The Week of the Plague

I am not sure when to say the week of the plague actually began. It is a big debate in our family who actually started it. Craig wants to blame it on me, but since I was the one of the last to actually run the high fever, I think his theory is not valid. Since I am writing this, we will go with my theory. It was either Craig or Cade. Craig was sick and then seemed to take a turn for the worse. And Cade came down sick over the weekend. (I plan on making another post about that story) Anyway, from May 9 through May 18 everyone managed to make a trip to the doctor and even one to the hospital, except for me. (there is no time for mom to go to the doctor)
It was a rough week and I truly believe that we may have been taken down by the swine flu. (there were several confirmed cases at Cade and Reid's school during this time)
As I already stated Cade and Craig were sick first. I sent Cade to school on Monday thinking he was better, but when he got off the bus he had spiked another fever and so had Reid. Cade had to miss another baseball game this night.

Reid was by far the worst. He spiked a fever 104.5. He missed school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.... truthfully I probably should have kept him home on Friday too.

Tuesday, Reid had an allergic reaction to something. (note the picture) Really not sure to what. If it was to the virus, Motrin, or the spaghettios he ate. Ahh... my little face swelling guy.

Aleah ran a fever Tuesday night. I was ready to take her to the hospital if her fever went over 103. Thankfully, it stayed in the 103 range through the night. It was rough, she screamed and screamed. Craig had taken some medicine to knock himself out. Thanks, Daddy. So I was on my own and I was starting to feel not so great. She was doing better on Wednesday. I took her and Reid to the doctor. The did blood work and a chest x-ray on Reid. To make sure his strep virus was not raging someplace else in his little body and make sure no signs of pneumonia.

On Thursday, I officially dropped.

Friday, Trey dropped. Praise God... he was able to finish his last week of preschool. He loves preschool so much it would have been sad if he had to miss his last few days. Took him to the doctor on Monday.

Everyone recovered. It took me forever to get over the cough.

105.4

What does 105.5 mean? Well in this case it means a trip to the hospital and it also means we are horrible parents. Friday night Cade had started to run a fever. Since Reid was on an antibiotic for strep, I wanted to take him to the doctor right then. But we waited. He woke-up around 4:00 and I gave him some Motrin. In the morning (I was still asleep) Craig got all three boys ready to go to Cade's 8:30AM baseball practice. He thought Cade was feeling better. I did wake-up and go down and protest a little, because I knew it was just the Motrin. He came home from practice feeling pretty tired. I took Reid to his soccer game. Craig stayed home with everyone else. I called to say that Reid had won his game and we were on our way home and Craig told me that they were ready to go to Cade's soccer game. Once again, I protested and lost. Craig had given Cade some Motrin so he was feeling alright. Now if all of this was not bad enough..... Cade had his team soccer party after this game. I will admit at this point I did think he was feeling better. The Motrin had worn off and he was running and eating (and contaminating) with all his friends.

We got home from the party and everything was calm for a short time. Then Cade started not doing well at all. I felt him and he was on fire. I took his temperature and it was 105.4. Yes, you read right. Craig did not fight me this time. He took him to the doctor right then... the clinic actually. Cade was crying and very distraught. I had given him a dose of Motrin, they gave him some Tylenol and sent him on to the hospital.

He was diagnosed with strep. Did he have something on top of the strep? I think he did, but we will never know. I think this was the beginning of the plague this week.

Kindergarten Tea Party

Trey and Harrison


Reid's Class Performance




It's never a good thing when you hear Trey say, "Oh No!" He had spilled his punch down the front of him right as Reid was taking my picture in the beautiful hat that Reid had made for me.


Today I had one of those moments that made me feel like this will eventually be home. I was getting ready to lay Aleah down for a nap when I heard a knocking at the door. Of course, things go nuts at this point. Tasha barking and Reid and Trey yelling. It was my neighbor a couple doors down asking me if I could watch his little boy. That may sound like the silliest thing, but it made me feel kind of emotional. They knew me well enough to watch their child.

The crazy part was that I was planning on going to Reid's Tea Party at school in honor of Mother's day. So I told Peter that we would just bring Harrison with us. It's funny, because when I had one child it would freak me out to watch somebody else's kid at the same time. Now I am willing to take a 20 month old and pack him up with my 2 youngest and go to a school event.

So everything went pretty smooth. Trey and Harrison played. We all got packed up and actually made it to school on time. Yeah! Reid's class sang some cute songs for us. Reid presented me with several gifts. A flower, and turnip plant (not really sure if that one was for Mother's Day) and a sheet all about me. Which is always fun, when your child writes about things they think about you. Cade is Reid's book buddy and the two of them actually worked on it together. So it was pretty accurate. (Even my weight... how did they get that right?)


Here are a few of the statements:

• She gets really angry when "I be mean to my little brother." True.



• My mom cooks the best "macroni and cheese." No not the box... from scratch



• This is how she makes it: "just adds a little tuna to the macoroni and cheese." True.



• My mom's favorite clothes to wear are "a pink sweatshirt over her clothes." They might be a little off on that. I am usually wearing the pink sweatshirt to cover up the fact that I still have my pajama top on when I take Cade to the bus. Well, I do wear it all the time.

We met up with Cade and I ended up driving all 5 kids home. That was the only bad time for Harrison. He seemed rather unphased, but my 3 boys fought in the back seat the whole way home.

"Shwew" No Swine Flu

Last night as we watched the local news they reported a case of the swine flu at Cade and Reid's school. I of course instantly thought, "oh no." But I was still not expecting Reid to wake-up at 6:00 crying. "Oh Man...here we go." I gave him a drink and he said he felt better. "Well maybe we are going to be alright." I took Cade to the bus stop. And found out our little neighbor girl has scarlet fever. "Do people still get scarlet fever." Well, yes they do. Came back to find Reid was running a fever of 102. "Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said...." (anyone who reads no more monkeys jumping on the bed will appreciate that) I actually took him in and he saw the nurse practitioner. They swabbed his throat and by the time we got home we had a message... he has strep. I am not really sure if strep is any better than the swine flu, but it was a relief.

It's a Small World

Last night we went to Trey's preschool program. Since they have so many kids from other countries they had the kids sing songs in many different languages. The first song that Trey's class sang was very cute. One of the mom's in his class taught it to them. It was "Stand Up, Sit Down". She was from Africa and the song was in Tanzanian Swahili. It was very simple and the kids loved squatting down and jumping up. I have to admit, I wish they would have just stuck to simple little songs in English. I mean, Trey has a hard enough time with English. But it was cute.

Tough Little Pink Thing

Time is flying by, Miss Aleah turned 7 months this weekend. So of course this meant a photo shoot in honor of the occasion. I tried taking some photos outside, but it was her first time sitting with grass around her and it was very distracting. Everyone always comments on what a good baby she is and I agree. However, when things don't go her way she is not shy to voice her opinion. With three brothers she is learning quickly to speak up for what she wants.

Farm Day Program

Trey, Aleah, and I went to Reid's Farm Day Program. Reid dressed up like a farmer. The class sang different farm songs. The grand finale was the hokey pokey in a version about a pig. Something like the Piggley Wiggley. Super cute. They got to put frosting and sprinkles on cookies and then make their own ice cream in a ziploc bag. How fun.