Updates

We decided to keep Porter at our neighborhood school.  It was agonizing, but in the end, not really a difficult choice.  He was assigned to a second grade class with the first male teacher of his life, which I could tell was both exciting and a little scary.  School supplies were bought, everything was ready.

And then all three kids and I came down with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.  Which if you don't have children, you likely haven't heard of.  A very much not serious illness, but one of the more completely annoying ones on my list.  And I'll leave it at that.  But it caused Porter to miss the first two days of school, which ended up making the whole thing a bit of a let-down.  After his first official day yesterday though, things seem to be going well, and I have high hopes for this year.

Cedar is continuing with more infrequent speech therapy, and is really improving.  I still can't understand a lot of what she says, but it is coming in leaps and bounds.  She seems more willing to try, which is a big deal.

The bears are still around, eating chickens in the neighborhood.  Fish and Game had to put one down in the touristy area yesterday for chasing people.  We still have on turkey left though, and we are protecting it fiercely.  And also looking forward to hibernation season.

Molly is still herself, my feisty one.  She has become really, really interested in weddings and being married, which seems normal enough for a little girl.  She likes to look at my wedding pictures, and she asked me if she could wear my dress someday.  She wonders if she has to get married in Oregon (like I did), will she be able to change clothes afterwards, will Grandma cook the food, and who will take care of Cedar after she doesn't live with us anymore.  She is also enraptured by love scenes in movies, the kind where the princess kisses Prince Charming at the end.  While Porter groans and hides his eyes, Molly swoons.  She seems too young to really care about that kind of thing, and in a lot of ways she doesn't, of course, really understand it, I think it's more about pretty clothes and princesses and fairy tales.  But then the other day she asked me if, after she married Thalen (a friend up the street who is her current fancy), could she put her mouth all over him?  Ahem.  The answer was no.

Toilet Paper and Diapers

So yesterday I did that thing, where I realized we were very, very dangerously low on toilet paper, diapers, milk and well, food.  I really didn't want to go to the store, but calculated that we could make it until this morning without stuffing dish towels in Cedar's pants.  At which time we would make a big time Costco run.

This morning: Cedar wakes up and immediately throws up all over me.  And then every 15 minutes until about now.  Porter and Molly ate graham crackers and microwave popcorn for lunch.  I did a lot of laundry.  And luckily she is so dehydrated that we don't need many diapers.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Mom Down

With Bryce gone for months, my worst fear as a single mom has been getting really sick.  Myself.  Sick kids I can deal with, even when they all go down.  I'm not easily grossed out, I'm used to not sleeping and cleaning up messes.  And really, sick kids are usually good for hours of cuddling and watching TV.  But being sick myself and having to deal with the exhausting routine of three small children all day and night just makes me want to crawl in a hole.  But on Friday, it finally happened.  I got the stomach flu and spent all night hugging the toilet.  And then I woke up Saturday morning with three healthy kids demanding breakfast, who I had promised to take to the haunted house.  I will admit to feeling pretty sorry for myself and having a bit of a pity party in my pajamas for a few hours.  But we made it.  No worse for the wear. 

We even got dressed and took Porter to the mall so he could go through the haunted house.  The girls didn't go as there was no way I was repeating last year's epic parenting fail, but he had a good time.  We also got the big kids ski pass photos taken, where they promptly sensed my foul mood, and totally stopped cooperating.

 
Stay safe out there on the East Coast.  Night.

None the Wiser

So I had this big, long post in my head about life lessons and babies, but really, I'm just too tired. Instead, the facts:




Bryce went out of town on a hunting trip.
Cedar got very sick.
I took all three kids to the ER on Saturday night.
I got many looks of pity and some of horror.
Molly actually licked that tray they keep the instruments on.
Porter got reprimanded by a doctor for kung fu fighting.
Cedar cried a lot and did not sleep.
Cedar got antibiotics for an ear infection.
Cedar cried some more.
Bryce came home with a deer! Nobody was enthusiastic.
Cedar got a rash all over her body.
Cedar is allergic to penicillin.
Cedar got different antibiotics.


