Nifty Idea

Yesterday, Phil went to Publix to get some groceries. Of course, I reminded him to take our Green Bags with him so he wouldn't have to get those nasty plastic bags. When he was checking out, the cashier handed him a couple of little window clings. They looked like this.


Aren't they cool?! What a great idea! We all have those little window clings that tell us when we need to get our oil changed again. Now we have a little reminder to bring our little Green Bags into the store to carry our purchases out in. Such a simple, yet brilliant, idea.

Memories

I was just looking through some old photos. I came across these cute pics of Sarah and Emily dancing together. They were seven and five years old and the best of friends. Oh, how things have changed!

Full House

No, I'm not talking about the TV show. I'm talking about my house full of sick children. Remember yesterday when I said that Emily was just fine because she hadn't been around Sarah and her illness all week? Yeah? Well, scratch that. Emily is now sick, too.

Emily woke up this morning with a fever. So, we started her on the Motrin & Tylenol regime. Unfortunately, the timing of her illness is terrible. Tomorrow is her big class field trip to JA Biz Town. And, I'm supposed to be chaperoning. With Emily this sick, and also obviously contagious, I'm not going to be able to let her attend.

Terrible, terrible timing. All three girls are now missing something fun because of this illness. Sarah had to miss her field trip to Disney Quest on Friday, Katie has to skip a birthday party at Gymboree this evening, and Emily will miss the JA Biz Town field trip tomorrow.

So Sad

My girls watched their first Kentucky Derby this evening. I don't know if they really got the magnitude of just how big the Kentucky Derby is, but they watched it nonetheless. Katie was excited to see all of the horses running around the track.

Unfortunately, they also got to see what happened to poor Eight Belles. They had a difficult time understanding why they had to euthanize her. I tried to explain it them as best as I could. It's just so, so sad.

The Sound of Silence

I knew my new dishwasher, further more to be known as "Ms. Kraus," would be quieter than the old one, but I never expected her to be as quiet as she is. Ms. Kraus is SO quiet, that I can't hear her AT ALL over the hum of my computer or the washing machine in the laundry room. Phil thinks she's even quieter than our refrigerator.

Phil chose her name, by the way. Her full name is "Gretchen Kraus," but he just wants us to call her "Ms. Kraus." Anyone know where he got her name?


Edited to Add: Congratulations to Holly for correctly identifying where Phil got Ms. Kraus' name from. Ms. Gretchen Wilomena Kraus was a character on the 80s TV show Benson played by Inga Swenson.

Katie's Turn

Since I had a mild fever yesterday afternoon, I thought that I should check Katie's temperature, too. She wasn't acting sick at all, but she was around Sarah just as much as I was this week. Katie's temperature was 99.8 - a bit of a fever, but nothing to be too worried about. I gave her some Motrin and we continued on as normal.

Around 4:30 this morning, though, while Katie was sleeping in my bed between me and Phil, I started to hear her making a funny noise. That funny noise was soon followed by a little wetness in my hair. Yep, Katie had thrown up in my hair! I know, GROSS! She kept on throwing up what little fluid she had in her tummy, until she was just having dry heaves.

I checked her temperature again, and it was up to 101.0, so I gave her some more Motrin, tried to give her a popsicle, and gave her a sippy cup of water. Phil got up with her, since she didn't want to go back to sleep, and stayed up for the rest of the morning.

When I finally got up at nine o'clock (yes, my husband loves me that much!), I called the pediatrician to get her an appointment for this morning. Dr. Montane was working this morning, and I told him all about how sick Sarah had been and what we had gone through with her all week. He checked Katie out, and said that she had the same thing, albeit not as severe. He went ahead and had the nurse give Katie the rocephin shot, so we wouldn't have to worry about her getting worse and having to come back again like Sarah.

Katie did wonderfully with the shot, and we even managed to make it to Emily's soccer game this afternoon. She's taking a much needed nap right now (so is Daddy!), and hopefully she'll start feeling a lot better soon.

Oh, and if you're wondering how Emily is feeling, she's doing just fine. Other than being sunburned from going to Busch Gardens and Adventure Island with my uncle yesterday and not wearing any sunscreen, she's just perfect. No sign of fever or illness at all with her. Of course, she was at school and away from Sarah while the rest of us were stuck at home together, so that could have something to do with her good health.

Sheeeee's Heeeeeere!

My new dishwasher is here!!! Phil is currently working on installing her. Once she's up and running, I'll take some pics to share.

In the mean time, why don't you help me name her? I'm thinking something German to go along with her surname of Bosch. All suggestions welcome.

You Give Me Fever

I spoke too soon. Guess who now has a fever? You know, besides Sarah. That would be me.

I woke up with a bit of a sore throat, but I chalked it up to post-nasal drip and went about my day. By lunch time, I was feeling much better. Then, three o'clock rolled around and I started to get that ache that I get whenever I have a fever. It's really funny how that works. I can just tell by the ache that I have a fever, and I only check my temperature to confirm what I already know.

My temperature was 99.5 F. Certainly not in the same league as Sarah's fevers, but a fever none the less. Now, I just have to pray that I don't end up as miserably ill as Sarah has been all week. Not only would it be very difficult for me to take care of Katie, but I am also supposed to be chaperoning a very important field trip for Emily on Monday, so I need to stay healthy.

Sicko III

So, after taking the Motrin, Sarah's fever only came down to 100.3. I had to give her some Tylenol, too, to get it to come all the way down to normal. Poor baby!

At her doctor appointment this afternoon, Dr. Bob said Sarah definitely looked worse. He decided that she really did need to get a shot to get better. He swabbed her throat again to check for Strep, and said that if it was Strep, she would get a penicillin shot, and if it wasn't, she'd just get a rocephin shot.

Once again, the Strep test was negative, so Sarah got the rocephin shot, which doesn't hurt as much as the penicillin shot. Now, she just has to rest for the weekend and hope that she's healthy enough for school on Monday.

On a positive note, though, even though Sarah has been home with Katie and me all week long, neither one of us seems to be getting sick at all. Sarah has been doing a great job of not breathing on Katie, not letting Katie eat or drink after her, and washing her hands before she touches Katie. The hand washing really does make a huge difference when it comes to stopping the spread of germs.

Sicko: Revenge of the Germs

Sarah is still sick. Actually, she's much worse than she was on Monday. She woke up vomiting again this morning, so I checked her temperature. It was up to 102.8! When she gets like this, she can't take her antibiotics because she'll just vomit them right back up.

I gave her some chewable Motrin to try to bring down her temperature. Once it comes down low enough, I can give her the antibiotics.

I also went ahead and got her an appointment to see Dr. Bob again this afternoon. Hopefully, he can give her a shot to get her better fast. She's already missed the entire week of school. I'd hate for her to have to be sick for her entire three day weekend, too.