Nighttime

P has been gone a lot this month.  Usually he reads with Victoria for 15 min and snuggles until she falls asleep.   Lately, I have had to go in and settle Benny down.  He wants to have these long conversations and play "the favorites games" that I made up.   This recording is from the other night - it's well after 9:30 and he wants to talk.   By the way his favorite shape is a "Dodecahedron" that he saw on Team Umizoomi.

 

Friday Night Leftovers

*This is the second week of school and V has not brought home any homework yet.  Strange.  The teacher last year had a lot of homework.  We are reading at least 15 min a night.  I really need to hit the Math and penmanship though. 

*The weeks become busier.  Wednesdays we usually have counseling for V’s ADHD in a nearby town.   Thursdays the kids are taking dance (Benny too!).  V is taking Jazz, Tap, and Hip Hop and Benny is taking creative dance.  That means we are at the dance studio from 5:30-7:15.   By Friday my kids (AND I) are exhausted.    We aren’t signed up for religious ed on Monday’s because frankly, I don’t think the kids can do any more during the week.  We’re all tired.  

*I have been trying to take off a Friday and go visit my mother for a long weekend.  There is either something at work I cannot miss OR someone else already has the day off.   My mom is spreading the guilt on thick.

*P is gone pretty much the entire month of September.  Which is my favorite month.  We’re managing but both drop off and pick up plus bedtimes will do me in soon. 

Fall Fest

This kids loved Fall Fest.  The lines to buy tickets for rides was too long, so we did other stuff and had a great time.  Victoria was Elsa and Benny actually wanted to participate. 

August Recap

August was, well something else.  When the calendar hit September 1st, I cheered.  For real.

It was a bit of a trying month.  The first weekend Victoria became ill.  That Thursday night (she was at a waterpark for camp all day) she fell asleep on the couch early and wouldn't eat.  I thought it was exhaustion.  When I picked her up from camp on Friday they told me she didn't eat.  When we got home she lay on a beanbag the rest of the evening.  I forced her to drink and she wouldn't eat.  Saturday she seemed better and she went to swim lessons but the couch was her best friend and she napped off and on.  Then I realized she had a fever close to 102F.  So off to Urgent Care.  They thought it may have been Strep, but the rapid strep test was negative, so they sent us home with a script for antibiotics to take only if she became worse.  Her throat didn't look like strep either so they thought maybe Coronavirus?  Sunday was more of the same with a little improvement, she would drink but not eat.  After dinner Sunday after more Motrim, she would perk up for a while.  Sunday night at around 10:00 I received a call from Urgent Care that her throat culture was positive for Group A strep and that it was good she was on antibiotics.  Uh no, she wasn't.  Tomorrow she wanted to go to camp because they had a carnival.  So, we went to Rite Aid first thing and filled the script and I let her go to camp for a little while.  I ended up at work late.

The following weekend, Benny went down.  Fevers of 102, lethargy, being on the couch.  I took him to his regular doctor and they did a rapid strep test.  Negative.  I managed to work two half days from home at least.  His culture came back negative too.  When we went to the doctor that Monday they also noticed he had pinkeye.   So drops for that, a most likely a virus.  They thought Victoria's Strep A was only a colonization, and that wasn't the cause of the symptoms.   

Wednesday P went down.  Fever of 101 F, Severe sore throat, lethargy, body aches.  He was down for three days.  (The stress was building).  ARE YOU STILL FOLLOWING THIS LOUSY MONTH?   

Then, that Friday, I woke up with pinkeye.  Victoria had pinkeye once six years ago and gave it to me two days later.  Drops cleared it up pretty quickly.   I used Benny's drops Friday and Saturday.  My eye felt really achy and was almost swollen shut.  It was red, but not goopy like regular pinkeye.   That Saturday night, P and I had a date night.  We went out for Korean food and then went and saw the Vacation movie.  I laughed so hard.  When I got home that evening, I realized my eye looked worse.   Our super awesome Urgent Care is open until 10:00.  I got there by 9:00 and didn't have to wait.  The doctor was right away concerned.  He questioned that a foreign body was in my eye?  I told him no, so he dilated it.   He then started me on Clindamycin and told me to take it stat.  He said it was periorbital cellulitis and the threshold to admit me for IV antibiotics was very low.  He also asked me to come to the main ER the next afternoon where he was working for a follow up.  HOW REASSURING!   I went over to the only 24 Hr Pharmacy open at this point - CVS and their computers were down for the foreseeable future!   By this time it around 11:00 pm.  I had to drive up to the nearest 24 pharmacy - a 30 min drive where I waited for my antibiotics for another 60 min, then a 35 min drive home. 

The next day my eye hadn't worsened, but hadn't improved.  The MD was kind enough to call and remind me to come in after 3:00.   I drove over to the ER (30 min) and wow.... that is a post for another time.  That place... crazy.    After an hour wait (I'm NOT complaining) I saw the PA, who thought I was ok to stay outpatient.  YAY!  (I packed a bag just in case).  

My eye took a LONG time to improve.  Probably another 5 days before I saw significant improvement.  The wonders of modern medicine.  I'm appreciative.

We were schedule to go to Niagara Falls that weekend.  We did go.  That night, the last day of August -  P got food poisoning.

So glad to move on with that month!