Spew into this

Last night Cordelia had pink cheeks, a flush that usually means illness. I warned Eric to brace for a sick kid in the night. Nothing happened all night and Eric got up with the girls around 6:30, letting me sleep a bit longer (yeah, my husband is rad). I was in the middle of a dream about dogs and cell phones and a canal when I was pulled back to reality by the farmiliar sound of retching. All parents know this sound. I assumed Cordelia had indeed become ill and I hopped out of bed to help Eric with the situation.

I stepped into my slippers. The girls call them my elk slippers and I have no clue why. I tossed on my sweater (because I cannot handle puke while chilly) and I was in the living room in a flash. I looked at Cordelia who seemed totally fine. Perhaps I had been wrong and the retching was part of my dream...then I heard more. Elise, puking into a cup....think Wayne's World,"If you're gonna spew, spew into this." I guess a cup was the nearest option. 

I hopped into action. Eric and I combined our parenting powers like Voltron and assembled ourselves into a vomit catching and cleaning force to be reckoned with. Within moments all was clean and Elise was wearing clean clothes. I would have high fived Eric, but we both probably needed a good hand washing.

A few more pukes and she is now basically empty. Cordelia shared her most prized possession, Fluff a stuffed dog who will be fully sanitized at some point (not like the Velveteen Rabbit in the scarlet fever burn pile sanitized, just put through the wash). Looks like a great day to sit on the couch, read books and watch movies. Just as well, the roadway in our neighborhood is 100% crazy, a gauntlet of solid ice---best to stay home anyway.

Hopefully Elise will rally. Stomach bugs tend  to hit hard and move on quickly. So fingers crossed that this one gets the boot and doesn't linger at our house.

Another Sick Day

Well folks, Cordelia is sick with the same virus that took Elise down last week. So far she seems to be faring better than her sister did, but good gravy!

Cordelia is content to relax on the couch, clutching a just-in-case puke bucket. Yesterday she spent the afternoon laying on our bed, talking while I worked. It was kind of nice.

Thankfully Elise is back in action and has the energy to aggressively argue topics like,"Fish don't poop, because they don't have bums!!!!" Thanks to Taro Gomi's Everyone Poops for settling that one.

Since Eric is here for this round of illness (he was out of state for work last week), I banished my mother. She did bring us a ton of groceries and sanitizing products, because she is crazy generous. She is actually spending her Saturday volunteering with Vision Beyond Borders and then volunteer choir practice. Just in case you weren't aware that my mother is amazing.

Well, I am sorry for the fragmented post, but that is all I can offer today. Onward!

Strep and a Cat

Well, I told you I'd turned a corner yesterday. Then I hit publish on my post and my fever skyrocketed in one milisecond, or whatever. Anyway, I had to face facts. I was five days into a fever over 100F and it was time to bite the bullet and get some help. I went in and a throat swab was done. The nurse was impressed with my medical history ( I got to teach her about Meckel's diverticulum) and the doctor was impressed with tell tale white pustules in my throat.....yep. I have strep.

When I left the doctor Eric, who had been starting to feel ill went right in and got a test. Strep. Since Cordelia is on meds for her recent bouts of sinus infection and bronchitis she was in the clear and we're keeping our fingers crossed for Elise.

Anyway, the meds are starting to kick in. While I still feel like I am running at 60% I am much improved and the best part is that there is no fever!!!!

So, let's take this opportunity to check in with our elusive cat Ophelia.







I hope to be back in blogging form tomorrow!

I will no longer be contagious later today! Weeeeeee!

Home/ Insane in the Home Brain

 

Cordelia has been a bit under the weather the past several days, sinus infection on the heels of bronchitis. With the exception of a doctor visit yesterday we have been fairly housebound. I have been doing a lot of crocheting.



We've read many books. Cordelia has been watching TV more than I'd like to admit, but I cannot stick to an episode or two a day rule when I have a sick child.  Here is where I toss my principles about TV viewing out the window:

1. Car rides. Being able to distract a kid with a movie and a portable DVD player is pretty much miraculous. Seriously though, you can play car games, sing car songs, talk, etc.---there comes a time when you just need to check out mentally and hooking your kid up to the DVD is just the ticket. Finger snaps to you if you are a better mother than me, but that's just how we do it up in here.
2. Illness. When Cordelia is ill the world crumbles. She whines. She doesn't play. Snot seeps from her nostrils and there is general lethargy. We can read books, but she tires of these quickly. There comes a point when she just begs to sit and stare into the vortex of Netflix and I allow it.

