Author: Tricia

I mentioned previously that there are no antibiotics or meds available to fight these viruses in our house. But there is validity to keeping bodies as strong as possible, through good nourishment, lots of sleep, maybe a little backyard fresh air (my own idea!), and some boosts of vitamins. Toward this end, a friend suggested Emergen-C, which I have used in the past when I was fighting a cold or virus. Given everyone around here is either sick, has been sick, or is at least being exposed to a ton of sickness, I liked the idea, and so I purchased some, mixed it up, and presented a bit to each child at breakfast this morning. To say my offerings were met with less than enthusiastic responses might turn out to be the understatement of the day. A conversation ensued…

Abigail: I don’t like this very much (accompanied by many facial expressions which she attempted to keep dramatic and yet polite in that Abigail way of hers).

Nicolas: I don’t like it at all! (this in a much more whiney voice)

Jonathan: (always one to take things up just a notch) This stuff is awful, it’s terrible! This is most definitely NOT paradise! This is….

Nicolas: This is HELL!!!! (most emphatically)

Abigail: (now fully on the bandwagon) Yeah, this stuff is like drinking poison!

At which point I had to put a stop to their grumblings and complainings and remind them to consider their language, behavior, and attitudes, especially in front of Baby Josey (who was guzzling the vitamin drink with delight). But I assured them that if they did not want to drink any more of the delicious Emergen-C I could mix up some of my own homemade concoction for them to enjoy. I have a little secret weapon of my own in my immune-system boosting arsenal which I ingest whenever I feel illness coming on, so far with surprisingly positive results. I’ll try and tell you about that another time. Right now I’ve got to go drink my fizzy Emergen-C!

Edited to Add:  I’ve received a couple questions about why Nicolas came out with such a strong statement about Emergen-C being akin to Hell. He was contrasting Jonathan’s previous statement about my having them consume this awful beverage not being Paradise with his best theological understanding about the opposite of Paradise…which of course is….

I wanted to provide a bit of recap on stuff around here the last day. A diagnosis has finally been made on Jonathan’s illness, and based on what we’ve learned, all the illness we have seen around our house for the past three weeks is beginning to make sense, and appears very related. But I’ll back up….

Things got pretty interesting on Friday and Saturday. Baby Josiah took a turn for the worse with his tummy virus: he got significantly worse Friday night, starting running a fever, was up much of the night again, and became “limp” early Saturday. A trip to the pediatrician assured us he was not dehydrated or in any immediate danger, and the doctor gave us a few suggestions which appear to have helped him some. While he has not made a full recovery, he did sleep through the night last night, and today is perkier again. How wonderful to see him playful and happy after the past few days.

As you already know, Jonathan came home from the hospital in the early afternoon yesterday and we are so thankful to have him and Jay back. He continues with fever and lethargy, but will hopefully gain strength gradually. He had a great night’s sleep last night in his own bed which is a huge blessing. His hospital doctor called a short while ago to inform us that based on some cultures done while he was at Children’s, they have made a definitive diagnosis: adenovirus, which is a collective name for a group of viruses that afflict mostly children, have far-ranging symptoms, and often mimic pneumonia closely. From what the doctor described, we are concluding that Josiah has actually had the same virus, just in somewhat different form, and that Abigail’s illness from a week ago also falls into the same group of symptoms. Nicolas, our only child who has not been ill these past three weeks, probably not wanting to be left out of the “fun”, woke us at 3am crying, as he had started with high fever, headache, and some other symptoms Jonathan had.

So…that is a longwinded way of telling you, it looks like we know what we are dealing with here. Antibiotics won’t help; the only treatment is to keep the body strong in order to help fight the virus till it’s gone. Jonathan’s case was much worse given his recent bout of pneumonia, and weakened system, which is why he ended up in the hospital. We hope and pray the other two little boys will experience a much more “normal” course of this virus. Fever and other symptoms are supposed to last approximately five days.

Thank you all for your prayers, concerns, notes, etc over the past few days. You are of great encouragement to us. Maybe within a week’s time our family will be ready to venture back out into society, and celebrate the last remaining days of summer. (I REALLY hope so!)

As a small aside, I’m wondering if we should consider setting up a sub-category for blogposts on this website entitled “Sickness, Illnesses, The Latest Plague at House of Horne, etc etc”. Heheh, just a bit of humor, dear readers!

We are still alive after one of the more exhausting days we’ve had this summer. I wish we had pictures of the sale to share with you, but as anyone who’s ever held a garage sale knows -this was our first! – everyone stays busy enough to make documenting the event in photos pretty much a nonpossibility. Add four children into the mix who need watching on top of hordes of folks trying to shop all at the same time, and you are busy, busy!!

But we are really thrilled tonight despite what feels like utter exhaustion. The benefit sale was a stunning success, and I do mean stunning, thanks to our many generous donors, lots of enthusiastic shoppers, and more than a few hours logged by the humble workers during the preparation and execution of the sale. Sandra is much, much closer to her goal than she was yesterday. The final tally is not quite in, so I will hold off on posting any totals. But we are grateful for how well the day went, despite an inauspicious and quite rainy beginning!

