unpacking amidst a staph infection.

Blog# 2, only 363 left.

This last weekend we embarked on a whirlwind vacation to Ohio because my sister in law was getting married. This was the first trip I'd ever taken all five kids on and only the second trip I'd really taken Ronan on. The first was just a trip to the Omaha zoo about three hours from here and only took place over the course of a day. Within an hour of beginning the packing process I realized how astronomical the amount of items I needed to pack just for our family to function away from our house for five days.
Total this is what everything amounted to: three duffle bags for mommy and daddy, one cosmetic bag for mommy, one suitcase for the big boys, three small bags for Jadzia, a dress clothes bag, a suitcase for the babies, two medical bags for Ronan, two food bags for Ronan, two diaper bags, an extra bag for miscellaneous essentials , eight pillows, an emergency kit, one bouncy seat, one pack and play, a cooler, a big floor fan (to ease my husband's insomnia) and three bags of snacks. Looking back now I'm not sure how we accomplished this feat but we did and now comes the unpacking.
This one event almost sends me running from the thought of a vacation. Then the fact I rarely carry on a conversation that doesn't debate the reason Sponge Bob has to live in a pineapple and I leap at the chance to breathe fresh air. Also the thought of connecting with family and making new friends seals the trip in my mind. But now the joy of the trip has come to an end and I am left with the aftermath of unpacking. I usually like to have everything unpacked within the first day or two at most. This time however we hit a bump in the unpacking festivities.
Last night Landon was dropped off by Grandpa and Grandma Fullmer and he immediately tells me his ear hurts. I look and see what I think might be a sting or a spider bite on the top of his left ear. I ice it, give him Benedryl, put triple antibiotic ointment on it and I put him to bed. A few hours later he wakes up crying saying his ear is hurting bad. I give him Motrin and a few hours later Tylenol. By morning it has begun to turn black and very nasty looking. I make an appointment for that afternoon. When Isaac came home from work right before the appointment he decides to clean it leaving it looking like a popped blister.

With it being at the time I have to leave to get him to his appointment and too late to cancel I quickly print off a picture of what it looked like before the cleansing. When we arrive I notice the black spots are already returning and when the nurse takes his temperature it is 102 when it had been 98.4 just a few hours earlier. The doctor cultures it and we wait. When she comes back she says it looks like a bad staph infection. He is given a shot and put on two sets of medicine for the next ten days.

I somehow started thinking about how accident prone my poor Landon is. He had a severe allergic reaction to his DTP shot as a baby, he's had stitches once due to face planting into cement from the top of a jungle gym, he has had staples in the back of his head which left a permanent bald spot, and so many various other little bumps and bruises that have accompanied his boyhood. This is one more for the Fullmer history book I guess.

After that "excitement" it was back to unpacking and I have to say I did have some excellent help. Ronan aided by pulling all the clothes out of the suit cases and arranging them in various patterns on the floor. Jadzia found it helpful to keep several packed bags out of my way by hiding them in various locations around the house and the boys thought they would organize the pillows and the blankets by making a huge domino tower in the middle of the living room. Inara however, really did not do her part as she spent the entire chore sleeping in her bouncy seat. So when all is said and done at the end of today I am about half way unpacked.
Well tomorrow is a new day, a day of organization, a day in which my house will be restored... I hope. And tomorrow will be another day I get to hear the pitter patter of five little sets of feet, well make that four little sets of feet and one beautiful chorus of coos.