Zoe is feeling better-ish today. Her fever went down and (with the help of medication) stayed down all night. She did throw up this morning, but I think it was because I gave her the medication with only juice, not with food. She's been fine ever since, although quite tired. She's just laid on the sofa most of the day and watched cartoons. Zaven's ear has cleared up so right now it's only Zoe and I who are still sick. I'm mostly better and I don't think it will be much longer before I'm well. As colds go, this one wasn't too bad.
Now I have to go buy juice. We are out and Quinn is certain that he'll perish from the lack of it.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wait and see
So far, most of us are fine. Zaven's cold is mostly gone but he may have an ear infection. It doesn't hurt, but he says that he can't hear as well out of one ear. Hopefully decongestants will take care of it. Caly, Quinn, and I are doing well. Not perfect, but much better than yesterday or the day before. Zoe, however, has spiked a fever. 103.5
Now I know this will sound stupid, but I hate to take a sick kid to the doctor. They feel bad and tired and they want to be in bed, plus there are all those germs that they don't need exposed to when their immune system is already taxed, not to mention all the germs that they'd be spreading to other people in the waiting room. It just seems like a bad idea. Emergency rooms are even worse because of the crowded conditions and the long wait. Of course doctors don't do housecalls anymore. So the plan is this. We gave her a warm bath to help bring the fever down. Then we dosed her with Ibuprofen and juice and we're going to wait and see. So far the fever is down to 101.4 but I'd like to see it below 100 before I go to bed tonight. Then of course I'll be getting up every few hours to make sure it isn't going back up. If it goes back up that high, I'll be bringing her to the ER. I really hope it doesn't come to that. Our ER has a history of telling me to give my kids Ibuprofen and call the doctor in the morning, which is what I plan to do anyway. I can't tell you how annoyed I'll be if I get her out of bed and drive her into their germ-laden waiting room only to have them tell me to do what I'm already doing.
Now I know this will sound stupid, but I hate to take a sick kid to the doctor. They feel bad and tired and they want to be in bed, plus there are all those germs that they don't need exposed to when their immune system is already taxed, not to mention all the germs that they'd be spreading to other people in the waiting room. It just seems like a bad idea. Emergency rooms are even worse because of the crowded conditions and the long wait. Of course doctors don't do housecalls anymore. So the plan is this. We gave her a warm bath to help bring the fever down. Then we dosed her with Ibuprofen and juice and we're going to wait and see. So far the fever is down to 101.4 but I'd like to see it below 100 before I go to bed tonight. Then of course I'll be getting up every few hours to make sure it isn't going back up. If it goes back up that high, I'll be bringing her to the ER. I really hope it doesn't come to that. Our ER has a history of telling me to give my kids Ibuprofen and call the doctor in the morning, which is what I plan to do anyway. I can't tell you how annoyed I'll be if I get her out of bed and drive her into their germ-laden waiting room only to have them tell me to do what I'm already doing.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
It's only been a day since I posted...
...but it feels like a year. I don't think this is the swine flu. I'm pretty sure I already had that when it first made the news. This feels more like a regular old cold, not that those are fun. Zaven and Caly are past the worst of it. Zoe and Quinn don't seem to be having as hard of a time as their older brother and sister did. I, on the other hand, feel like hell. I hate being sick. I catch everything that comes around, though. Before I had allergy testing I caught things because the allergies weakened my immune system. Now I take allergy shots and I don't get sick as often as I did. But I have to get my shots in the doctor's office so I'm exposed to sick people every week. So even though I don't get sick as often as I did, I do get sick more often than most people. I'm also a big wimp when it comes to colds. I can handle childbirth and kidney stones and broken toes... but when I get sick I lay around and whine and feel bad for myself. It's not pretty. So yesterday and today I mostly just complained and moaned. I think I'm past the worst of it. I feel a lot better than I did 24 hours ago.
On an unrelated note, I noticed for the first time yesterday that the 'patient' (*read that as victim) in the game Operation is completely naked and the only reason you can't see his genitals is that his fat belly covers them. I've played this game for well over 3 decades and just now noticed. Behold my amazing powers of observation.
On an unrelated note, I noticed for the first time yesterday that the 'patient' (*read that as victim) in the game Operation is completely naked and the only reason you can't see his genitals is that his fat belly covers them. I've played this game for well over 3 decades and just now noticed. Behold my amazing powers of observation.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Cheap Candy alert! and it's Fall Break all over again
Quick! CLICK HERE for $2 off coupons for 24 oz. or larger bags of Nestle candy and Wonka candy. There are two different coupons that can each be printed twice. That should cut a nice bite out of your Halloween budget.
Meanwhile, we had a bit of interesting news today. Week before last was Fall Break for our school. That's how Caly got to leave town for a week with my mom. Not all schools do Fall Break. It's basically just like Spring Break - a week off of school. But no one goes to Florida or the Carribean.
Last week was regular classes. This week is supposed to be regular classes, too. But I just got a phone call from the school. Classes have been cancelled the remainder of the week due to a large percentage of the students being sick. So we get to do Fall Break all over again. The problem is... Zaven and Caly were among the students who missed school due to being sick today. So far, they're not too sick. Just a low-grade fever and coughs and sniffles. But I imagine that we'll all get it before it's through. Not my idea of a vacation.
But I'm crossing my fingers and trying to think positive. We won't get sick. Of course not. That would be silly.
Meanwhile, we had a bit of interesting news today. Week before last was Fall Break for our school. That's how Caly got to leave town for a week with my mom. Not all schools do Fall Break. It's basically just like Spring Break - a week off of school. But no one goes to Florida or the Carribean.
