sickness saga

(I'm hoping by posting this, everyone will wake up bright-eyed, fever-free, and well tomorrow.)

As I posted before, Seth came home early from school on the 16th with a headache.  Little did I know then that it was just the beginning of a sickness saga around here.  A high fever gets him down and out, but by the second dose of antibiotics, he's usually bounces back.  Not this time.  It was Tuesday morning before he finally ditched the fever, and I'm talking 101-104 degrees.  On Monday I unloaded the dishwasher and found eleven clean medicine cups.  11!  His official diagnosis was bacterial pneumonia, and the cough really interrupted his sleep at night.  I kept him home Wednesday just to help him regain his stamina.  Thursday he went to school, I went to the Y and ran all the errands I had put off all week, and good thing I did.  That night Amelia threw up.  I was hoping it was something random and not the stomach bug, because that is one thing my nurse-immunity can't seem to ward off.  Friday, Amelia has a low temp, but no one else is down for the count.  Saturday, ditto.  At this point I'm starting to think Seth had a virus on top of his bacterial infection, and that Amelia just took a long time to incubate it.  Saturday evening (after even the urgent care has closed), she says her throat hurts.  Great.  Sunday she wakes up fine, we go meet up with the boys in Charlotte, and she poops out again and gets a fever.  Monday I took her to the doctor.  Strep.  Seth finished his antibiotics that morning, so hopefully he's covered from it.  Today she woke up fever free but with pink eye in one eye!  Ugh!  We have been so healthy this winter, but they have sure made up for it in the past two weeks!  Nathan keeps marveling about how little shopping I've done this month, but it's because we've been on house arrest!

boy time!

This weekend it was Amelia's turn to be sick, and at last minute Seth' sweet-talked Nathan into an overnight trip to the condo in Charlotte.  Here are some pictures Nathan took on their walk Sunday morning:

Mother-Son "Event"

Seth's school has had a very successful daddy-daughter dance for the past few years.  This year was their first mother-son "event", it didn't really have an official title.  On the docket was frisbee golf, twister, and ice cream.  We got there late, and walked on to the field to see about 30 boys playing basketball and the moms talking.  Seth said, "I thought this was a mother/son thing?"  Ha!  So I asked him what he wanted to do first. Frisbee golf:

Then he tried out Twister, but as it was with most of the boys, the draw of playing on other grades' playground equipment proved to be too much.  Here his is on "his" playground:

After I took this picture, he said, "Don't show this to [his teacher]."  I guess we're not allowed to stand on the bars during school hours!  We made our own fun, despite me having a major histimine-response to something in that field.  The rain clouds rolled in just as we were getting our free ice cream and heading home.

Barbie biker (in training)

Amelia inherited a Barbie bike from Ella-Brooke.  She has been a woman on a mission this week, and learned how to ride.  Go, Amelia, go!

our pretty tree

Our weeping cherry is showing off this year:

kid at heart

Sunday we took Nathan for his first-ever trip to our children's museum.  My biggest beef with the place is that grown-ups have to pay admission.  The zoo, the science museum? I get the fee.  But at the children's museum, I'm there to supervise and interact with my child.  Educationally, I'm not getting a whole lot out of the trip!  I had a coupon for one free admission, and we'll count that as mine, because Nathan got his $7 worth of play in! 

There was a special brain awareness event going on.  Out on the deck, they had cadaver brains.  I was proud of my family for being polite enough to listen to the med student's info.  As Seth and I walked away, Amelia pulled Nathan aside and whispered, "can I touch the brain?"

