Mixed Signals

At about 11:30 on Wednesday night, I woke up to Hannah wailing. It was one of those wails where a mom just knows something is wrong and worry immediately sets in.

When I went into her crib, she was sitting up and stopped wailing in order to start saying 'Mama' (which she never actually says) and her voice sounded hoarse. Then she coughed, which was more of a seal barking sound than a regular cough. That was followed by labored, wheezing breathing.

I picked her up and calmed her and sat rocking her for a little bit. I decided to change her diaper and as I lay her down she started wailing again. Then I saw that the inside of some of her mouth was hugely swollen. Add in the hoarseness and suddenly my mind went to food allergy and anaphylactic shock. Was Hannah's throat swelling shut as I held her??

In an effort to not over-react, I woke up Chris. He suggested putting her to bed and checking her in a half hour. I think my eyes may have bugged out. So I stayed up holding Hannah and rocking some more. She drifted off to sleep and her breathing was regular. So after about an hour I managed to talk myself down and put her to bed.

She woke up 3ish but the swelling in her mouth was not as bad and, again, she fell asleep while rocking.

In the morning, when getting her up from the crib, I noticed some spit up marks in the bed with what appeared to be a few small specks of blood.

Hannah spent the rest of the day week a snotty mess.

So I can only guess that she had a cold or allergies causing the hoarseness and coughing. And that she chewed the inside of her mouth while sleeping, causing the swelling and bleeding. But just in case, we're avoiding giving her mandarin oranges (what she ate for dinner that evening) until the next doctor's appointment.

I Forgot about Easter

I can't believe I never posted our Easter pictures. Not that there is anything to be impressed with. Still I went through all of the effort to make my family presentable and find a spot to rest the camera and figure out (again) how to turn on the timer and then get everyone in frame.... How do people do this all of the time??

To get us started, here is Hannah modeling her outfit from her godmother. It has a matching coat (not featured) and those styling shoes were donated by a kindly friend.

Next up we have the father strapped into a button down shirt, Xander is his classic (aka go-to) sweater vest and Josie wearing the bright colors of the season.

Finally, here is the happy family together.

(This whole lighting, framing, aperature, shutter speed thing is for the birds.)(I need to find some birds to take better family pictures for me.)

Mystery Virus Fever, Part 2

It began Thursday when I picked Xander up from his classroom and we walked up to my classroom to wait for the end of dismissal. The key word here is 'walked'. Xander never walks. He skips, he jumps, he runs, he races, he skips again. He does not walk. So the fact that he walked was the first clue that something was wrong.

The second clue might have been him saying his belly hurt during snack time at school. However, it is not uncommon for Xander to comment that his belly hurts.

The third clue was what gave it away. He quietly sat in my class after school. And then he said he was cold. Anyone who has met this child knows he does not sit quietly. He asks questions, tells you about the day, repeats facts that he has already told you five times. Also, my classroom is never cold.

We picked up his sisters and headed home where Xander spent the rest of the evening huddled under three blankets while his fever slowly climbed. It was definitely the same thing that all three kids had in February.

Xander stayed home from school on Friday. The fever persisted through Saturday and Sunday with little appetite and no energy. Monday arrived with a lower fever but then Hannah became warm. That is when I wrote this status update:
Mystery Virus Fever Strikes Back - Day 5: Xander seems to be recovering but that may just be a good night of sleep helping him through the morning. Hannah has succumbed to the fever and insists on cuddles. We forge on.

Xander was better on Tuesday but had to stay home due to school regulations (fever-free for 24 hours). So Josie stepped up to take over on the fever front. And she added a random vomit to the fun. Xander had complained about an upset stomach but hadn't gotten sick beyond spitting up dinner while coughing. No puke from Hannah either. Josie has her mother's weak stomach.
Mystery Virus Fever Strikes Back - Day 6: Xander has returned to the Healthy Side, will resume active duty tomorrow. Hannah fights the temptation that is the Fever but Josie has gone over fully by embracing vomit.

In a moment that I'm sure will be hysterical to relive in five years, Josie freaked when she found an itsy, bitsy, little spider on her pants. I'm talking high pitched screeching sobs that she did not learn from me. I took care of the spider in short order. However at 5 am, Josie woke up with the same screeching sobs convinced that there was a spider on her leg. I talked her down and tucked her in but within five minutes there was more sobbing, so she was brought into bed with me. Chris decided to go for an early run rather than listen to Josie snore.
Mystery Virus Fever Strikes Back - Day 7: Xander has returned to active duty allowing me to focus on his sisters. Both have shown signs of recovery. Hannah attempts to sleep off the effects. Josie has suffered fever-induced spider paranoia and had to have her sleeping quarters temporarily reassigned.

The spider issue has come up this afternoon, too. She saw it on her toes! And now it's in her bones! Yes, she was convinced the spider was crawling inside of her leg. I explained that spiders don't like being in bones because they can't make webs. Anyone who tells her differently will have to spend the next week sleeping next to her bed.

We have not been to the doctor about this because the fevers never reached higher than 103 and did not last more than 5 days. Since it's getting spread around it's some type of germ, presumably a virus. I tried to stick with the notion that the fevers were fighting the alleged virus so tried to avoid medicine to lower the fever unless a child was completely miserable or at bedtime so there could be some good sleep. Heck, Xander and Josie are so tough that they actually declined medicine when I offered.

