Fallin' Apart

(I currently resemble the center photo)

We're falling apart here at the Hines household.

 First of all, I'm experiencing female pattern hair loss.  Okay, well not exactly, but I'm starting to shed more than my golden retriever on a hot summer day.  It used to be Kyla (our dog) that was the reason for us needing a super powered vacuum that we ran daily...and the reason for our occasional use of Draino to clear the drains.  Now it's me.  Apparently, THIS IS NORMAL a few months post-delivery as the pregnancy hormones continue to leave the body.  However, I do not remember this happening like this after I gave birth to Chloë.  From what a girlfriend told me, you don't lose any hair at all during pregnancy so your hair is thick and luxurious...and then afterwards it sheds to make up for lost time.   Or something like that.  To be honest, you can't tell since I have so much hair on my noggin to begin with...but if you are near when I'm brushing my hair you can collect enough strands on the floor to knit a sweater for a Chihuahua.  Gross, I know.

We were supposed to be up in Santa Monica (outside of LA) this weekend visiting friends but unfortunately had to cancel the trip due to sick kids.  It started Thursday with Chloë having a slight cold..then the boys got the colds.  Owen, not so bad, just a little cough at night, but Eli got the brunt of it.  Last night he couldn't sleep and his breathing got more and more labored and seal-sounding.  We googled "croup" and figured that's what it was.  We ended up putting him in our room in a swing to try to sleep as he couldn't breathe well when laying flat in his crib and we didn't want his fussing to keep Owen up.  He slept a bit in the swing but the kept waking up and crying the saddest, most pathetic cry you've ever heard.  It was basically a whimper with his eyes closed and tears flowing down his cheeks.  I wanted to cry just seeing the poor little guy.  So we put the shower on in our bathroom and turned it all the way on hot to create a steam room.  I stripped him down to his diaper and just stood there rocking him.  That seemed to help his breathing a bit but the moment I would leave the bathroom he would get worse again.  Myke called the on-call nurse at our pediatrician and she suggested going to the ER just to get him checked out.   Anyways, to make a long story short Myke spent a couple hours (from midnight to 2am) in the ER at the children's hospital with Eli where we found he had a 101 degree fever and needed a breathing treatment with steroids to help open his airways.  He was diagnosed with "acute respiratory distress", "viral croup", "accute febrile illness" and "inspiratory stridor"  according to the ER discharge papers.  Poor little guy!  He's doing a bit better today but still sounds awful just breathing.  He is taking all his naps in the swing because he can't get comfortable laying flat (and he usually is a pretty good sleeper) and is in the swing right now for the night.  Hopefully, he'll be better tomorrow!

Eli in the ER--trying to sleep since it was 1am! 

On top of that I put a bunch of potato peels down the sink drain and clogged up the pipes and temporarily disabled the dish disposal.  The sink was filled with gross food-ridden water and wouldn't drain.  In fact while I type this Myke is over there taking apart the kitchen sink plumbing and trying to fix  the problem.  (**note: do not shove the skins of 4 large potatoes down your sink drain.  Luckily, Myke loves me).

(from google images..not our sink)

Sooo, to sum it up:  we are supposed to right now be roasting marshmallows around a bonfire near the beach with friends up in Santa Monica..but instead I'm typing this and Myke is elbow deep dirty potato water.  Fun times here at the Hines household!