Might just take after her mommy, after all.  (The smell took me back to my anatomy lab days, yuck.)

good leprechaun

Seth has been battling his allergies for the past couple weeks.  I've been waiting and waiting for it, and yesterday, he finally spiked a fever, after coming home from school at lunchtime with a headache.  Our pediatrician was able to see him at the end of the day.  Since our last visit, they have installed a nerf basketball hoop to the back of the exam room door.  How a kid with a 102 degree fever (after ibuprofen) can feel like shooting baskets is beyond me, but those kids were nuts while we waiting for our negative flu and strep results. The doctor wanted to run a blood count, to see if we could decide between bacterial pneumonia and a false negative flu test.  It took me and two nurses to hold Seth down for the finger stick. Geesh.  Anyways, at about 8 last night the doctor called me at home and told me his labs looked like a bacterial infection, and he called in antibiotics.  Seth's fever burned through the night into the late morning.  It's been a long time since I've alternated Tylenol and Motrin like that.  Hopefully now his antibiotics have kicked in and he's on the mend.  

Anyways, the leprechaun knew I didn't need a big mess to clean up this morning, so this is what he left the kids, along with a trail of green crepe paper from their room to their treat:

dinner convo

We have been having some wacky dinner conversations lately.  Yesterday, Seth started a guessing game, consisting of him naming a handful of animals, and the rest of us guessing which one was hiding in his hands.  Tonight, Amelia asked, "Mommy, what is Carley's last name?"  I told her.  "What is Carley's third name?"  After I told her, Amelia said, "Not her in trouble name, her third name!"  These two little girls happen to hear their middle names quite often, ha!

most days are crazy...

...and some evenings are crazy, too.  But then every once in awhile, you get an evening like this:

...and you have to take a picture of it.

Lorax

Last week was Read Across America week, and every day Seth's school had some sort of dress-up theme.  Friday he was to dress up as his favorite book character.  I wouldn't necessarily say that The Lorax is his favorite book, but it was the school's selection for the week, and the new movie came out this weekend, so Seth wanted to be the Lorax.  I sent him off to school looking like this:

He was still wearing the eyebrows when Nathan got home from work Friday!

fun presents

I'm a bad mom.  I did not take any pictures on Amelia's actual birthday.  It was a day full of errands, swim lessons, and presents.  She opened one in the morning, one mid-afternoon, and the rest right before bedtime.  On Wednesday, she celebrated with her class.  I found out at her Valentine's party that one student had a milk and egg allergy, and I felt bad that he couldn't have cupcakes, so I talked to his dad and found out it was okay to have krispie treats made out of Pebbles cereal.  Amelia said it was a big hit, and it was nice to make something other than cupcakes!  Here she is on March 1st.  She spent the morning coloring the life-size Rapunzel and Ariel we gave her, while wearing the new ballerina pajamas from Aunt E.

Ole!

Nathan had to be out of town on Amelia's actual birthday, so after her party, we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant to celebrate.  After dinner, they brought her a birthday dessert and sang to her, while she wore the restaurant's sombrero:

All that attention made Amelia really shy.  She was willing to let her brother borrow the sombrero...and I think he would have worn it all night!

a beary fun party

Last Saturday we celebrated Amelia's 4th birthday with 14 of her closest friends.  She wanted a Build-A-Bear party at home.  I found this invitation on etsy.  I didn't like the picture online, so I decided to make the "4" out of cardboard.  Amelia chose the pose:

I found a company online to order the bears and bought the stuffing at Walmart.  This is the moment I thought this might have been a really bad idea...

...but it worked out fine.  The girls took turns stuffing their bears and making bead bracelets. 

 Nathan made six bears to decorate the walls of the basement:

 I made a cupcake cake this year.  I may never make a regular cake for a party again.  This was so easy!

 Amelia also wanted ice cream sundaes.  They were a huge hit.

We had told our kids, multiple times, that Amelia wasn't going to open her presents until after the party.  But then I saw Seth walking around like the town crier saying, "Time to open presents!  Time to open presents!"  It was hectic, because each girl wanted to be front and center when her gift was open.

Then the girls collected their bears and headed home.  Except for some recycling to carry out, my house looked just as good as it did before the party.  As I was wrangling the present mob, my friends were cleaning.  I love them!

latest masterpieces

Last week we were invited to paint pottery with some friends.  We got them back yesterday.  Seth made an Angry Birds pencil holder.  Amelia made a fairy trinket box.