Hand, Foot, Mouth and the Armstrongs

Some days you're the dog, other days you're the hydrant. This rang especially true the two weeks that our house was infested with Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease; aka HFMD; aka Hell.

Lance and I were very proud of ourselves- his sister offered to watch Ames for the evening, and we jumped on the opportunity to treat ourselves! So after a very lovely evening eating dinner at The Vault, we picked up our little buddy and headed home. The next morning he had some red spots on his face. Naturally, because my sister in laws are my go-to, I sent them a group text, short and sweet, with a picture and "should I worry or let it ride?" Five minutes after they all returned my text and we had our thoughts of what it could be, the rash spread EVERYWHERE. He had it on his forehead, legs, arms, chest, butt, hands and feet. So I send a second text with my updated findings and I get back: "Hand, Foot, and Mouth?"

All I can think about is how awful it was described to me and I'm PRAYING that it's just a rash that will pass. It gets worse, he gets a fever, and so the Armstrongs pile into the car and head to urgent care. This is where we proceeded to wait for four hours. Not two or three- no, it was 4 hours. Do you want to know what expert advice we left urgent care with after our long awaited visit with an unfriendly doctor? 

"It sounds like an advanced cold and the rash is a reaction to him healing from it"

Totally. That's exactly why I waited so long to talk with you. Definitely just the mega cold of colds. 

Lance brings up the potential for HFMD and she replies with "Yeah, it could turn into that" 

Lady, I've been on google for the past 4 hours, ain't no way an advanced cold turns into HFMD. For those of you wondering, HFMD is an enterovirus, which means a cold would not lead to HFMD. 

We had messaged Ames' school to give them the heads up that it could possibly be HFMD and that we would be keeping Ames home from school that next day because we didn't want to take any chances and he obviously wasn't feeling well. Well then we got a group e-mail that they were shutting the school down that day as there "may have been a HFMD outbreak and they are taking the necessary precautions to prevent future cases." The family shall remain nameless.....

The Armstrongs shut down daycare. Clearly we do not mess around- go big or go home.

We took Ames to his pediatrician that day and they confirmed that the expert urgent care doctor we waited 4 hours to see was in fact wrong and he did have HFMD. Sweet. That's fun. 

So that week we patched together a schedule for Ames care and we bleached every surface in our house. Little man appeared to be on the mend after day 4 and then Lance texted me a very awful text: "I have a few spots on my hand"

Noooooooooooo. Adults aren't supposed to get HFMD! We are supposed to be immune! If Lance was getting it, then there was no way I was making it out of there without it. Within 24 hours he was covered in a rash that was about 5 times worse than what Ames had. For lack of a better description, Lance looked like a leper and it just kept getting worse and worse. Finally, he went to the doctor and they prescribed him some pain killers because he had been up for two days. He described it as having a sunburn on top of a sunburn with chicken pox. I bleached the house for a second time and just waited for my inevitable demise. 

I followed Lance around with a bleach rag everywhere he went and I didn't skimp on anything. OJ Bottle? you bet it got washed. Tables, chairs, toilet, Ames'- it allll got washed multiple times a day. I don't know if God was just like "we'll catch the next time around, Kayla" or if he was just being merciful because this was week two of HFMD infesting my house and I was sick of it. Either way, I managed to sneak out of there without a spot. I was paranoid to say the least, every time I scratched or something hurt, I panicked. Lance wishes that on no one. That was the most miserable I've seen him- and we've been through a deployment together! 

Thankfully, this all took place the week before Christmas so we were all healthy for the holidays- even though everyone was still a little skeptical ;)

Now the 2015 holiday season will forever be the year of HFMD and will never be forgotten. 

Now onto the fun stuff: 

• Ames is 13 months old, he's 19 pounds and 28 1/2 inches long. 
• He has learned the word "no" and looooooooves to use it.....
• He is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! We did some sleep training and we have had a solid two weeks of restful sleep. It's amazing. I feel halfway human again. 
• He is very particular about what he eats and how much he eats. Feeding him is by far one of the most stressful things, ever. I make him something he scarfed down yesterday and he spends all of breakfast feeding it to Sage. Other days, he just flat out doesn't want to eat. It is a constant guessing game and it makes my blood boil most days. 
• He is hilarious. He laughs at himself out of nowhere, he runs around making silly noises and silly faces.

So many days we find ourselves going what the heck is going on! What do we do about (insert behavior/milestone/temper tantrum) and how should we deal with it going forward? It's rough raising a little human being, especially one who is as strong willed as this little guy. There are days that I learn lessons in grace because I have lacked it greatly. Everything is a learning experience and the testing of patience will only make us stronger in the long run :) I sure love our little dude.