Another One Bites the Dust...

We were at the dr. yesterday afternoon. Guess who has Swine Flu now?

Thing Three. Only he had a chest cold first...so I'm nervous. Last night he woke up with night terrors (he only does this when he has a fever) screaming that he was floating, and he was going to die.

Not a fun time for me. And Hubby leaves for NYC on Sunday. I just wish all the kids would get it at once, instead of this "dragging it out/one-kid-at-a-time crap.

Keep us in your thoughts!

Eh.

Eh.

'nuff said.

My Toddler, the Potty Mouth...

Okay, well, he's not exactly cussing or anything, but the things that come out of my two-year old's mouth could only have been picked up from his siblings. I mean, the kid is a sponge. He absorbs everything, and retains it for later. For very opportune moments. Like, for instance, while Thing One was unwrapping her birthday presents monday night, Hubby was distracting Thing Four by tossing him in the air, and holding him up high in his hands.

Thing Four, like all my other children, has an irrational fear of heights. It's from Hubby's side of the family. So, imagine our shock when suddenly, my dear sweet angel baby shouted at the top of his lungs to his father:

"PUT ME DOWN, YOU MORON!!!"

We all gasped. It seemed unnatural, for such words to be coming from our little Thing Four. Then, of course, we all started laughing our heads off, which caused Thing Four to start repeating himself gleefully: "Put me down, you MORON! Put me down, you MORON!"

Great.

Cut to last night, where Thing Four was acting a little crazy and dancing to Halloween music, and he kept "falling down" at the end. (Such a ham.) At one point, Hubby stuck his toe out and nudged Thing Four in the rear end. Scandalized, he clutched his backside, and yelled out with a large delighted grin:

"DAD! YOU KICKED ME IN THE BUTT!"

What has happened to my little angel, who only says sweet baby things? He's become a human digital recorder, who spits out what he's recorded without warning. Literally. As I was trying to scrape up the last of his oatmeal to feed to him (he can't get the last part himself) he put both hands up to me and yelled:

"DOCTOR OCTAGONAPUS, BAAAAAAAUUUGGGHHHHH!"

No more Lazer Collection for his older brothers. Click here if you dare. (Pretty harmless, actually, but you'll know what I'm talking about. My older kids love this stuff.)

So, we had a "little discussion" with the older kids about how we need to curb what we say around our little sponge. No more letting him watch "older cartoons" or peeking over shoulders while we're on the computer.

Because I don't need my little cherub yelling "HOLY CRAP IT'S BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!" again in the church nursery. I think I might die from embarrassment.

HOORAY!!!

Thing One's fever broke yesterday afternoon! No more Swine Flu!!! She still has a cough, and I'm keeping her home one more day (she has to be fever free for 24 hours) but she at least got to come downstairs and open her birthday presents and have cake and icecream.

I totally faked her out--her biggest present turned out to be a diaper box. Inside was an oatmeal box. Inside that was a ziploc bag box. And inside THAT box was an Advil box. And what was inside the Advil box? A new ipod Nano. A purple one. I think if her throat wasn't sore she would have shattered our eardrums with squealing.

The new nanos are cool--they record video! We gave her an iTunes giftcard, too. That was spent within ten minutes. She knew exactly which songs she wanted. And whoever Justin Beiber is, she LURVES him.

I just can't believe I have a TWELVE-year old! Waaahhhh!

This morning was strange--I didn't trust my boys to take the bus with their blow-up Ghostbusters proton packs (today is costume day at school) so I drove them. And it was the craziest thing--our house is at the top of the subdivision, and as we drove downwards, a thicker-than-thick fog bank had settled in the low areas, and I probably had 15 feed of visibility. It was freaky. And it felt like I was suffocating while I drove. I didn't see other cars' headlights until they were right in front of me. I have never seen it thicker in my life! Freaky.

Today is Tuesday! I feel like I can breathe, now, since Thing One is out of the Swine Flu Woods. And her siblings are still symptom-free! Is that luck, or what? Divine Intervention, if you ask me. But of course I'm stripping her bed and washing everything I can wash, and vacuuming her floor and spraying everything and wiping down every surface with Clorox wipes. Don't want to take any chances!!

Today is a good day!

Quarantine.

I've got Thing One (a.k.a the Swine Flu Queen) quarantined upstairs. She has a pretty sweet setup. She's got a sofa with a flatscreen TV/DVD with Directv, a DS, an ipod, and her own bathroom. So, all the germs stay in one spot, and no one is allowed upstairs. She's got it made.

Except for having the Swine Flu, of course. I'm piggybacking Tylenol and Motrin every four hours for the fever, and she is doing ok..except her throat really hurts and she's coughing a lot. I'm trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. She's been in her room since Friday morning, and she's going a little stir crazy, but at least she has plenty to keep her occupied.

The best part is (I need to find some wood to knock on) the boys haven't gotten it yet. Thing Three felt warm yesterday and complained of a headache, but other than that we haven't had any high fevers. Maybe because I quarantined her early we isolated the germs? That's what I'm hoping. Plus we are all using hand sanitizer, washing our hands, NOT touching our faces (why is it whenever I'm upstairs dealing with her I suddenly get an itchy nose or eye? WHY IS THAT???) and I'm wiping down everything daily with Clorox wipes or spraying with Lysol.

Fingers crossed. Although it has put a crimp in today, because it's her twelfth BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday Thing One! I'm sorry you have to have your breakfast upstairs away from us this morning, and your cake too. I'm sorry we're going to have to bring your presents to you and let you open them in your room. I'm sorry you can't go to school and I can't bring cupcakes to your class and embarrass you when they sing you "Happy Birthday" in the cafeteria at lunch.

I'm so, so sorry, sweetie. Get better fast!

