And all the while, my allergies were in full force. I walked around holding a kleenex box all day. Nose running, eyes itching like crazy.
(And of course I am never so aware of the fact that my daughter has Down syndrome as when I am with my family. I noticed a picture of my cousin when she was little, and realized there was a resemblance between her and Sofia, but when I pointed it out to my sister, she concentrated on the chromosome more than the family relationship. And on Friday, she actually described something as "retarded" - I caught my breath and didn't say a word. It's not worth the effort.)
Friday was a little better. I get along with my sister much much better when there are no other relatives around and when she's not stressed about serving dinner. She and I went to the gym in the morning, and then we took the kids to see Tangled. Loved it! (Sofia has spent the past several days saying "Princess? Long Hair? Hannah Julia? Come! Line UP!" and running to the door.) David spent the time at the bookstore nearby, which was heaven for him. We had a quick lunch back at the house, and then back up home - me still on Benadryl, of course.
When we got home, Sam and I had to go run some quick errands, so Friday night was very low-key and not so Shabbos-y. Saturday morning, David went to shul, but I 1) felt awful and 2) had a ton of cooking to do, so I stayed home... which of course meant that the kids did, too.
So I cooked, and we cleaned, and got ready for our company. My in-laws arrived around 3pm, Laura and Lilie and Travis shortly thereafter. Our friends D&E and their girls also joined us for dinner. We had a really pleasant afternoon. The boys taught my mother-in-law how to play various card games, while Sofia and Lilie played with toys and trashed the house.
My inlaws slept over, and Laura left Lilie with us, too, so it was a full house. David and Sam and my father-in-law stayed up late talking. I got Sofia to bed, then put Lilie (and coincidentally my mother-in-law) to sleep downstairs.
But all day, although my sinuses were a bit better, my eyes were much much worse. I could barely see, and there was tons of gunk.
Woke up Sunday morning with my lids swollen almost completely shut.
David took me to CVS, but the nurse at the clinic wouldn't take me - told me to contact primary, since she was not allowed to deal with eye issues. Got some Zatador, awesome allergy OTC eyedrops, which at least took some of the pain away and allowed me to open my eyes. Called primary, and was told to go to ER.
Sooo, my second ER visit this year. And yes, I did drive - by this time, my eyes were a little better.
Doc at ER thinks it was actually an allergic reaction to the antibiotic drops I'd been taking since the previous Saturday! Stopped those, continue Benadryl and Zatador, and go see my eye doc today.
Which meant we got to go see my eye doc today, of course. The boys didn't have school today (professional development), and Sofia doesn't start until 12:30, so the whole circus got to go. My eye doc is also a friend from the shul where I cantor; I had tutored his son for bar mitzvah a few years ago (the kid started college this year!).
Steroid drops RULE! He said my corneas were ok (ER had also checked that), but whites and lids completely swollen. Drops every hour today and tomorrow, then a few times a day for a week. I'm already feeling a bit better.
Took Sofia to school, and then took the boys shopping. Had a blast. My sons really like Old Navy, and tried on a bunch of clothing. I had a coupon for 20% off everything, and we really used it! Needed it, though - winter jacket for Micah, jeans for Sam and for me, sweatshirt/Chanukah presents for the boys, etc. Yeah. We also went to some other stores, and found a sports jacket for Micah (HE wanted to wear it!) and a suit for Sam, which he needs for the bar mitzvah this coming weekend. I'm psyched that Micah wants to get more dressed up!
Odd side-note: Both my boys are very good about holding doors open for people when we are out and about. So is David. Well, today, some lady was so overwhelmed by Sam's courtesy, it was sort of embarrassing. And David said that the other day, when he held the door for someone, she said no one had done that for her in a long time.
Really? No one holds the door for people any more? How sad.
Oh! Mind-track change again. Sorry, I forgot all about Wednesday!
Half day for the boys, no school for Sofia, lots of packing, cleaning and relaxing in the afternoon. Boys had appointments until 5pm; then we met David over at Best Buy and finally joined the 21st century by getting 2 flat screen TVs! Plasma for upstairs, LCD downstairs. BIG. Probably bigger than we needed. But fun!
David and the boys took the TVs home, and Sofia and I went to Children's Hospital in Waltham for her Sleep Study. That was weird. Waited in lobby too long; Sofia nearly fell asleep in my arms after we got her into pjs in the bathroom. Then the tech said she needed to stay up another 45 minutes to get set up - it was already way past bedtime.
I snuggled with Sofia on the bed, watching a movie on my laptop while the tech got prepped. Then we started wiring my baby. Started with her legs, then her chest. I had to bear-hug from behind, wrap my legs around her legs, grip her hands. Poor baby screamed "Let Go" over and over until she fell asleep. Good thing, too, since I don't think she would have held still for the head wires!
About 25 wires attached to my baby's head, then gauze wrapped all around her head. She looked like she'd been in a bad accident. Very fragile. AND we had to keep her flat on her back all night...which meant I got nearly no sleep, as I had to move her every time she shifted. I started out on the couch/chair, but ended up squished into bed with her so I could hold her still.
Not too sure how that's an accurate test for how she regularly sleeps. And of course the tech couldn't tell me anything.
6:00 AM, tech pops in and says "all done" and by 6:20 we were in the car. Weird. Got home at 7, and couldn't go to sleep (so we set up the TVs instead). I slept in the car on the way down to CT.
Whew. Oh, and David left for Copenhagen last night for the week. Which was partly why my eyes were such an emergency - I'm back to single-parenting again this week. Boo hoo.
Home phone line is dead, Comcast tech coming tomorrow. And while I was online with them, I figured out that we can actually watch movies on my computer, too, so now the boys are watching "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" on my desktop.
Chanukah starts Wednesday night. YEAH! And I still have to learn my 35 lines of Torah for this Saturday. Getting there, but I lost a couple of days with my eye problems. UGH.
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