So Much Joy, So Little Time

To all the people who may have been infected by my daughter on the 3 hour bus ride from Madison to Chicago and again on the 3 hour plane ride from Chicago to Houston, I apologize. I promise I didn't know she was contagious.

A (thankfully) uneventful 3 hour bus ride/4 hour wait in the airport/3 hour plane ride with a 3 year old and 5 month old, I am eternally grateful that things went as smoothly as they did. I have learned some patience with motherhood, but I think the Almighty knows my patience isn't THAT tried and blesses me with calm children. So calm, in fact, that they do not tell me when they are sick. Christmas eve comes and Ally starts pulling on her ear and mentions that it hurts. This is the first she has mentioned it, and she's not cranky or running a fever, so I begin the internal debate as to whether or not to take her to the ER. I mean, it's not really an emergency but urgent care isn't open either and since our pediatrician resides in another state (oh, yeah and we are currently without a pediatrician as ours left the Dean Facility to practice closer to home). Sigh. To the ER it is.

Matt takes her in and fortunately they see her right away. The doctor tells Matt that she has very bad infections in BOTH ears and recommends a shot of antibiotics as well as a prescription for oral antibiotics. He cautions that the shot is painful, but necessary for a speedy recovery. Painful indeed, Ally comes home from the hospital limping! He also prescribes tylenol with codeine to "help her sleep." Apparently, codeine has the opposite effect on Ally as shortly thereafter she is literally running in circles in the living room. And the antibiotics are giving her diarrhea, but I guess we'll just ride that one out since I don't have a doctor to call to get a different prescription.

Otherwise, we are loving the warmer weather and mock all those who dare imply that 60 degrees is "cold."

Meet Santa

Did you know that you can chat with Santa live via webcam! (Thanks Debby!!)

http://www.thesquirrelcam.com/cam-popsanta.php

Up Up and Away

For anyone who follows my blog, I do apologize. I have been a bit on the boring side as of late. Unless you want to talk about e-prescribing implementations and the new requirement for discrete dispense. Today while at work, I got a call from Ally's school. I love conversations that begin with, "Sarah? Everything's fine, but..." Since Lily woke up this morning with a 102 degree fever, I was expecting Ally's teacher to tell me that she had perhaps gotten sick at school. Instead, I was told that another child bit her. She explained that they had taken Ally to the nurse, it didn't break skin, but she might have some bruising and they planned to call the other child's parents as well. I asked if she was doing OK and the teacher said that she was back to playing already. So I thought, no harm no foul, right? But when I got home, I saw this:


Wow! He really got her good, poor thing. I really hope this doesn't make her hate school. She is already so hard to get up in the morning, but usually has a good time once she's there. I wonder sometimes if I'm doing the right thing by making her go. I remember telling my mom how much I hated public school and begging to be home schooled. She wouldn't. But it was good for me, right?

So worrying about my 5 month old's cold and my 3 year old's emotional well-being, not to mention that I made the mistake of watching Gangland last night on the History channel and I've been a little on-edge today. I spent a good while reading cakewrecks this evening. Any other thoughts on how to reduce my anxiety?

Winter Wonderland

And Ally fell asleep with a candy cane in her mouth on the way home...