May I please get off this ride?

Eeeny, Meeney, Miney, Mo.

Pick a card, any card.

Up, down, up, down, etc...

Tuesday was really hard.

Wednesday was wonderful.

Thursday started out good but ended badly.

Today has been good.

So I suppose that means tomorrow is going to be rotten, but at least Valentine's Day should be good.

Here are some pictures from yesterday, from the good to the bad to the ugly.

After I dropped Andrew off at preschool, Benjamin and I went to Sonic. Check out this set-up! Food for me, and a DVD for him.

Scout goes with us everywhere.

Nothing like a Route 44 Dr. Pepper at 9:30 a.m.

After Sonic, Benjamin and I went to the library lapsit program (week three of six). Then he took a rather adorable nap while we waited for Andrew's preschool Valentine's party.

Benjamin and Scout waiting for the party to start. (Poor Scout's hands are always wet b/c B chews on them. I hope it doesn't eventually mess up the electronics!)

Andrew working on a craft before lunch.

My attempts of getting brotherly shots are always comical.

This one is so cute! Andrew has taught Benjamin to "pat, pat, pat" his head. It cracks B up, and is one of the few times Andrew actually pays attention to his brother!

Sigh. These are my sweet boys. I'm so glad they're mine.

Um, yeah. I was asking too much.

Things were going well. The plan was to stay for about an hour and then go to my mom's school (she is now the principal, and way back before I had kids, I was a teacher there). Every February, the school hosts a senior luncheon, where they welcome back the students who attended the elementary school who are now graduating seniors. This particular class was the third class of fourth graders that I taught.

So here is Andrew drinking his Hawaiian punch.

And Benjamin drinking his (thickened) milk.

And then, the day went from good to bad.

This is why we still use a sippy cup at home. And why we don't drink Hawaiian punch.

Happy Valentine's Day to me.

Even Benjamin couldn't believe it.

We left a little late but made it to the school in time to see some of the "kids" who are all grown up now. Andrew enjoyed a cookie and a few toy trucks while I mingled and Benjamin and Scout walked all over the library.

Then we went home and the day just got worse.

Because I finally came to grips with the fact that even though he's been finished with his antibiotics since Saturday, Benjamin is not better. After he drinks his milk, I can hear him breathing. And he is still coughing. These are not normal things. And it usually means trouble is on the way or that it never left the building.

And for some reason, when we got home from the school, while I was trying to deal with giving Benjamin another breathing treatment and listening to him try to nap despite his coughs, Andrew started acting nutty.

Like really fussy and irritable. Like beyond tired. Complaining that his throat hurt. Crying at the drop of a hat over the most trivial things.

I finally got him to sleep right around the time when Benjamin gave up on his nap.

Which meant no nap for me.

But worse than that was the realization that I had to call the doctor.

Oh, crap. Here we go again.

Their doctor is out of town until Tuesday, but I got them into see the Physician's Assistant at 8:30 this morning.

The verdict?

I'll break it down for you per boy.

Andrew--His ears looked clear. (He still has never had an ear infection in his life!) His strep test was negative. But his tonsils are large and swollen. The lymph nodes in his throat are also swollen. He's being referred to an ENT to see about removing his tonsils. His doctor and I talked in the fall about doing that this summer b/c he has large tonsils, a small throat, and he has trouble swallowing when he eats. I hope we can get an appointment soon and possibly even get his tonsils removed (if it's deemed necessary or imminent) before Thomas gets here. With Matthew's crazy and busy work schedule, it would be much easier before there is a newborn around.

Benjamin--His left ear is still infected. We started him on a new antibiotic today (Omnicef), so hopefully it will clear up soon. The noise I hear after he drinks is most likely upper respiratory junk, and not crud in his lungs. I told the PA that I really think he might be aspirating more. When he had his original swallow study back in July, we discovered that he aspirates on thin liquids. (From wikipedia: In medicine, aspiration is the entry of secretions or foreign material into the trachea and lungs. When it occurs in eating and drinking, the food or drink in question is often colloquially referred to as "going down the wrong pipe.")

So when he would drink straight milk, some of it would not stay in his esophagus, it would go down his trachea and into his lungs. This most likely caused his first bout of pneumonia.

There are three levels (that I know of) of thickening liquids. From thinnest to thickest, they are nectar, honey, and pudding. (To make it thicker, you just add more thickener. The thickener we use and prefer is Thick-It. It's just a powder that we stir in his milk. It does not change the taste (supposedly) and does not add calories. It just makes the milk thicker.) We are currently on nectar consistency, which isn't all that thick. I think it's about as thick as applesauce.

But lately, the past few weeks, after Benjamin drinks, I can hear him breathing. There is congestion somewhere in there, though I can never quite tell where it is. But to me, it only stands to reason that if that before he drinks I can't hear him breathing, and after he drinks, I can hear him breathing, that something is not right.

At his original swallow study, they told us he would need another one in nine to twelve months. Nine months would be April. The PA today agreed with me that it is a good idea for him to go ahead and have another one. It could be that his aspiration has gotten worse and that we need to thicken his milk even more. That could be part of why he keeps getting sick. But that's just my own theory.

So we're waiting to hear back about an ENT appointment (consult) for Andrew, and a swallow study for Benjamin.

It snowed quite a bit today, starting a little after lunchtime. So we all packed our bags and came over to Mom's house, where we got Pizza Hut and watched The Office and Survivor.

And we're all spending the night. Because even if we're not technically snowed in, we might be. Mom's driveway is pretty steep, and it's below freezing.

Tomorrow we have nowhere to go, and that is a nice feeling.