Don't worry...you can't catch it.

Well, we now know why we are so sick. Thanks to a few concerned co-workers of mine we now know that the reason we keep getting the "flu" is because it isn't the "flu" at all. It’s carbon monoxide poisoning. (Well, I still think we all had the flu, but I don't think this helped us get better.) After gentle urging from two friends (thanks Carol and Gina!) I called Xcel this afternoon and they sent someone over to test our house. Apparently we have leaks coming from our oven and from the furnace piping leading outside.

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What NEXT!? (God, if you’re reading this please don't answer that.) We just replaced the water heater two weeks ago in the basement because that was apparently leaking CO also, so now we have two more issues to deal with. Bruce was nice enough to come over and stuff some insulation in the holes in the wall to plug the leaks. Hopefully that works. The man from Xcel said we could just turn our stove vent on whenever we are cooking something and that should help with the leaky range for now. I am calling Excel back tomorrow to see if they can come re-check and make sure the furnace piping is not leaking anymore. We got a red WARNING ticket and were told that if it weren't winter that Xcel would have had to shut off our gas completely until we proved we fixed the problem. Yikes!

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We probably should have known better - CO poisoning is known to cause confusion, memory problems, and ... what was I talking about? Well, anyway, now we know why all of our animals are so dumb - the kitty litter box is in the basement. Poor Rico. As if he didn't have enough problems when we got him from the shelter! (I have to laugh about this or I'll cry.) And you know what? Our carbon monoxide detectors never even went off! Now I feel super guilty about complaining that Evan is so fussy ALL the time - maybe he has had a constant headache all winter long from the CO gas... what awful parents we are!

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So, if you have a moment to wish us some luck (or to loan us some money - ha ha, just kidding) please do!

Jeremy strumming on his guitar. Evan loves it. Sometimes its the only way to distract him from crying (that, and the fish tank.)

Evan and his poor eyeball...on the bright side, Evan was 6 months old on Sunday and his FIRST TOOTH poked through! No wonder he has been chewing on everything in sight... His left bottom tooth in the front is just starting to cut through. Poor kid - as if being sick and having pink-eye isn't enough!

Okay, so lets recap: Three weeks ago Jeremy brought home the flu. Then Evan caught it, then Emily caught it, and then Jeremy caught it back again. After the flu passed, it turned into a nasty cold that we have been battling ever since. Evan's cold has prevented him (and us) from getting any sleep at night, and Saturday night it migrated to his left eye so now he also has pink-eye. And today, Emily caught the flu bug back again. This is getting ridiculous!

My poor baby! I feel so bad for the little guy.
Does anyone want a baby? We would love to "loan out" Evan to one lucky couple for one week. Why? Because his nasty flu turned into a nasty cold, and Evan's mom hasn't gotten more than 3 hours of broken sleep a night since last Sunday. Last night was particularly awful. Instead of screaming (and yes, he screams, not cries.) from 10-midnight and crying from 1:30-2:30 and getting up stuffy and crying at 4 am or so (our routine) he cried and screamed almost the enitire night long. Dad was even home for this one so he helped out between 3:30 and 4:15am.

Since he can't breath out of his nose he is unable to suck on his pacifier to go to sleep - and since the screaming and crying makes his congestion worse, his first bout of screaming usually causes two or three more bouts of screaming. Anyway, its loads of fun but we would like it to be done now. Unfortunately, I think its getting worse instead of better.

For all of you out there who love to give parenting advice: YES - we elevate his head while sleeping, and YES - we have a humidifier running all night long, and YES - I try to use those worthless little nose-suction bulbs and, YES - I have tried sitting him up in the bathroom while I run a hot, steamy shower (this does help me, however) and finally, YES - we have saline nose drops but no, they aren't helping. If you have any other advice (other than using recalled over-the-counter cold medicine) please leave a comment. At this point we are almost willing to try centrifugal force if it will help him get the snot out of his nose so we can SLEEP!

So - any takers on some extended nighttime babysitting?

No? Are you sure?

P.S. Evan will be 6 months old tomorrow! Can you believe it?

Does that say...? Yep! NEGATIVE TWENTY degrees. Brrrr... I had to keep my hood on in the car it was so cold. Here is Evan's new trick. He shoves his pacifier all the way in his mouth (sometimes he can shut his mouth around it.) It scares mom half to death for fear he's going to choke. Evan thinks its hysterical.
Its a kitty sandwich! Its the opposite of an Oreo cookie - the cream filling is on the outside. Actually, since the fat cat is in the middle maybe the cream filling is in the inside after all...

I normally don't post many photos of Evan unless he is smiling or happy - but this set was so funny that I couldn't resist. These four photos are IN ORDER, by the way. I snapped four pictures in a row, so it is important that you look at them in order, and realize that the sequence of events was this:

1. Evan is happily bouncing in his jump-a-roo
2. Evan stops bouncing
3. Evan begins to sneeze (pre-sneeze photo)
4. Evan sneezes (post-sneeze photo)

I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.