Our children, in between light saber duels and visiting with the other kids who happened along today, enjoyed a real lesson in commerce, as they operated their own lemonade and cupcake table. They served up treats and sweets in the heat with smiles, and did a great job counting change for their many customers. Young Nicolas definitely won the award for most persistent salesman as he worked the unsuspecting crowd for buyers, but they all three worked quite diligently, and at the end of the day, each contributed some to Aunt Sandra’s goal, and had leftovers for their piggybanks.

So…what a rewarding and fun day! And now, if you will excuse me, I am going to pop myself into my jammies, pour some red wine, and munch on a yummy dinner with my favorite guy (you know, the one in the marshmallow suit!) before falling into what I hope is a deep, deep sleep tonight!

Not much blogging going on this week…we’ve been a little preoccupied with other things…

* After a week of high fever, accompanied by a terrible cough, one of our cherubs has been diagnosed with not only pneumonia, but asthma. This is new territory for us as parents, and while we are not happy to learn about the asthma especially, it answers a lot of health questions we’ve had about this child for years, so in that way it is a helpful diagnosis to finally have.

* Our wood floors are experiencing “cupping” – not surprising after the record rains we’ve seen this year, but the issue may be indicative of other problems as well, so we have some serious investigating to do…and much of that under the house. Jay is so glad he purchased those disposable hazmat suits!!

* I am also spending lots of time this week helping my little sis gear up for a ginormous benefit sale to help her with her Team in Training Goal. We have received such generous things from many, many families and are in the process of sorting, categorizing, and pricing. Lots of fun, in a crazy sort of way…it’s been great to see Sandra almost every day this week as we work on this project together.

Maybe we’ll be back in a few days with pictures and a recap of the sale…

Today, much extended family gathered to witness Cousin Matthew’s baptism. What a joy to see this sweet baby boy welcomed into the church. He is a delight and blessing to our entire family, and we are so grateful for him.

After the service, we were treated to a wonderful lunch, and had fun visiting with family and stuffing ourselves with delicious pizza. Baby Matthew was more than happy to pose for the camera…you can see his pictures, along with some other photos we took during the day here.

Today Abigail, Jonathan, my brother Peter, and I took a day trip to College Station, and had the joy of meeting our newest family member, two-day-old Isaac Davis. He is just perfect, and so snuggly – I forget how tiny newborn babies are, and what a sweet thing it is to hold them, especially when they are related to you! We were all so thrilled to meet Isaac face to face, and congratulate the proud new parents. Andrew and Jamison received us (and lots of other visiting family members!) with such love and graciousness, despite very little sleep for them in the past few days. Here is a picture of them enjoying their new baby boy:

Thanks to Uncle Peter for the much-appreciated adult company on the trip, and thanks to Jay for keeping our two littlest guys at home today so I could make the trip. Since I couldn’t post every picture we took while we were there visiting, here are several more shots of Isaac and some of his adoring fans.

As many of you are aware, the cost of milk is going up. Much to my dismay. I used to be able to buy a gallon for $2.00 at Kroger. Now, the cheapest I can find there is $3.50. For now, in our household, we buy two gallons a week: one skim gallon for Jay and I, and one 2% or whole for the three older children. Usually the 2% runs out a little more quickly, and they end up helping us finish the gallon of skim. We are already sometimes running out of the two gallons before the week is up, so sometime soon, I know I’ll have to up my quota a bit, and further increase the spendings on milk for the family. But that’s ok – I know we are so blessed to have milk to drink, and from what I read in an article recently (of course I cannot find it to link for my dear readers when I need it!) we were spending close to or around $4 a few years ago for a milk gallon anyway. So, I’m going to be thankful for the lowered price we’ve enjoyed recently.

But cow’s milk isn’t the only animal’s milk we buy for our household. While his older siblings drink more and more cow’s milk, Baby Josiah remains intolerant toward the stuff. It gives him terrible stomach trouble. When he became a year old, I had a very challenging time finding something his sensitive tummy could tolerate. After experimenting with lacto-free, soy, rice, various toddler formulas, almond, and even raw milk, we discovered a wonderful substitute: fresh goat’s milk. It is equal in almost every way nutritionally to the milk from a cow, and even better in a few key ways for little people, especially because it is more easily digested, and less allergenic than the stuff from the cow. Additionally, it is higher in calcium, vitamins A & B, and potassium than cow’s milk. Dr. Sears has a nice article on the nutritional breakdown of both milks, and a comparison between the two.

I have been grateful to be able to feed my littlest guy dairy fat and protein in this wonderful way, but it doesn’t come cheap. A little quart (that’s quart, not gallon, folks!) of this precious stuff costs me $3.79 – so even with the price increase in cow’s milk, I still pay more for a quart of goat than a gallon of cow. Thankfully, Josiah only goes through 2 quarts a week (I limit it, and supplement additional calcium and dairy via yogurt, cheese, and other mediums.)

But this week, I had a pleasant surprise: goat’s milk was on sale! ONLY $3.39/quart. Which means for the first time in months, I actually spent less on Josey’s milk for the week than for the milk that all the rest of the family will drink. I also stocked up as far in advance as I could, based on the freshness dates.

It is unclear to me whether goat’s milk will see any price increase in the near future. Personally, I hope it does not. The factors which seem to be driving the costs of cow’s milk up don’t seem to apply to the milk of the goat. But if my little quart of Meyenberg should go much upwards of $3.79, maybe I should consider the alternative of owning our own pet Nanny Goat!!