Teamwork

Here is a picture of Jack and Maddy's latest efforts.  They watch each other intently and you can almost see the light bulbs go off as one gets an idea and the other one decides to follow suit.  Together, they pushed the toilet paper down the hallway and up against the kitchen cupboard to reach things on the counter.  This week they have started to climb onto the dining room chairs, attempt to climb onto the window sill and stand on all of their toys.  This is rather frightening to watch and I struggle with knowing when to let them explore and when to say no.  When they hear the word no, they look at me with a twinkle in their eye and a huge grin on their face and then they proceed to continue doing whatever it is I had asked them not to do. 

Things have been pretty miserable at our house this week.  It all started last Tuesday night when the babies went to bed, seeming to be fine.  Maddy woke up two hours later with a horrible cough and seemed to be struggling to breathe. As new parents Brad and I often struggle with knowing when we are just paranoid new parents and when something is actually wrong.  We followed our gut and drove to the ER, and we are so glad we did!  By the time we got there Maddy was really struggling to breathe, had a high fever and was pretty lethargic.  After several hours (and shots, nebulizer treatments, a crazy nasal suction test that looked horrific, and a chest xray), we learned that she has bronchiolitis.  And so, one of the most challenging weeks of our lives began...we watched and waited for Jack to show symptoms and sure enough Saturday morning he started with the cough.  No one in our house has slept more than 1-2 hours at a time for the past week.  I forgot how hard it was to function with so little sleep.  The babies are slowly getting better but they have had barely any appetite, awful coughing fits and constant runny noses.  Now, I'm starting to get sick and trying with all my might to stay healthy.  It is hard when both babies are in pain, crying and just want to be held.  These are the moments that are so hard as a mother because I want to be able to comfort my babies but can only really help them one at a time.  We're hoping things get back to normal in our household pretty soon and hoping everyone stays healthy..is it springtime yet?!