Hopefully the girls will be over this by tomorrow (day 8!). The first time through this, Josie and Hannah both had it for a full five days. Xander had it for two days. I figure that is why he had it for five days this time. So just maybe the girls will be able to fight off the virus a little easier since they may have built up an immunity. Yeah, right, that is such wishful thinking.

Getting Around

For those not in the know, Hannah is finally walking. She showed an interest before she turned one but then had the nasty mystery fever virus for a week and she just wanted to be carried for another week after that. So she spent another month showing interest in walking and finally has it down (as much as a 13 month old can have walking down).

She totters and wobbles, falls and then scoots along on her knees. I find it funny that she seems to walk better when clutching a toy, usually the doll that is about half her size. 

Now she thinks walking is the bee's knees. She laughs and giggles and smiles. She's become our little ball of sunshine (unless she is throwing a tantrum, but that is a post for another time). 

(Oh. My. Word. I have been trying to upload this video for two weeks and it kept giving me trouble. I finally set up a youtube channel (which I'm not going to share) to get it here. Grr. Argh.)

Getting Punch

I'm not huge into celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Maybe I'll throw on some green but that's about the extent of it. However, now Xander is getting education and that education includes holidays. So they discussed St. Patrick at school as well as leprechauns.

Last week, every single day, Xander would ask someone if they could keep a secret. Then he would whisper in that person's ear "Leprechauns are sneaky."

He asked to make Leprechaun Punch on St. Patrick's Day, which he learned about at school. It is lime sherbet and Sprite, just like a root beer float. So I added those key ingredients to the grocery list and we enjoyed them in the afternoon.

I have to say I am glad that this new tradition of setting up 'leprechaun traps' and finding gold coins in the morning hasn't hit our household. I can barely keep up with the other holidays.

What he said

I'm always forgetting to write down the hilarious things the kids say. And sometimes writing it down doesn't convey the tone, inflection or mispronunciation of what was said. So, while it is still fresh, where is what Xander has said in the past 24 hours.

Last night we watched America's Funniest Videos with the kids. They tend to have a lot of commercials about Disney World, which led to Xander asking "When can we go to Disney World?"
Chris: "When Hannah is big enough to enjoy it."
Xander: "But we'll have another baby by then!"
(No clue how he got that idea!)

Then a segment of the show came on where a participant had to guess from a multiple choice list what a kid was going to say next. It showed a girl listing what people wanted for Christmas. It paused when the girl got to her father and the multiple choices appeared with the first choice being 'a vasectomy.' Chris and I cringed. Then we cringed some more as the participant repeated the word 'vasectomy' about five hundred more times. And they played the clip and the girl did say 'a vasectomy.' And then Xander asked "What's a vasectomy?"

Fortunately, Chris and I ignored him for ten seconds and the showed moved on and he was laughing at the next video.

Today, in the van, Xander suddenly brought up when he was 'still in my belly.'
Xander: "Mom, how did I get out of your belly?"
Me: *pause* ....*thinks of something vague but accurate*... Mom's have a special way for babies to come out.
Xander: Did it hurt?
Me: Yes, a little. But it was totally worth it because now I have you.

Snow Day

Today is Sunday and the high is expected to be 64 degrees. This past Wednesday we had a day off from school because of snow. That's Ohio for you.

The kids were watching the neighbors out playing in the snow.

I was bound and determined to get Xander and Josie outside to play. There were a few snowfalls this winter but I usually stayed in with Hannah. So I gathered up our snow clothes and we played inside until Hannah went down for a nap. Then we suited up!

Xander really enjoyed making snowballs. I'm not sure if he was really aiming or just throwing but he seemed to hit a lot of things. In this picture, he is showing where his snowball had hit the cross bar on the clubhouse.

Josie had been saying for weeks that she wanted to build a snowman. This snow was perfect for it, wet and sticky. Of course, Josie did not build it, she just watched me. Then we added a carrot nose (Josie was adamant about it being a carrot), leaves for eyes and sedum for a mustache  I added the sticks for arms and Josie brought over another stick and started to put it in next to one arm. Xander became all bent out of shape because a snowman can't have 3 arms. I said it could be an alien snowman. With that thought, he gleefully ran off and came back to attach another arm.

Xander also excitedly asked to knock over the snowman. I told him to wait until we were done and had taken pictures. When I gave him the signal, he went at it like he'd been tackling all his life. Then he'd back up and tackle again. Then he took a few flying leaps to land on the defeated snowman like a pro wrestler.

Seriously, you couldn't even tell a snowman had been there by the time Xander was done.

Meanwhile, Josie must have missed the conversation about destroying the snowman because she became very sad.

So I talked with Josie and asked her if she'd like to make another snowman, maybe a miniature snowman? She instead asked for a snow buggie. Huh? So I asked if she meant a ladybug and Josie became super excited. I just made a ball for the body and Josie made one for the head. It wasn't big enough at first, but after some more rolling, they were just the right size. 

Then I had to explain to Josie that the snow ladybug might melt pretty quickly, probably by the next day. She made the sad face again and spent the next two days randomly running to check if the ladybug was still in the back yard. Fortunately by this weekend she was so happy to have the nice weather that she hasn't missed it at all.