Happy New Year! (a day late)… I was going to post yesterday, but I was having such a good time relaxing and enjoying being home again. We went to Texas for Christmas and visited a ton of family. It was a really good time, except for my “baby” being sick most of the time.

We’d been planning our vacation for a few months, had most details in place and our route set. Of course, the two months prior to this vacation were probably the busiest months we’ve ever had! I was finishing up with my student teaching and working on my Capstone Project, plus trying to be mommy to my kiddos…it was crazy busy and I didn’t know how it was all going to work out. Well, just before graduation, I ended up with a sinus infection AND an infected tooth, which required antibiotics. I HATE antibiotics and avoid them at all costs, but nothing else was working and I was in so much pain, I couldn’t sleep for two nights. The Tuesday after my graduation, I had to have a root canal and an extraction. But this was just the beginning of our Health Disaster 2009!

Since we were going to be in Texas for Christmas, we had a family get together with Brian’s side of the family on the Saturday before Christmas. My “baby” wasn’t feeling 100%, but didn’t seem too sick. Well, that night, after he had been in bed for a few minutes, he started screaming. He was in pain. His chin hurt, then his cheek, then his ear. So much so, that he screamed every 10 minutes until 8:00AM, the next morning. He had an ear infection. For the next two days, all he did was sleep and cry. Forty-eight hours of sleep with around only five hours of being awake. If we were going to make our vacation dates, we were going to have to leave while he was sick, or cancel all-together. To make matters worse, I had started to get a sore throat on Monday night and when I woke up Tuesday morning, I could hardly breathe. Urgent Care was open early, so I went first thing in the morning. My uvula (the little dangly thing in the back of your throat) was so swollen, it was almost blocking my airway. The doctor gave me a steroid shot to help reduce the swelling and another dang antibiotic to get rid of the strep in my throat. It took two days for me to start feeling better.

Now, back to my baby. The last time one of our kiddos had an ear infection, the doctor wrote a prescription for antibiotics, but told me to give it a few days to see if it cleared up on its own. As a last resort, I was to get the prescription filled and start my kiddo on the dreaded course of antibiotics. Most ear infections are viral and antibiotics are meaningless, in these cases. So, we decided to take the “wait and see” approach with this latest ear infection. The fever never got higher than 102°, so I wasn’t too worried, at first.

There is a huge change in elevation between Colorado and Texas, and with the first change, baby’s ear drum perforated. It was draining fluids like you wouldn’t believe. Each subsequent change in elevation caused more pressure to build up, and thus, another gush of fluids. Gross, I know. We were finally able to find an Urgent Care when we got to our destination, but they were not open on Christmas, so we took him in the day after Christmas. Of course they prescribed antibiotics, but this is one of those necessary times when nothing else will work. Within 10 minutes of his first dose, the color started coming back in his cheeks. By his second dose, he was well on his way to being back to his “old” self.

This was the way we ended 2009. Fun, huh? The last two months have been crazy and I haven’t been able to give my kids the nutrition and nurturing that they so desperately need. My main goal for 2010 is to make sure that my family not only stays healthy, but that we establish habits to keep them healthy throughout their lives.

Welcome to Ginnyv.com, where I will attempt to document our family’s journey into eating a more Traditional Foods diet and the adventures along the way.

By the way, today is my “baby’s” 4th birthday and he is healthy and happy and having a great day.