Anyway, where was I? Where am I? How did I get here?

Oh yeah...daily blog...so like I have been saying we're house bound and this post is making me realize that I am perhaps a bit stir crazy as well. This morning Elise, the dogs and I have been rolling around on the floor. Cordelia is snuggled on the couch. I am organizing seeds people! Why? Who knows?





I am thinking about art, painting to be specific. I hope to squeeze in a bit of work today. We may make a run to the store for essentials/ to pass illness on to unsuspecting people. I kid.





Yesterday Elise spiked a fever too, gone this morning, but Eric came home to help because I was running on three hours of sleep and caring for two sick littles. He came home with a soy latte and snuggled up with Cordelia. He's a good man.



Hold on I must play a game of This Little Piggie with Elise...

In case you're wondering here is the vegan version of that (grabbing one toe at a time, starting with big toe): This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had tofu. This little piggy had none. This little piggy went weee weee weee (unless you're French then it's oui oui oui) all the way home.



OK, I am back. I suppose I should get dressed and act like there is some sort of plan here, you know beyond reactionary. Perhaps it is time to build a fort!



How are you?

The Halloween that Wasn't

Cordelia has been so excited for Halloween. I think it is safe to say that she has mentioned it daily since Nov. 1st 2011. She has mulled over a zillion costume ideas for all of us. She has practiced trick-or-treating. All of this has been rather unusual to me as we normally don't make a big deal out of the holiday. For some reason this 3 year old girl is really into Halloween.

Yesterday started out really well. Cordelia got to wear pajamas to preschool (a genuis way to avoid dealing with dozens of costumes). She chose her pink skeleton pajamas and requested a pink hair extension. I obliged the girl. She put on her motorcycle boots and jean jacket on. Too cool. She was sooo excited for the day ahead. Later we planned to get together with her BFF Sadie for a little festive fun.

When I picked her up from preschool I was informed that she had quite suddenly been stricken with a tummy ache. I saw my sweet little lady sitting in her teacher's lap. She looked miserable, but I hoped that all of the attention was just escalating the situation. We left, but she really wasn't her normal self. She pointed to the lower right side when asked where it hurt. I became a bit concerned about the possibility of appendicitis, but hoped that it was just painful gas. I was pretty sure that was the case. I did talk to the doctor and they said to take her to the ER if things escalated.

The thing about a sick kid at that age it that it is so difficult to tell just how serious the situation is. One minute she'd be fine and then the next she was doubled over in pain. Late afternoon my mother, the nurse, stopped by to check on things. We hung out for an hour as Cordelia seemed perfectly fine, the situation really seemed to be past. A few minutes before my mother left Cordelia doubled over in pain and puked. Obviously it wasn't gas. So, we had to head to the ER to rule out the possibility of appendicitis (I had appendicitis as a kid and it was nasty). My mother changed into some barf free clothing and we headed to the hospital where we met Eric who had just gotten off of work.


Please excuse the quality of the cell phone pics. Eric and Cordelia in the ER

The ER doc shared our concerns and decided to rule out a few different possibilities. We were there for 3 hours before we got to go home. Cordelia was given a small battery of tests and she was so charming and sweet. The staff doted on her. She was given a stuffed bear (she promptly named it Teddy Ben), stickers, a puppet--she loves the hospital.  Ultimately the doctor was able to rule out appendicitis and a bladder infection (she was hospitalized for that last year). There were still a couple of possible causes for her pain from a simple virus to something that would require surgical intervention. We were sent home with instructions to keep a close eye on her and to return if things worsened.


My mother hung out with us the entire time. She is awesome.


We passed Elise around, keeping her entertained as well

Thankfully we made it through the night with no further incident and she is definitely looking much better this morning. Hopefully she is simply on the mend now. I am so thankful for more medical bills that we were able to rule out the worst possibilities and that she seems to be feeling more normal at this point.

