We all need meds!

It’s freezing cold here…we even had a little bit of snow flurries this morning which really excited Jackson…he was up and dressed with his “waterproof” snow boots on before I could even roll out of bed.

It was a little bit of a long night last night. I picked everyone up from school yesterday and Sam’s teacher said he had been complaining that his stomach hurt, but he had pooped and she said he said he felt better. But, I could tell all the kids were tired b/c of our early morning attempts to try to make it to HH on time…which we did! It's not a good sign as a parent when your child receives a tardy and is in Preschool. Anyway, we came home and Sam just hung out on the couch, Reagan fell asleep face down on the couch (see pics) and Jackson wasn’t lounging, but he wasn’t wild either. Then I noticed Sam had rosy cheeks and I checked him and he had a fever. I asked him if he felt bad and he said his stomach hurt.

“Are you going to throw up?” I asked as I started to break out into a cold sweat.

“No!” he replied.

“Show mommy where it hurts” and he pointed to his throat.

He laid on the couch all night long, even falling asleep there with Jake. I moved him to his bed about 10:30, feeling like his fever had broke.

Then at about 5 this morning, Jackson came and got me and said that Sam was in his bed crying. Normally, Sam will get out of bed and come get me if something is wrong, so I just assumed he had thrown up all over his bed and was scared to move. So, as I'm walking down the hallway, breaking out into a cold sweat again and dreading what I'm going to see and smell as I turn the corner, I was relieved to see no vomit! I went in there and saw that his fever had returned, gave him more medicine and crawled in bed next to him.

At this, Jackson said that he wanted to sleep with me too, so I told him to go get his blankets...all 40 of them, and he could sleep on the futon in Sam's room. After moving all of his paraphernalia into Sam's room, we all laid down. So Jackson slept, and I say that loosely, on the futon and I was in a twin bed with a child that sleeps sideways with just as many blankies, animals, and hard toys in his bed!

Then Sam decided he didn’t want me in his bed and Jackson and I went to his room, where we had to sleep on the "lower" (trundle) bed, again with all 40 blankets. Somehow, I was still cold! This was about 6:30. Jackson kept saying, “I think the sun is coming out”, and I was telling him it would be a while in hopes that he would lay down for just a little bit. About 7:45 Jackson gets up excited by the snow...the five flakes that are dropping from the sky.

We all get up and the kids have breakfast while I take a shower and then they all got a shower, so they are nice and clean…at least they were until lunch.

After several morning chores, and a phone meeting with Jeff Stroud (!) (who said how proud he was of all that I’ve accomplished in the short time I’ve been with PQ…and some other really nice things) we loaded up to go see Dr. Sigmon for a consult on Reagan’s tonsils/adenoids and a return appt on Sam’s nose bleeds. I noticed that the rosiness was coming back in Sam’s cheeks, but he had been very chipper and playful this morning, so I had just dismissed the fever as something due to tiredness. Anyway, when we got in to see Mary (Jay’s PA or NP or something) I told her about Sam’s fever last night and this morning and she looked at him and kinda moved his collar on his shirt and said,

“Oh, he has a rash, I bet he has strep! Has he complained about his stomach any?”

“Well, yes, yesterday at school.” (All the while I'm thinking, I sure am glad I rubbed this child down with lotion this morning...I just thought the "rash" was dry skin. Gee, I'm a good mom!)

Miss Mary, “Sam, can you open your mouth for me and stick out your tongue?”

Sam, in a whiny voice, “Do I get a sucker?”

“Yes!” she replied.

Then, like the birds on Finding Nemo ("mine, mine mine") little voices echoed, "I want a sucker!"

Miss Mary, as we refer to her, showed me his throat and all the beautiful little spots on the back of it and said he definitely has strep.

I’m thinking, great! I'm supposed to leave in less than a week for a cruise, and all my children are going to have strep. My husband and the grandparents are going to have to deal with these poor, sick kids. Never did it cross my mind that I might have to stay home and tend to my children. Again, I'm such a good mom!

However, Miss Mary was very nice and prescribed them all z-paks! Also, she and Jay recommended Reagan have her adenoids taken out, so that’s something we have to look forward to.

So on the way home, after a couple quick errands, Sam was starting to look worse and worse. He even began talking to himself, and not in typical Sam style. We called Aunt Erin and she met us at the entrance of the neighborhood as she was leaving. I was thinking Sam was becoming delirious from the fever, but when Erin asked him if he knew who she was, he responded "Erin" in a very soft, weak, sad voice.

So after a quick unloading of Jackson and Reagan into Erin's car, only to go 3 blocks thru the neighborhood by the way, we got Sam home and his fever was 103.2. The pediatrician's office said not to be concerned until it hits 105. It had gone down within an hour after taking some Motrin to a little over 101. By this time they had eaten lunch, if you can call it that. After an unsupervised breakfast with yogurt and a lunch that consisted of chips (Doritos and Cheetos) and ice cream, my house looks like a tornado came through here . Didn’t ever get around to making the sandwiches by the way, another star on my motherhood plaque!

Then, my wonderful sister, who Jackson refers to as "Wild Aunt Erin" was nice enough to go pick up the antibiotics so we waited for her to return…with OREOS as well. They were a huge hit…even with Jackson, who should be on a commercial, b/c he untwists them and licks the center out!!! I didn't teach him that!

So needless to say, all the kids are on meds, I’m exhausted (and need some kind of meds), and procrastinating doing chores.