Virulent
We are still alive. Some of us, namely the 5 and under crowd, have been sick. All. Week.
And of course, my husband was jetsetting around Eastern Europe, courtesy of the U.S. Government. Thanks, you guys! You always know the best times to send him on some random trip to hobnob with people from the consulate or something. Maybe Hans isn't telling me about the top-secret, highly classified nature of these trips...but they usually sound like they're just about pointless. For example, he spent two hours today driving, then because they had to kill some time before leaving, they had coffee and played blackjack.
These are your tax dollars hard at work, people!
But then again, Hans did win 42 Euro playing blackjack, so I'm not complaining. And he brought me something for Valentine's Day!
Anyway, the kids started exhibiting symptoms of some sort of viral distress on Sunday. It's one of the reasons that we left Het Meerdal early. We just preferred to have our sick children in their own beds, not in hard, uncomfortable beds and being woken every hour by amorous ducks (seriously, our "villa" was near the canal and the damn ducks were going WWWWWWAAAACKKKK!!!! super loud at random and irritating intervals all night long).
The virus was much worse on Monday. Both Josiah and Annika were sniffling, coughing and running low-grade temps. The kind that can be controlled effectively with the Motrin/Tylenol cocktail administered every 4-6 hours. It got a little worse on Tuesday. Josiah started showing signs of cellulitis in his left eye again (remember his poor, disgusting little eye a few years ago? I have pictures if you don't). I read up on it on WebMD...why do I do these things to myself? All it does is serve to scare the living crap out of me. Anyway, WebMD said that cellulitis can lead to meningitis (it's kind of catchy, isn't it? Someone set it to music!) and of course, that freaked me out.
Annika and Will happened to be having their 4 year and 4 month checkups on Tuesday, and I was blessed enough to get an appointment with the same doctor right after their appointments! Score! So...on my own, I dragged the three of them, two of them coughing, sneezing and one of them with a pink eye, to the clinic.
The results: Will weighs 15 lbs and is 24" long and looks great. He had two shots in either thigh. He did not scream as loud as his sister did. Annika is great too--the doctor commented on how smart she is. I didn't get her weight and height--it seems less essential at age 4 than at age 4 months! She had to get four shots and boy did she holler!
The doctor was unsure whether Josiah's eye has conjunctivitis or cellulitis, so he prescribed an ointment and sent us home.
Sigh. It's been a long week. There has been a lot of getting up in the middle of the night to wipe noses, get drinks, soothe sick little people. With Hans gone and Jodi here, Annika has been sleeping on the floor in our room and Josiah on Hans' side of the bed. Well, at least Josiah lets me put my icy cold feet up against him to warm them up...Hans never shares his heat. Sleeping with a feverish Josiah was like sleeping with a hot water bottle, albeit a sniffly, hacking, teeth grinding one.
It's Friday now and Annika is doing 100% better. I reason that she's so damn ornery that the virus thinks "Oh hell no, I'm not staying in this host for a minute longer!" and packs its bags. Josiah has a deviant strain that makes me believe that it's gone because he wakes up unfeverish and normal, but then suddenly spikes a fever and is a sad, pathetic little boy who won't eat and stares at me with the Precious Moment eyes. Josiah is 50% better, but it's still not gone. I'm hoping that he'll be better in time for Annika's birthday at Sensapolis.
Something tells me he'll make a miraculous recovery in time!
And of course, my husband was jetsetting around Eastern Europe, courtesy of the U.S. Government. Thanks, you guys! You always know the best times to send him on some random trip to hobnob with people from the consulate or something. Maybe Hans isn't telling me about the top-secret, highly classified nature of these trips...but they usually sound like they're just about pointless. For example, he spent two hours today driving, then because they had to kill some time before leaving, they had coffee and played blackjack.
These are your tax dollars hard at work, people!
But then again, Hans did win 42 Euro playing blackjack, so I'm not complaining. And he brought me something for Valentine's Day!
Anyway, the kids started exhibiting symptoms of some sort of viral distress on Sunday. It's one of the reasons that we left Het Meerdal early. We just preferred to have our sick children in their own beds, not in hard, uncomfortable beds and being woken every hour by amorous ducks (seriously, our "villa" was near the canal and the damn ducks were going WWWWWWAAAACKKKK!!!! super loud at random and irritating intervals all night long).
The virus was much worse on Monday. Both Josiah and Annika were sniffling, coughing and running low-grade temps. The kind that can be controlled effectively with the Motrin/Tylenol cocktail administered every 4-6 hours. It got a little worse on Tuesday. Josiah started showing signs of cellulitis in his left eye again (remember his poor, disgusting little eye a few years ago? I have pictures if you don't). I read up on it on WebMD...why do I do these things to myself? All it does is serve to scare the living crap out of me. Anyway, WebMD said that cellulitis can lead to meningitis (it's kind of catchy, isn't it? Someone set it to music!) and of course, that freaked me out.
Annika and Will happened to be having their 4 year and 4 month checkups on Tuesday, and I was blessed enough to get an appointment with the same doctor right after their appointments! Score! So...on my own, I dragged the three of them, two of them coughing, sneezing and one of them with a pink eye, to the clinic.
The results: Will weighs 15 lbs and is 24" long and looks great. He had two shots in either thigh. He did not scream as loud as his sister did. Annika is great too--the doctor commented on how smart she is. I didn't get her weight and height--it seems less essential at age 4 than at age 4 months! She had to get four shots and boy did she holler!
The doctor was unsure whether Josiah's eye has conjunctivitis or cellulitis, so he prescribed an ointment and sent us home.
Sigh. It's been a long week. There has been a lot of getting up in the middle of the night to wipe noses, get drinks, soothe sick little people. With Hans gone and Jodi here, Annika has been sleeping on the floor in our room and Josiah on Hans' side of the bed. Well, at least Josiah lets me put my icy cold feet up against him to warm them up...Hans never shares his heat. Sleeping with a feverish Josiah was like sleeping with a hot water bottle, albeit a sniffly, hacking, teeth grinding one.
It's Friday now and Annika is doing 100% better. I reason that she's so damn ornery that the virus thinks "Oh hell no, I'm not staying in this host for a minute longer!" and packs its bags. Josiah has a deviant strain that makes me believe that it's gone because he wakes up unfeverish and normal, but then suddenly spikes a fever and is a sad, pathetic little boy who won't eat and stares at me with the Precious Moment eyes. Josiah is 50% better, but it's still not gone. I'm hoping that he'll be better in time for Annika's birthday at Sensapolis.
Something tells me he'll make a miraculous recovery in time!
Comments
You're right - Josiah does have Precious Moments eyes and I think they're beautiful.
Please greet the kids for me!