Ski on, ski off

Friday was an emotional rollercoaster ride.  It started off all wrong because BOTH kids were up ALL NIGHT FREAKING LONG and so I don’t think I slept more than an hour.  Every time I finished settling one kid, I’d try to go back to my bed, only to hear the other one start to cry or whine.  Kyle had an important meeting on Friday so I was trying to make sure he stayed asleep through it all, which meant I was literally running between rooms to keep them from waking up the whole family.  I gave up at around 5 am and just crammed myself into Valley’s bed because I was so dang tired and she wouldn’t stop talking about wanting to take a shower.  She was all congested so I told her she could take a shower in the morning…which she thought meant right then and there.  So then I had to listen to her ask if it was time yet from 4 am onward.

In addition to having two sick babes, the weather was doing us no favors.  I’m the kind of person who completely takes on the mood of the gray skies.  Here in Davis we have this crazy fog phenomenon (Tule fog).  It makes you not want to go outside at all.  it’s so blah.  And it’s really scary to drive in.  I dragggged myself to stroller strides (because I was so off that I knew that was the only way I’d work out) and even then, I was in a funk.  The kids fought the entire workout, and I spent more time breaking up their petty arguments than exercising and that made me even more annoyed.

The good news was that we got squeezed in for a doctor’s appointment that evening.  It seemed hard to wait until 4 pm but it was that or urgent care, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with flu exposure in urgent care.  I was 99% sure P had an ear infection (spoiler alert: I was right).

When I came home, I was determined to turn our group’s energy around.  I made myself a fresh pot of coffee and made my first cup super rich and indulgent, with coconut oil, almond cream, and MCT oil.  It completely hit the spot.  After a shower I read the kids a bunch of books until lunch time.  180 degrees accomplished thankyouverymuch.

I made myself the same thing for lunch that I’ve been into lately – kale massaged with home-made balsamic dressing, roasted butternut squash, roasted pecans, dried cranberries, and avocado.

It’s all I want lately.  For a second there I was reducing my avocado intake (because they are out of season and $$$) but without meat or cheese, I need the caloric oomph from somewhere.  The nuts are good too, of course, but I prefer more than three things in a salad.

P napped forever and it broke my heart when I had to wake him up at 3:30 to make sure we got to his MD appointment on time.  I hate waking sleeping kiddos, but it’s especially heart wrenching when they are sick and need the rest so badly.

P did, in fact, have a double ear infection (which explains so much about his mood this week).  But the other reason I brought him in was for a weird rash that appeared the day before.  Our doctor wasn’t sure it was a rash and thought it was actually burst blood vessels and was concerned that his platelets were low and sent us to get a CBC to see what was going on.  I was a little nervous at this point because I had no clue why or how or what caused him to have low platelets.  It’s a pretty random diagnosis. Also, she said our ski trip the next day was off the table.  WAHHHH!!!  I don’t know who was more disappointed – me or P.  We had this special one on one trip in the calendar for months and I’d done so much research and the weather was actually perfect and there was finally snow in Tahoe and and and…gah!  But all that was on the back burner because my true worry was about the platelets.  I was actively keeping my mind from going to bad places until we had real data to verify the MD’s hunch.  In the meantime I ran to the drug store to get P his FIRST ANTIBIOTICS ever.  I was kinda bummed, but I guess it’s good we made it nearly six years without antibiotics.  Since he was taking amoxicillin for the first time, the pharmacist had to go over the med, which included a nice little discussion about how he may have an allergic reaction since he’s never had a penicillin derivative before. Great!  Pile more worry on.  How uncool would THAT have been?!  Fortunately, he took the antibiotics without any issues.

Both kids were losing their minds as I tried to prepare dinner.  Moody, sick, miserable messes.  All of us.

I made this spinach and chicken waldorf salad from Bon Appetit.

It is pretty insane in that it has a TON of ingredients.  But like I said, I love a salad with a bunch of stuff going on.

Luckily, I had already made the dressing earlier that day, and had all the chicken from my food prep over the weekend.

Piled high!

Mid way through dinner the MD called with the lab results.  Platelets normal!  Ski trip back on!  Hooray!!!  [Rash must have been viral?  Most likely in response to his body’s struggling immune system already fighting off a bilateral ear infection]

We sent the kids to bed with our fingers crossed that we’d finally have a decent night’s sleep.  Pacman and I were all set for our ski adventure, so as long as his ears weren’t hurting any more, there wasn’t anything that could hold us back.

And the next day did NOT disappoint.