Happy New Year....and a hospitalization :(

We had a great New Year's at the Povah house. Papa and Gwen offered to have the kids spend the night New Year's Eve, so Adam and I went out to dinner with Alicia and TJ, then met the Varcoe's out at Blue Moon Piano Bar. We had a blast and it was great to have a night out with friends. The kids also had a great night. Papa got the twins new sleeping bags (Princesses for Aubs and Toy Story for Owen) and they thought they were awesome. Gwen bought New Year's party hats and whistles and they had a party. Everyone went to bed by 8:30 and it was smooth sailing. I wasn't sure what to expect since it was the kids' first time staying the night there, but they liked it. Heck, dad even told me the kids were spending the night there again in a couple of weeks...ok, by me!

The week after New Year's was rough, and that's putting it mildly. Aiden started getting really sick...coughing, low grade fevers, irritable and refusing to sleep at night. We ended up taking him to see Dr. Secory twice that week, but both times he said it was just a bad viral infection. I knew something else was up, because Aiden was a totally different kid. It was miserable. On Friday morning Aubrey woke up with a 104 degree temp and started vomiting. Adam was out of town and I had two out of three kids really sick. I was exhausted. We took Aubs in and she tested positive for a UTI, gave us some meds, and we were on our way. She couldn't keep the meds down, so I ended up taking her to a walk-in clinic where they gave her a strong antibiotic shot. The next morning her temp was still really high and she continued to vomit, so the doctor recommended we take her to the ER. She ended up getting admitted to Blank Children's Hospital that day. Her white blood cell count was super elevated and she was very dehydrated, so she spent the next 36 hours hooked up to IV's. The UTI probably turned into a kidney infection, which is why she was so sick. We had lots of visitors in the hospital, Papa and Gwen, Mimi and Papa Mark, Brendan and Leigh, GG, GG Darci and Mike and Chris, Melissa and Taylor made it down on Sunday after she was discharged. It was a long Saturday, but by Sunday afternoon she was acting so much more alert and happy. She barely got to go home Sunday since she wasn't eating, but her nurse convinced the residents that she was drinking now, so she would probably start to eat the next day.

showing mom her IV in the ER

Now, she seems to back to normal and we will see her pediatric nephrologist in February to see if her reflux has improved, stayed the same or gotten worse. I'm not looking forward to that day of testing and appointments, but it needs to be done. We've made it 18 months since her last infection, so it will be interesting to see what the results tell us.

I took Aiden into the ENT on Monday and he diagnosed him with a upper respiratory infection (no surprise by me) and put him on some antibiotics. Within a day, he was already better, thank God.

Since all the sickness, we've been enjoying a mild January. We took the kids to the Botanical Center on Saturday morning then to the Y for swimming in the afternoon.

The kids have been great to be home with lately. I only worked about 5 days in the past month, so we've spent a lot of quality time together :)

eating some cookie dough!

Merry Christmas from the Povah's!

So, Christmas has come and gone already this year, and the Povah children had an amazing holiday. We started our Elf of the Shelf on Thanksgiving night, so Diddle (our elf) flew to Santa every evening to give him a report of their behavior. Each morning the kids would wake up and look for him (he lands in a new spot each day). Even Aiden would say, "Where's Diddle?" You can't touch Diddle or he will lose his magic, so all three kids reminded us of that everyday to not touch him. They love that little elf and are already excited to see him again next Christmastime.

Christmas Eve was fabulous. We went to mass at 3 pm (and we lasted 3/4 of the way through the service). The kids were all over the place, but we tried :) After church, we came home and opened presents with Papa, Brendan and Leigh. The kids got new bikes, princesses, trains, a sled, movies and Notre Dame clothes and stocking hats. Chris, Melissa and Taylor came down in time for dinner and the kids exchanged gifts then we ate dinner. I had a lasagna recipe a physician gave me that his wife uses (it's an authentic South Side Italian recipe) that called for homemade sauce....I made it and it was pretty good, maybe a little too salty for my taste, but still good. We (not the kids) drank wine and had a blast.

Christmas morning the kids came running out of their rooms to see if Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk (he did) and to see their presents. Aubrey got the movie "Tangled" which was what she's been asking for since Disney on Ice. Aiden got some blocks and Owen got "Toy Story" which we have all seen 10 times now. Their big gift was a train set and table from Santa. They also got numerous other gifts from us, but they're so stinkin' spoiled, I can't even list them all out. Papa, Gwen, Great-Grandma Margaret, Brendan and Leigh came over for brunch around 10 a.m. After that, we all took naps :) then headed to Mimi and Papa Mark's house. The kids got crazy spoiled, but had a blast! They came home with new clothes, an easel, drum set, play tent, cars, dolls...etc! Overall, it was a great Christmas and we can't wait until next year!