A is for...

Today, while I was walking into school to pick the kids up, Hannah's teacher stopped me to share a funny story about our little woman.  This week the Three's are studying the letter A, so during group time, Ms. Kristen asked the kids to draw something that starts with the letter A.  As she walked around, she noticed Hannah coloring a pretty picture with a blue crayon.  She asked Hannah what she was coloring and Hannah happily responded, "A pool."

Ms. Kristen ever-so-gently explained that pool begins with the letter P.  "/P/ /P/ /P/ Pool," she said.

And Hannah, with her bright, blue eyes, looked up and corrected Ms. Kristen.  "A big pool."

And really, what could Ms. Kristen say to that?!

*****

Other than A big pool, A is also for Awesome.  Which, apparently, Jack thinks he is.  (I'm so glad our children don't lack confidence.)

Tonight while we were finishing up his homework, Jack was jotting down the fast facts he was practicing, and as he wrote, he said, "6 + 2 = 8.......because I'm AWE...SOME."

When I tried to get him back on track, I said, "Jack, what I need you to do is..."

"Be AWE...SOME," Jack interrupted.

And with that, he got me.  I laughed, he smiled, and we put his homework aside to read a story.

Silent Sunday

Feeling Better

Things are finally starting to look up around here.  We had to cancel dance class, a play date, and a dinner celebration for Rypie because of the germs swirling around our home, but the sun was shining and Hannah and Daddy are feeling much better.  

We spent the day inside - playing games, making bracelets, taking naps, and watching TV.  It was good, family fun.  But that's not to say that we're all completely thrilled about being inside for what's likely to be four days straight.  This afternoon, I drove to Firehouse Subs to get lunch, but more importantly, to breathe some fresh air and get out, even if it was just for 30 minutes.  

This evening, Hannah's fever finally broke, and it seems that Daddy's antibiotics have finally kicked in as well.  He was even up for giving Jack a much-needed haircut.  

He always looks so handsome, but he said he misses having his forehead covered.  And he was none-too-thrilled when I tried to spike his hair with some gel ;)

Happy Weekend, Everyone!

Hannah has the flu.

And went to the ER for the first time.

Today was not a good day.

I went to bed last night, knowing that today would be a snow day, and most likely, that tomorrow would be, too.  I slept well and was excited to stay in and play some new games with the littles.  I had ordered a few new board games to help keep us busy on snow days, and Jack and I had said that on our next snow day, we'd teach ourselves to make rainbow loom bracelets.  We had some activities planned, enough to get us through a couple of snow days after a winter with already plenty of time inside.

Early this morning, Hannah came in to snuggle.  This is pretty unusual for her, as now she and Jack are both old enough to go downstairs with each other and put on some cartoons.  I didn't second guess it, though - I love unexpected snuggles with either of my babies.  She fell back asleep, and I snuggled down.  About an hour later, she woke up coughing, and I could tell she was going to be sick based on the way her stomach was lurching.  I rushed her to the bathroom, and sure enough, she spit up.  Just a little, and Brad and I were pretty sure it was due to drainage from her head cold.  No big deal...we got up and went downstairs for breakfast.

We gave Hannah some mango juice and some grapes for breakfast (in hindsight, probably not the best choice), and Brad headed off for a doctor's appointment.  After breakfast, we went back upstairs, and Hannah and I were cuddling in bed, when - out of nowhere - she started to get sick again.  And it felt like she didn't stop for another five minutes.  I didn't even know what to do - she was covered, I was covered, and so was my bed.

I picked her up and carried her to the bathroom and explained that everything was going to be okay and that we were going to take really good care of her.  She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and said, "Mommy, I think I need a bath."

Baby Girl was right.  She definitely needed a bath.  And so did I, but I also had to strip the bed and start washing the bedding because I knew it would take all day to wash and then dry all that needed to be cleaned.  I wiped her down, got her out of her clothes, and put her into the tub.  While the tub was filling, I stripped the bed and started the laundry.  I called Kimmee for reinforcements, and then went back upstairs to gather up everything that needed to go down to the laundry room.  I gave Hannah a bath, and while I was drying her off, Brad came home.  He'd gotten half-way to his appointment before they closed the doctor's office due to the snow.  He said the roads were really bad.  He was also completely overwhelmed by the mess in our bedroom/bathroom.  He took Hannah downstairs and gave her some ginger ale (her first soda!), while I continued to clean up and then took a shower.

In the amount of time that I was upstairs, Hannah had gotten sick again.  We waited another hour and then called the pediatrician when she got sick yet again.  The doctor said that there was a virus going around and to slowly try to get Hannah to keep fluids down.  We followed her directions for several hours, but nothing was improving.  Poor Hannah was listless and lethargic.  She couldn't keep anything down, and she was oh-so-pale.  She took two mini-naps, but she'd wake up and get sick all over again.  Lucky for us, during one of her naps on the couch, some neighbor boys came by and offered to shovel our driveway for a small fee.  We happily accepted their offer since it didn't seem like we'd be out shoveling anytime soon.

After her second nap and another attempt to get something to stay down for longer than 15 minutes, Hannah got sick again, and we decided then and there that we had to take her to the Emergency Room.  Because of the roads and the weather, we couldn't all go, so Brad planned to take Hannah while I would stay home with Jack.

I cleaned Hannah up, got her dressed in another pair of clean jammies, gathered blankies and loveys, and put her into the car seat.  And then I watched Daddy and Hannah drive away and felt horrible because I couldn't go with her.

To keep myself busy, I focused on cleaning up the house, continuing the laundry, and playing Monopoly with Jack (who, by the way, beats me every.single.time.  And I'm trying.).

Brad called often to update me, and I kept our family up-to-date.  They gave Hannah some anti-nausea meds which immediately kept her from throwing up.  They gave her an IV with saline because she was pretty dehydrated.  The nurse told Hannah she was going to give her a popsicle, and then she left to get something else.  Hannah looked up at Daddy with her sad, pale, little face, and said, "Daddy, I want a popsicle so badly..."

He said his heart broke because he knew how hungry/thirsty she must have been.  Brad said she was very brave at the hospital and that all of the nurses were very impressed with our strong, little girl.  They ended up testing Hannah for strep and the flu.  And despite having had the flu shot, she did, indeed, test positive for the flu.

They gave her Tamiflu and let her come home.  I was so grateful that they didn't keep her overnight, and that I could help put her to bed here where she belongs.  As I was tucking her in, I gave her kisses from everyone that had been so worried about her all day long.  She must have thought I skipped a few because she added some of her own - it was pretty cute.  Once her head hit the pillow, she went right to sleep.

Poor thing had a really rough day.  I hope she sleeps well tonight and that tomorrow is so much easier.