Grateful for Health

We all got really sick a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. Carter started it all and developed croup, which spread to Jaden first, then Addison. I HATE croup, it is so scary to wake up in the middle of the night with a child who is having difficulty breathing. Jaden gets it really bad. Last year was our first experience and we had to take him to the ER in the middle of the night on Thanksgiving day. That was no fun. Now that we have some experience with it, so we know more what to expect, but it is always so scary! I let it go with Carter for a few days, hoping it would take care of itself but it got pretty bad so I ended up taking all of them to the doctors as it came up. I thought, "phew, at least we got through all that before Thanksgiving this year!" But that was just the beginning. Jaden developed a fever for a few days, and kept coughing so hard he would throw up. On night he didn't even wake up enough to come get me to clean it up and just fell back asleep. YUCK! After that Carter started Pink Eye, which developed during the weekend so by the time we got him in to the doctors again on Monday he had spread it to Jaden and Addison also.

All along Jeff and I kept thinking how lucky we were that we weren't getting anything from them. Unfortunately the week of Thanksgiving our luck ran out and I got hit hard. I lost my voice completely, I could only whisper, and my throat swelled up so bad I almost cried every time I swallowed. The throat thing lasted for 48 miserable hours and I didn't eat or drink and only slept fitfully. Jeff has since gotten sick also with his throat hurting a little, as well as congestion and coughing. Oh yea, our house has been full of joy this past month.

I thought Thanksgiving was toast, but thankfully I recovered quite suddenly. I remember the time because it was such a drastic change, it was 9pm Tuesday night when I realized I could swallow. So I rallied and made the rolls, chocolate pecan pie and these Thanksgiving turkeys:





They were quite fun to make, and gave a fun touch to our Thanksgiving. The kids loved eating them. This year we were acutely thankful for our health! You never realize how many times an hour you swallow until it hurts like the dickens! I was very grateful to be able to eat and enjoy our feast. It was a close call but we all enjoyed our day of gratitude.