The End. More Soon.

Four Down

It has been another week since my last post. That cold we were passing around has really taken me out. It isn't that the illness itself was that bad, just a nasty cold. But all three of the kids and I got it at the exact same time, more or less. Cedar decided that sleeping while sick was entirely overrated. And if I did manage to get her to sleep for a few hours, one of the other kids was sure to be up with a stuffy nose or a dire need for a glass of water or a peed in bed or some other issue that probably involved bodily functions. And then Cedar cut two teeth. And had to go in for her six month vaccines. So the sleeplessness continues unabated. Last night Bryce even tried to get her to sleep, and at midnight declared it "impossible." And then of course whichever child actually slept well the previous night was up at 6am chipper as hell. Gah. This has been a busy week, but I have spent most of my free time nodding off on the sofa while nursing the baby. After three kids, I know by now that the old adage is true, that this too shall pass. Powers that be, please, please, please let it pass tonight.

Also, in much better news: My dear, beautiful friend Karen had a baby boy yesterday afternoon. Welcome to the world Carter Samuel! As soon as I am not a hotbed of contagion, I absolutely can not wait to snuggle your newborn cuteness. Congratulations all around.

Finally Among the Living

So in that last post, when I said Molly was on the mend, what I really meant was that she was spiraling down into the stubborn toddler virus from hell. She flat out refused to eat really anything. And barely drank any water either. I mean, we eventually acquired everything that normally works in this situation (thanks Karen). But if I came near her with a Popsicle or a Sprite, she started screaming and turning away. We couldn't go anywhere that required her to get out of the car, so for 5 days straight we watched TV and Molly mostly just stayed on the couch in her pathetic way while I tried to get her to ingest something with actual calories. And 5 days is a long time! Especially for someone who weighs 25 pounds.

Finally on Sunday night I called the on-call doctor emergency number and got one of our pediatricians. I thought he would reassure me, but he kind of freaked me out. Telling me what I needed to do, and when I should take her to the hospital (like really soon). I got her to drink a little water, put her to bed, and then stared at the ceiling in my bedroom all night worried. I took her to the doctor's office first thing Monday morning, and she actually was in a decent mood. But still not eating or drinking. Our pediatrician told me I had until 1pm that afternoon to get her going or I had to take her to the emergency room for intravenous fluids. She told me what I had to do, and it sucked. But spending the day with Molly hooked up to an IV sounded even worse. So Molly and I spent the morning on the couch watching Care Bears while I held her down every few minutes and squirted Pedialyte in her throat while she screamed. Awesome. Things still weren't looking too good, but then right down to the wire at one she had a wet diaper. I put her down for a nap.

About an hour later, she woke up and declared "I need sandwich." Which she did. Along with a bunch of juice and water and bacon (I'm catering to whims at this point). And just like that, she was totally back to normal. Fighting with Porter, screaming I'll do it about everything and being her usual self.

When I was getting her ready for bed tonight, I did notice that her poor little ribs are sticking out from her chest like they never have before. But I'm pretty sure that's nothing a little ice cream won't fix. She really had me worried there for a bit (along with my mom), but I'm glad she's back. And I'm glad I can still keep my zero ER visits in 5 years of parenting record for just a little while longer.

Marked

It has been a long week around here. We already had a lot on our plate, and then Molly got the stomach flu of death. I've never seen her so sick. She is on the mend now, but still isn't eating and is pretty pathetic. Porter seems healthy as a horse though, albeit really, really bored. We watched an entire season of Phineas and Ferb, along with many other stimulating activities that involved sitting next to Molly on the couch and trying not to get vomited on.

When we left the house this morning for preschool, I noticed this...

Porter says it's for keeping out the bad guys, but to me it looks more like the mark of contagion. I think I'll leave it on for just a little while longer.