christine's blog...: fall = a season of colds and cider mills :)

so it's been exactly 7 days since we noticed that little ellie had a runny nose. we were driving on our way to church and i look back at her and saw that she had a little trail of watery snot coming of her nose. i thought, oh no. maybe if i look away it'll be nothing and just go away.... i thought to myself... maybe she has allergies....maybe it's just saliva that she smeared up to her nose?? okay, probably not that. ellie (knock on wood) has been a pretty healthy baby. she's hasn't had nearly the amount of colds and such as addison at that age. she's our little tank... armored against sickness, a tough shell of a body that doesn't feel trips, falls and bumps. she's a tough cookie. but as the day went on, i realized it was the real deal. she's catching a cold. no big deal. everyone gets a cold. and plus colds and sickness only make us stronger. i consider myself also very healthy. i rarely ever get sick. and when i do, i try not to let it affect me too much. i try not to think about it and just do what i normally do. well, i ended up catching what ellie did... but with runny nose, sore throat, etc. i have to keep on plugging away at my normal duties because i have a familiy that depends on me. and then addison and jimmy also caught it. of course, i mean this is bound to happen, right?? we all do live with each other. this was the first time we all got sick at the same time. it was a little rough... addison felt horrible and basically skipped 4 full days of any type of activity. she threw up one morning, complained about her ears and her throat. i took her to the doctor and it turns out she was starting to get an ear infection... got antibiotics for that.. and she's coughing a lot. poor ellie had a bad case of diarrhea which led to a very bad diaper rash where her bottom was raw and she would scream in terror from the pain. i had to make a concoction of hydrocortisone and lotrimin (per nurse) and put that on her bottom and then put a barrier cream over that. and she was on a particular diet to prevent the runs. and then there was jimmy... exhausted and stressed from work plus his lack of sleep probably made his immune system weak and then being exposed to all the germs... of course he caught this too. but no fevers for any of us... just a lot of coughing and runny noses. anyway, it's the tail end of this illness and i am seeing a light at the end of this tunnel. i started to feel a bit run down from tending to everyone at one point, but reminded myself that's just what a mom has to do and managed to fight through my own cold quickly. a few good things that came out of this... 1.) i found a jook recipe that i made and liked so i'm happy to add that to my recipe book. 2.) i found some sort of strange burst of energy as i started to feel better and cleaned all our screens on our windows.... so now we have clean windows! :) and did a number of other household projects that i've been putting off 3.) and jimmy and i and the girls got to spend some time all together while everyone stayed home from work and school. i am sure this is just the beginning of many family sick episodes. but we'll get through it again! :)

so we were all feeling a lot better by today... we went to the cider mill just down the street from our house to get some fresh air and of course, donuts and cider!! it's fall time in michigan!

these donuts are a little piece of heaven... it's buttery and sugary and crispy on the outside and so soft and delectable on the inside. and not to mention they are warm... freshly made! they are really good, but probably sooo bad. well, once in a great while is okay. ;)