And the Winner Is...SWINE FLU!!!

Yes, Swine Flu has invaded our house. Thing One is in quarantine, but of course yesterday when she came home with symptoms she was all over the stinkin' house. Off I go to disinfect...well...EVERYTHING.

BLECH. Poor Thing One. She'll have Swine Flu for her birthday. :-(

The Yucks.

You know, sometimes I think public school is a bad idea. We are so HEALTHY during the summer, and then the kids go back to school, and the illnesses begin. We're all getting over bad colds right now, and NOW Thing One has come down with a high fever/sore throat/cough. And Thing Four has a low-grade fever and what I like to call the Grumps.

Apparently several kids out of each of my kids' classes are out sick. Swine flu? No idea. I just know I have a long weekend (possibly week) ahead of me...taking care of sickies, making them comfortable, comforting them during the night, giving them medicine, changing their sheets, wiping everything down and spraying it. I just hope I stay healthy so I can do all of it. There's nothing worse than being sick yourself and having to take care of the sick.

I can't believe it's Friday already! Wow. This week was like the blink of an eye. We were supposed to go out and celebrate Thing One's birthday dinner tonight, but that obviously won't be happening. We'll have to order in.

Cross your fingers for us!

The Alarm Didn't Go Off!!!!

I'm sure everyone has had this happen to them. We usually don't. Hardly ever. So, imagine our dismay this morning, when we snapped awake (more like heard Thing Four upstairs shouting to be let out of his crib!) and realized the alarm hadn't gone off and it was 7:30. TWO HOURS later than we normally wake up! (Well, Hubby wakes up that early, I wake up at six).

Yikes.

The kids' bus comes at 7:35, so missed that. We had a mad scramble to get the kids fed, dressed, hair done, packed up and into the car. We almost made it. It was 8:05 when I dropped them off. I'm sure the ladies in the school office had a good laugh when my kids all trooped in.

*sigh* This morning started out...a little crazy.

I'm going to the dr. today. I suspect a sinus infection. My left eye/surrounding area feels like it's going to explode with pain, and don't even get me started on leaning forward. Antibiotics here I come...

Hubby is getting sick too. Even with all his hand sanitizing/wiping down/spraying/ingesting copious amounts of Zycam and Airborne, he's got the scratchy throat and stuffy nose, now.
To that I say HELLO, you've been sharing a bed with a sickie! (me). It's bound to happen. He's actually glad it's happening now, and not when he goes to New York in ten days. He should be over it by then.

I'm not running around much today. I'm going to do some research (I'm NaNoing this year) and stay in. It's pouring outside anyway. It was 70 degrees yesterday. I'm going to have to mow the *&!#%()**!! lawn again before Winter sets in. BLECH.

No Mallet-On-The-Head for Me...

FINALLY feeling better this morning. I did a 45-min weight workout yesterday, and cloaked my head in a bowl full of steaming eucalyptus water (thanks, Dev!) and I felt MUCH better. Although I'm usually tempted to reach for the super-dooper drano-strength Afrin Nasal spray--with menthol. It's like the Lexus of Nasal Sprays. Yes, I know prolonged use is bad for you. I only use it when I feel claustrophobic. I swear it got me through my sister's wedding weekend. I LOVE it.

Thing One had a basketball game last night, and it was a slaughter. As in HER TEAM was slaughtered. The opposing team's girls were HUGE. It was ridiculous. Thing One, who is 5'3, was matched up with a girl who was 5'11 and probably weighed 180. I am NOT kidding. She was Huge Girl. I have to hand it to Thing One--she tried to guard Huge Girl, but it was like watching a fly bounce off The Titanic. And there were two more Super Amazonian Girl players on the opposing team who kept stealing the ball and scoring, and the score ended up 26-7. OUCH.

But at least they were trying. Our school is a small school, and half the girls on the team haven't played before, and the ones who can play are pretty short. Except Thing One. (I was pretty happy when she won the tip-off, at least!)

Thing Two, who is NOT athletic, has decided to go for 5th grade boys basketball this year. (*cough cough* I sort of bribed him *cough cough* with a video game *cough*) But it will be a good experience for him. And the bribe WON'T be awarded until after the season is over. Who knows, maybe he'll actually like it?

I made it through Craziness Day, and today is Run-Around Day. I have stuff to mail, birthday presents to buy (Thing One turns TWELVE on monday!) and lots of little errands that are annoying and eat up gasoline.

At least I refrained from using the mallet!

Cement and Red Berries.

Why cement? Because that's what my head is made of today! It still amazes me the amount of snot/congestion our sinuses manufacture during a head cold. And how the simple act of blowing one's nose can bring on severe sinus pain. Not cool.

Red Berries, because I've discovered them. Special K with Red Berries. I've never tried it before, and I decided "what the heck" and bought some, and now it's my favorite cereal. (Well, actually, a good bowl of oatmeal with raisins is my favorite, but it's my favorite cold cereal.)

Today is CRAZINESS day. I have to clean the bathrooms, do a weight work out, THEN go to a RS presidency meeting at someone's house in scary Waukesha (I get lost there all the time--even with a nav system, I know don't laugh!) and then I get to pick the kids up from school, and run them home, only to run one to soccer and one to a basketball game. I only get to stay for half the game because then I get to run pick up Thing Three from soccer and go BACK to the bball game to finish it out, and then as soon as it's over we have to runlikeheck to Cub scouts at the church 35 miles away. And I have to fit dinner in there...somewhere. Oh, and I get to do all this with a toddler. In a stroller.

Yep. CRAZINESS day. I am not looking forward to it. I need to take some cold medicine.

Or I could take a big mallet and gong myself in the head and wake up tomorrow, after it's all over.

:-D