Last week was regular classes. This week is supposed to be regular classes, too. But I just got a phone call from the school. Classes have been cancelled the remainder of the week due to a large percentage of the students being sick. So we get to do Fall Break all over again. The problem is... Zaven and Caly were among the students who missed school due to being sick today. So far, they're not too sick. Just a low-grade fever and coughs and sniffles. But I imagine that we'll all get it before it's through. Not my idea of a vacation.
But I'm crossing my fingers and trying to think positive. We won't get sick. Of course not. That would be silly.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Alas!
This is the first week of really cold weather this year. Technically, it's not even "really cold" yet, but it's cold enough to have a fire in the wood-burning stove. Because we live in an old house, the change of seasons means a lot more to us than it does to most people. Our insullation is so-so, our heat is a wood-burning stove, and being the only heated building on an 86 acre farm, the change of season also means an invasion of all manner of living creatures. Typically, we get a few mice at this time of the year. We also get bugs.
Bugs are designed to lay eggs in the late summer and those eggs are genetically programmed to hatch if the temp drops low for a while and then comes back up. Nature's plan is that they would lay dormant for the winter and hatch in the spring. But because of how we heat our house, waiting until the nights are more than just a little chilly before bothering with putting in a fire, that hot/cold/hot thing also applies to our house. So things hatch. And this time, what hatched was not something like ladybugs. We had a nest of hornets in the attic apparently. And they hatched in Zaven's room. He got stung on the arm once. We attacked them with chemicals and killed what Scott estimated as a hundred. We moved Zaven and Caly downstairs for a few nights until we were sure they'd all been found and killed. But today Zoe disobeyed Scott and tried to sneak upstairs to play. She got stung on the sole of her foot. Ouch!
Bad as it is for her, it's no picnic for the rest of us. She is a major drama queen, so she's been laying in my bed whining about her foot for hours. It's not that I don't have sympathy. But I can't give her more medication yet or do anything for her. And she isn't hurting so bad that she can't be distracted from it. She's been out of bed to eat pizza, pet the cats, get crayons, tell me a joke, etc. Each time she is fine until she remembers that she's hurt. Then it's the end of the world all over. I'm not too sure how bad it really feels at this point. She's been known to cry for 20 minutes about a cut on her hand but not even be sure which hand is the injured one.
I'm hoping she'll get bored and fall asleep. We gave her benadryl as well as ibuprofen so she should be able to nap.
***edited to add that I was right. She quit whining completely as soon as Zaven and Caly got home and I told her they could decorate the porch for Halloween.
Bugs are designed to lay eggs in the late summer and those eggs are genetically programmed to hatch if the temp drops low for a while and then comes back up. Nature's plan is that they would lay dormant for the winter and hatch in the spring. But because of how we heat our house, waiting until the nights are more than just a little chilly before bothering with putting in a fire, that hot/cold/hot thing also applies to our house. So things hatch. And this time, what hatched was not something like ladybugs. We had a nest of hornets in the attic apparently. And they hatched in Zaven's room. He got stung on the arm once. We attacked them with chemicals and killed what Scott estimated as a hundred. We moved Zaven and Caly downstairs for a few nights until we were sure they'd all been found and killed. But today Zoe disobeyed Scott and tried to sneak upstairs to play. She got stung on the sole of her foot. Ouch!
Bad as it is for her, it's no picnic for the rest of us. She is a major drama queen, so she's been laying in my bed whining about her foot for hours. It's not that I don't have sympathy. But I can't give her more medication yet or do anything for her. And she isn't hurting so bad that she can't be distracted from it. She's been out of bed to eat pizza, pet the cats, get crayons, tell me a joke, etc. Each time she is fine until she remembers that she's hurt. Then it's the end of the world all over. I'm not too sure how bad it really feels at this point. She's been known to cry for 20 minutes about a cut on her hand but not even be sure which hand is the injured one.
I'm hoping she'll get bored and fall asleep. We gave her benadryl as well as ibuprofen so she should be able to nap.
***edited to add that I was right. She quit whining completely as soon as Zaven and Caly got home and I told her they could decorate the porch for Halloween.
October
Every October we decorate our porch for Halloween. Part of it is just to celebrate the season and the joy of Halloween. But part of it is so that we can really get it clean. We are pack rats by nature and also we have two dogs and God-know-how-many cats. The porch gets cluttered and cobwebby and covered in mud, toys, boots, chalk, tools, and just about anything else you can think of. October is our month for getting it in order.
This afternoon we drug everything off the porch and swept it clean. Tomorrow we'll probably hose down the walls but we didn't get to that today. Instead, we started a fire in the fire pit and burned all the branches we lost from the trees in the last big storm, plus some of the left over wood scraps from the bunk beds. The kids loved the fire. Plus the air was crisp in that lovely October way.
Tomorrow, we'll actually wash the walls and scrub the concrete and then finally decorate the porch. Maybe Sunday we'll go get pumpkins.
This afternoon we drug everything off the porch and swept it clean. Tomorrow we'll probably hose down the walls but we didn't get to that today. Instead, we started a fire in the fire pit and burned all the branches we lost from the trees in the last big storm, plus some of the left over wood scraps from the bunk beds. The kids loved the fire. Plus the air was crisp in that lovely October way.
Tomorrow, we'll actually wash the walls and scrub the concrete and then finally decorate the porch. Maybe Sunday we'll go get pumpkins.
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