Christmas plague strikes again

Bad news: If you planned to rob us during that trip to NY to see my family that I've been so excited for, the trip is off. The Christmas illness curse strikes again.

In 2011, it was bronchitis for me and vertigo for my sister (which turned out to be pregnancy). In 2014, we were staying at my mom's house and stomach flu slowly took everyone down, one by one, Except, luckily, Dalton since he was barely 3 months old.

And here we go again, 2015. Sinus infection. I'm going to complain about that a lot, so let's back up to a time when everything was healthy and happy.

Tuesday, I got the #1 Christmas gift on my list. A clean bill of health for the baby at our 20 week ultrasound.

It's one thing to say I'm not finding out the sex while I'm just chilling on my couch writing blog posts. I mean, it's not like I could if I wanted to right then anyway. (Full disclosure - Eric wants to find out, but I'm carrying and birthing the baby, so, I won. He'll thank me later.) At the ultrasound, I really had to put my money where my mouth was. It was kind of crazy to be like WAIT. This lady could tell us RIGHT NOW. I'll admit I was tempted for a second, but I'm really excited to be surprised at the birth, so it was a fleeting thought. She had us look away at one point, but then said the baby was being shy anyway, and didn't indicate that she even knew what the sex was. And now it's done! If we even need any more ultrasounds, they won't be for quite awhile, so the baby's sex will stay a secret. No going back!

However, it did make the ultrasound a little scarier. The first time around I was so focused on finding out the sex, it was all that was on my mind. This time, I was a lot more concerned that we would find out something was wrong. Luckily, we got all good news. 

That night, we had a roommate reunion. The three of us were good friends in college and then we got really close when we moved to Baltimore together and embarked on this crazy teaching adventure. Ten years ago we were living together in a rowhouse downtown, trying to get through our first year of teaching. Now we all have husbands and kids and houses and grown up stuff.

My child had to pose with a measuring cup in his mouth, naturally.

Dalton woke up with a low grade fever Wednesday and a little congested, but we didn't think anything of it since he seemed fine and he'd had two vaccinations the previous day. Everyone went to work or daycare.

Just a little cold, no big deal.

Christmas Eve morning, the running store I used to work at hosted a holiday run, since....why not? It was nearly 70 degrees. I had a great time catching up with some old coworkers and running in shorts. I felt like I was coming down with a cold, but the whole east coast is all messed up because of the wild weather, so I figured it was nothing to worry about. 

As procrastinators do, we spent Christmas Eve shopping. We even went to the mall. With a toddler. Of course, he loves anything where there are sights and smells and things to touch, so he had a great time. That night, we tried to continue the tradition of drinking hot chocolate, watching the Santa tracker, and opening our Christmas pjs.

My best picture of Christmas pjs in front of the tree.

It was hilarious. This just in: strong willed toddlers do not give a crap about traditions. While he was ok with his hot chocolate in his sippy cup, he was pretty pissed off that opening gifts interrupted his busy schedule of climbing on all the furniture.

"I DO NOT WANT THAT."

This was Christmas morning, but same idea.

The most interest he could muster.

He's his own man and I seriously just love how much his little personality already shows through. He knows what he wants!

Christmas morning, I made sure I was the first one up to stuff the stockings and get everything ready.

But I shouldn't have rushed.

Then I waited. Until NINE THIRTY. Yes, that was when my child (and husband) woke up. It was insane. My Facebook feed was all filled with people who had opened all the gifts, and my toddler was still sleeping. He'd stayed up a little late Christmas Eve, but nothing crazy (like, 8pm bedtime instead of 7pm). He is definitely fighting something.

Once everyone was up, we opened gifts. Dalton was fascinated and couldn't get enough.

Kidding, He literally couldn't care less.

After a delicious Christmas breakfast, I was starting to feel really sick. I'd kind of been suspecting it wasn't just a cold, but I was in denial. After spending the rest of the day in bed, hacking and going through box after box of tissues, I was pretty sure it was a sinus infection. 

Some really fun sinus infection while pregnant facts:

• You can't take anything and are stuck with worthless "natural remedies".
• Coughing and sneezing brings on horrible round ligament pain.
• I won't spell it out, but I'm sure my mom and mom-to-be readers know what else coughing and sneezing while pregnant causes. 

Since 2011's bout of bronchitis started with an innocent little sinus infection, I wasn't thrilled. Strangely enough, this one came with severe nausea. 

I enjoyed a Christmas dinner of saltines in bed. 

Then I threw them all up shortly after. I've never vomited with a sinus infection, nor due to pregnancy, so it was strange. Around this time, I realized I needed to start facing facts, and accept that a 400 mile road trip first thing in the morning wasn't necessarily in the cards. 

In the morning, the only trip I took was to Urgent Care. Luckily, they hooked me up with a Zpack. After another day in my bed, which had now become a den of tissues, Vicks, and Netflix, I had high hopes that I would feel completely better by Sunday and we could make the trip then. 

Not the case. Sunday morning, walking down the stairs still seemed exhausting. Dalton was also still sleeping super late and has a cough. I wouldn't say he's sick, but he's not at 100%. Sunday afternoon, I finally got my appetite back, and ate a real meal for lunch. Amazing how food gives me energy. Definitely a lot more than Saturday's diet, which was exclusively Cheez-Its and Gatorade (nothing against magical Cheez-Its). I finally was able to actually use my break as intended, and play with my child. 

He got this awesome scooter from my MIL for Christmas. He doesn't quite get the hang of it yet.

We tried to show him, but he's just not there yet. Once he figures it out, he's going to go nuts.

Overall - not my greatest Christmas. But Dalton mainly had fun, and there's always next year. I'm really disappointed we couldn't take our trip, but there's not much I can do about that. Either way, it's Sunday night and I don't have to say goodbye to my little man tomorrow morning - I get a whole week of playing with him!

If you celebrate a winter holiday, what was your best gift? Eric got me an owl mug that I really love (I love owls and I love mugs). We kept gifts pretty low key this year, babies being expensive and all.