patient and understanding when my kids complain about ear pain.

What I'll Miss and Not Miss, All at the Same Time:
I'll miss the metallic version of everyone's voice.  When it was really bad, everyone's voice sounded like Mystique's.  You know, in X-Men.  And I've figured out what that effect is:  It's a two-tone effect.  For 2 days I heard every single tone as 2 slightly-dissonant tones.  It's really, really cool for voices.  If you can imagine, though, it's TERRIBLE for music.  If music always sounded to me like I did during those 2 days, I'd never listen to music again.

 A Stomach Issue

On Sunday the 24th, I stayed home from church.  I was feeling better, but even simple things were still exhausting.  It was good, then, that it was already the plan to stay home, since Tank woke up puking.  He threw up every 5 minutes for about an hour and a half. 

So Rob took Miciah and Elijah to church.  ...  They all walked back in the door about an hour and a half later.  I just looked at them, wondering what was going on, and Miciah said, "I threw up."  She didn't just throw up, though.  She ran out of sacrament meeting, then threw up in the hallway and tried so hard to not make a mess everywhere, to no avail.  Rob and a few other people took about half an hour to clean it up.  I was grateful to the others who helped, especially since I wasn't there to clean or comfort.

What's funny about this story is that it was so high profile.  Rob was conducting the meeting, so they had to excuse him.  No sneaking out the back door for the Thacker family!  ...  With everyone sick, Rob just came home and stayed home.  It was an admission of defeat.  We let the kids watch PBS kids all day, which was a real treat for them, since normally TV isn't allowed on Sundays.  It was a great day! 

Oh.  Poor Tank who had it so bad.  He had to wear pull-ups all day.  This was somewhat humiliating for him, since he hasn't needed a pull-up for day or night for months.  It was also upsetting to him to not be able to fully control his bowels.  After about the 10th messy pull-up, he came up to me.  He was looking so sad.  I said, "What's wrong?"  While looking at the ground he said, "I pooped AGAIN."  It was so sad and so funny all at the same time.  I gave him big hugs, and then put him in a clean pull-up.

But by the evening, both kids were fine and no one else got the bug, so it wasn't so horrible.  I mean, if you're going to have a stomach bug, a 12-hour stomach bug is the way to go!

February
...

By the time I was feeling better, and I mean like REALLY better, it was Thursday, Jan. 28th.  At that point I just wrote off the rest of January and declared it February.  I'm glad that it's now officially a new month.