An Interesting Spring Break

Spring break started out great. We went over to my parent's house with all my sister's and their families for a soup dinner. My mom made homemade clam chowder and cream of mushroom soup. It was super yummy and all the cousins had fun playing together. On Monday, I met my sister Laura and my nephew Mavy at Whole Foods where we had lunch. Tae loves little Mavy and they had a blast running all around outside. That evening we went back to my parent's house and we joined them for a corned beef dinner since it was St. Patrick's day after all.

For the last 4 years we have taken a trip to Texas in the spring. Since I work in education and get off for spring break, it always works out great to take a quick trip to Texas and have some fun. This year we decided to go to Fort Worth. We had plans to go to the zoo, see the cattle drive, go to the Perot Museum and Ikea in Dallas, and also eat at a few local restaurants. We decided to leave early Wednesday morning so we could spend the day at the zoo before checking into the hotel. The trip down was quick and the girls were pleasant. Tae did complain early on that her tummy hurt (first hint), but when you have kids, you know this is a common statement. We didn't think much of it.

We get to the zoo right about lunch time, grabbed a bite to eat and then trekked on to the zoo. Fort Worth has a really great zoo. It was also their half price Wednesday, so it was a great price.

This was their gorilla exhibit. It was impressive.

We stayed at the zoo for several hours and Tae got pretty tired towards the end and said she was ready to go to the hotel. We picked up a few souvenirs from the gift shop and headed out.

We were lucky enough to find a great hotel and a great price in south Ft. Worth. It even had a salt water pool! We checked into the hotel and then decided to go grab some dinner at Brewed which is a local eatery. We got goat cheese fondue for an appetizer. I ate a BLT and Aaron had a burger. Tae went with the mac & cheese. For dessert, Aaron and I had coffee. We also had their smore's in a jar and some of their house made ice cream. Tae only had a few bites of her ice cream which we thought was a little weird, but didn't think too much about it (second hint). After a lovely meal, we headed back to the hotel so we could go swimming!

They had been working on the pool all day, so we were very excited that it was open when we got back to the hotel. We all dressed in our swimsuits and headed to the pool.

We swam for an hour or so. The girls had so much fun. The pool was a little cool for Hensley, but the Jacuzzi was awesome so we sat in there for the most part. After our swim, we went back to the room and got ready for bed.

The girls had baths and were both tucked into bed. Aaron and I headed to bed shortly after and we were all sleeping pretty good when Tae woke up coughing and choking at 12:30am. Aaron realized she was throwing up and quickly carried her to the toilet. I got up and stripped her sheets from the pull out couch. Aaron went down and got her more sheets. Tae didn't seem too upset, but she was shaky and sweaty. We finally got her laid back into bed and I gave her the ice bucket just in case. She ended up throwing up 4 more times and finally went to sleep at 2:30am. Hensley slept through this whole mess, but I think I may have only gotten an hour or two of sleep that night.

The next morning, Aaron went down to the breakfast area and brought back some toast and apple juice for us to try. Tae took one bite and it immediately came back up. We knew that it would best for us to head home. Tae was devastated. She was so upset that we wouldn't be able to finish the trip. I knew the drive back could be risky with her throwing up so I made a call to her pediatricians office and they called us in some Zofran. Aaron went to Walgreens to pick it up and man that stuff was expensive! We got three days worth and after our insurance it was still $50! We got everything packed up, gave her the medicine and hit the road. Her and Hensley slept almost the whole way home. Aaron and I were both so tired from the night before and we were ready to get home.

Here is a picture of us when we got home. We all slept a good part of the afternoon. My husband was awesome enough to unpack the car, start laundry, and put up all our stuff. That evening, both girls started running fevers. Tae's was about 100 and Hensley's climbed to 103.7. I was on the phone with the triage nurse on whether we should take her in because Tylenol wasn't budging the fever. She suggested alternating Motrin and once we did that it came down. She slept for aver 20 hours with just little fusses here and there. It was so hard to see both my babies sick. On Friday, Hensley was still running a fever with no other symptoms, but Tae seemed to be doing better. She started having diarrhea, but hadn't thrown up since Thursday AM. She also was eating some. By Saturday, all fevers were gone and my mother in law came for a visit with our niece, Franki. Tae had fun playing and Aaron and I were able to make a quick trip to the store. That evening, Aaron started running a low fever and became really tired. He took a nap and felt a little better afterwards.

 

Sunday we had a family dinner at Whiskey Cake to celebrate my little sister's graduation from culinary school. Tae was still pretty weak and tired and still was having diarrhea. We had a good time at dinner, but Tae didn't feel like eating anything. She did drink a fairly large natural sugar cherry soda during the dinner. Tae looked like she was getting tired, so we headed home. As soon as we pulled in, Tae started coughing and immediately threw up all of the soda she had drank. She covered her car seat and herself. While I got her cleaned off, Aaron took the car to the car wash and cleaned out the car. She went to bed easily and didn't have any more issues.

 

On Monday, I noticed that her eye was a little red and she kept complaining that it was getting blurry. By Tuesday, it was having discharge and I thought she might have pink eye, so we took her to her pediatrician. I told the Dr. about all of her recent symptoms and she immediately came to the conclusion that she had Adenovirus. Adenovirus is a group of viruses that affect the membranes (tissue linings) of the respiratory track, eyes, intestines, and urinary tract. It can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, upper respiratory infections, pink eye, among other symptoms. I had no idea that this virus even existed. The Dr. prescribed us some eye drops that we were to do twice a day for seven days. The drops are super thick (like honey) and the first time was pure craziness. We are on day two and she is getting better at it. We have to do both eyes because it has spread to both.

 

I think we are on the tail end of this mess. I'm so glad that both my girls are feeling better. I know that this spring break will go down as one of the most memorable ones for sure!