A vacation with kids is not a vacation

Molars. They are going to be the death of me. For two weeks now, Caid has been getting in her molars and has been a completely different person. She is usually so happy, playful, and for the most part obedient. For two weeks now she has cried and whined and thrown tantrums 24/7. We've spent all of our time on the couch with me holding her and her crying. She won't eat or drink and if she forgets that her mouth hurts, she'll eat for a minute and then hit a nerve or remember she's in pain and throw the food across the room. If I have to feed Jordyn, she gets mad at me and tells me to put her down. Poor Jordyn has spent the last few weeks being neglected in her swing most of the day. Good thing she is such a mellow baby.

This last weekend we headed down to St. George for my cousin's wedding. Thursday we drove to Vegas to eat at the Paris buffet (delicious!) and then to visit Zach's brother. At the Paris, Caid just kept crying. She wouldn't eat or drink and it was 118 degrees when we pulled into Vegas so we knew she needed to drink something or she'd get sick. We put a plate in front of her of all her favorites but she wouldn't touch it. Finally, she grabbed, of all things, a crab leg off of Alex's plate and started gnawing at it. She wouldn't put it down and then started in on her plate. After eating quite a bit, she remembered she was mad and didn't want to eat so she shoved the plate and started crying again. We didn't care, at least she ate.

Friday she went back to starving herself. She was hungry and tired and sore and still wouldn't give in. Saturday was the same thing. It was so hot and we were getting worried that she'd get too dehydrated and we'd end up in the hospital for an IV. I was gone all day helping set up for the reception so Zach stayed back at the condo trying all he could to get her to eat or drink. We offered slurpees, ice cream, popcicles, but nothing tempted her. Saturday night I went to the reception early to "help" in the kitchen, but when Zach and Caid came, she just wanted to be held and had a fever. I sent Zach to the pharmacy for more pain medicine and a syringe to force it down her throat. We took her back to the condo and got some medicine in her, but she was screaming and trying to spit it out. Then we started filling the syringe with Pedialyte and giving that to her. She realized how thirsty she was and started willingly taking it, but after she'd swallow, she'd spit in defiance, as if to remind us she's in charge.

Sunday driving home Caid was miserable. She cried from St. George all the way to Nephi. I sat in the back, crammed between two carseats, trying to calm Caid and feeding Jordyn. We stopped in Nephi and forced some more meds into her. Then we tried the Pedialyte. After a few syringes full, she took the cup and guzzled two full cups of juice. As soon as we got back on the road, she was sound asleep.

Then we got home. And our a/c was off. Jordyn had been sleeping 12 hours every night in St. George. Caid had been sleeping fine. We had our air turned on when we went to bed but it was still hot in our house. And Caid just wanted to cuddle. I was melting but whatever I could do to make her feel better I would do. 3:22 am. Jordyn wakes up. I wait to see if she'll go back to sleep but no luck. I try to walk to her room but my eyes are burning I'm so tired. I make her a bottle, feed her, and put her back to bed. I try to go back to sleep but Caid is still in my bed and is a kicker. 4:00 Jordyn is still awake. I walk around the house with her and she calms down. Try to put her back to bed and she screams. So I take her to the recliner and try to lay down with her. Screaming. Make a few more ounces, feed her in the recliner, she falls asleep, I am almost asleep, and feel my nose start to run. And run. Then I realize its bleeding. And I've got Jordyn in my arms, just barely fallen asleep. I get her back to bed and run to the bathroom and look like a scene from CSI. My face is covered in blood, my hands, down my arms. I get cleaned up, shove the toilet paper up my nose, and go to bed. But I can't breathe with the stupid toilet paper so I go back to the bathroom to see if its stopped. It has, but I am still congested (who gets a cold in July!?) so I have to blow my nose, the cardinal rule of bloody noses, don't blow your nose. But I have no choice and it starts to bleed again. Shove some more TP up my nostril, give up, and head to the couch to cozy up to my DVR. I finally start to drift off to sleep around 6:30. 7:05 I wake up to Zach turning on Sports Center. So much for feeling relaxed after a vacation.

But the wedding was gorgeous and Franklin enjoyed playing with his new friend Bear and sleeping in the babysitters bed with them (thanks Jonny and Hailey!) and it was nice to have a getaway.