Since she had to miss Halloween we have decided to have Halloween II in a couple of days when we are sure she is back in action. She may be even more excited for Halloween II than she was for Halloween I.

Fun

Preschool is great for many things: play, socialization, learning, immune system building...

Yesterday was a sick day. Both girls have a cold. Elise was happy just to be snuggled, but Cordelia still wanted to do something. So I decided that it was time to break out the big guns. I had tucked a few of Cordelia's birthday gifts away after she had opened them; waiting for a slow day to bring them out.

Yesterday I brought out one of the coolest and most thoughtful gifts, a detective kit. The gift was from Cordelia's BFF Sadie, but her mother Sarah gets the credit. Check out the entire kit she made by clicking here. Cordelia is really into solving mysteries and this was exactly the perfect gift. She played with it for ages. If you are looking to entertain a 3 year old this is the way to go!


Cordelia with her detective badge and magnifying glass


Investigating

I was also recently gifted with a book called Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes.  The book is full of creative and messy exercises. While the book was a gift for me I decided to include Cordelia as she could use a lesson on the joys of being messy (unless it is meal time, she needs no help there). Anyway the book is meant to be destroyed; it's full of activities like pouring a colored liquid onto it from a great height, covering the page in adhesive and pouring powder (we chose cocoa powder) over it, rubbing the book in dirt, scribbling, tearing, etc.





Anyway, the sick girl was entertained!



Entirely unrelated...

A Plague Upon Both Our Houses

Oh, wasn't that quite a dramatic title?! We have had a rather dramatic week here in Wyoming, but I think that the storm has passed. All of the drama started late Sunday morning with a nasty stomach virus that hit Cordelia first before working its way through our ranks and even reared its ugly head at my parent's house as well. The kind of sickness that we will reflect upon for years to come.

Few things rank higher on the awful scale than a stomach flu. Yet we managed to make it extra challenging on ourselves as Eric was out of town (sick in a hotel is never good) and then had to find his way home (sick and traveling is worse). I am hugely pregnant (sick and pregnant = contractions galore) and we have company at our house. Oh my. Oh my!

So, why am I telling you about our pukey wimpy family? I never write complainy blogs....oh that's because I am not complaining. You see the shadow of this sickness has passed and left me with a renewed gratitude for the health that my family regularly enjoys. I can't imagine what people who have chronic illness deal with, the inner strength that it takes them to get through every day. We were slammed down by one little bug for just a few days and it felt like the whole world was out of order.

I am so thankful that we have the general good health to fight something like this off. I am so thankful for my parents (who managed, so far, to avoid this) for their concern when so many in their crew were down for the count. I am so thankful for our friend Andy who is the most laid back company in the world---and handled our plague without batting an eyelash. Hopefully we didn't share! I am thankful that I found new depths in myself to keep it together even when I didn't feel like I could. I am thankful that my girl is feeling better today and that my husband has passed through the worst of it. More than anything I am thankful that I can eat again. I am hungry!

Today I am ready to get back out and rejoin the world with Cordelia in tow. I think Eric still probably needs to rest up and recover for one more day before he feels completely normal. I am hoping my brother Sam is in the same boat.



Anyway I am off to enjoy one of Andy's shows with Cordelia and to put this illness into the family lore.

Sunshine

We had a rather challenging start to our weekend. A nasty little pathogen found it's way into our home and left Cordelia stricken. Friday and Saturday were spent snuggling and cuddling a little girl who kept hugging me and saying, in a raspy voice, "I wuv you." Sweet girl.

I got one of those lessons that motherhood is so good at delivering. We let go of weekend plans and just hung out at home, following her lead. We kept a slow pace. I don't know about you, but when I am ill I just push myself to get better fast. With Cordelia we didn't. We let her roll around, sleep, snuggle, cry, cough, and go through all of those things that an illness forces upon us. I was reminded of how little control we have and I felt so thankful that we live in a time where we can get medical help when needed (for the record she had a double ear infection and some mystery throat infection).

Yesterday she was beginning to feel much better (thanks to a weekend visit to the doctor). So we decided to get out of the house and take a walk in the sunshine. We appreciated the fresh air, the changing 0f the season, the warm air, and a return to health.

























How was your weekend?