Merry Sickness

I had fun plans for the holidays, I really did. But of course something always seems to derail the best made ones so the past few days have been a little out of sync. I'm glad I did a post on Tuesday morning because that was back when everything was on track and I only had a few last minute things to do. Later that day I had to get photos from Walgreens (done) and something to put them in as a gift from the kids to Grandma (not done) so it was decided that hubby would take the two older kids with him and drop them off and help with the kids Tae Kwan Do class while I ran over to Target for the last minute gift. On the way there he called and asked if I could get something for his grandma too--OK, no problem. Thankfully there is a very nice Christian bookstore right behind Target so I was able to swing by there and pick up a nice book. Target of course was crammed with people and the parking lot full so I had to park out in the far regions and of course it was cold as you know what. I bundled poor Andrew up and off we headed. As I was cruising along attempting to find the perfect photo album Andrew started fussing. So close, just a few more minutes and I could give him the crackers I had in the cart and off we would go away from the loud noisy crowded place. All of the sudden the poor kid threw up all over himself in the middle of the store. YUCK! I apologised to the nice employee who just happened to be right there and said that she needed to call a clean-up crew out for the mess and got over to the bathrooms ASAP to attempt to clean up the mess--no luck. A very nice good Samaritan (AKA Angel of Mercy) volunteered to watch Andrew for a few minutes so I could bring the van up front and load him there instead of carrying his smelly soaking self out into the frigid night air. No, I didn't have the diaper bag with me, I wasn't planning on having a major clothing emergency and Andrew was too disgusting and fussy to go and buy a new outfit to put on and the lines were long enough that I would be standing there for quite awhile anyway. After a brief stop over (5 min detour) to let hubby know what was going on I headed back home and got Andrew cleaned up. It was a long night. I think we managed to get to bed around two but Andrew threw up again an hour later so after cleaning that up hubby took chair duty for a few hours until I got the fun around 6 or so when I was awakened by Carolyn throwing up in the bathroom. Yes, another Christmas Eve spent with a sick child. I do have to say I would rather spend it with walking pneumonia than stomach flu but I didn't get much of a choice. Instead of spending a nice fun day preparing for Christmas and having lasagna for supper followed by a Christmas light tour of the greater Sioux Falls area it was naps and soup for supper followed by You Tube videos of Christmas houses. Thankfully everyone woke up happy and refreshed the next morning. The kids at least. Hubby and I were up until the wee hours of the morning trying to get excited kids to go to bed and fall asleep and then I still had to wrap their gifts. Christmas Day was wonderful. The weather was great and we headed down to Yankton for the Schwarz Family celebration. My mother in law moved this past year and her new house has so much more room. It was great to be able to have a nice dinner without having to eat in two different rooms and open gifts without practically sitting on each other's laps. I must have the weirdest kids in the world because they were so excited to get clothes as gifts. They did get a few toys from Santa but there were quite a few books and clothes too. They really don't need more toys. I got an awesome pair of shoes from the kids..my new Tae Kwan Do uniform wasn't in yet so I got shoes. The coat I bought for the loving husband didn't quite fit so I need to send it back but he did enjoy the other gifts he got from the kids. OK, I confess, Jim wanted specific shooting stuff so all I had to do was go to the check out part of the website he brought up and buy the items he had picked out so that was pretty easy. By the time we got home that night I was not feeling all that well. I really hoped it was too much Christmas food but by early the next morning it was very obvious that Andrew and Carolyn had given me their Christmas bug. So much for those great after holiday sales. After spending much of the day on the couch or in the bathroom I was feeling better just in time to go to bed for the evening. I did notice that Carolyn was again not feeling very good and had a fever so I gave her Motrin and sent her off to bed. I also figured out that the cat probably had a bladder infection based on the smelly wet blankets I found downstairs so I made a mental note to call the vet first thing in the morning. My morning then started with me taking the cat over to the vet's office to drop her off. The vet had several other emergencies that morning so they told me to bring the cat in and the vet would look at her when she had time. Carolyn woke up still not feeling well and still had a fever so Jim took Matthew and Andrew and went and worked out and I stayed home and tried to get some laundry and cleaning done. I also had to pick the cat up. She wouldn't give a sample so they just gave me antibiotics and told me to give to the cat for the next week. By afternoon Carolyn still had a fever over 101 and was pretty much a lump so I took her over to Urgent Care to make sure she didn't have Strep or any other illness. Now that she is older she is more help when it comes to asking medical questions. She can answer yes or no and point to places that hurt. The strep test came back negative so they did a blood and urine. The tech was a pro and they only needed to do a finger prick so it wasn't too traumatic. For the potty sample they put a container in the toilet under the seat so all she had to do was pee. Much simpler than trying to get a 4 year old to go in that itty bitty cup they use . The verdict was a possible bladder infection (Gee sounds familiar doesn't it?) and I got antibiotics. The funny thing is that both Carolyn and Trina are on the same antibiotic. I have both containers in the fridge. There is enough of a difference between the two that I shouldn't get things mixed up--I hope. I'm supposed to call the doctor's office on Monday morning to get final results on the culture tests they did to make sure that Carolyn needs to be on antibiotics and if the one she is on is the right one for her. I'm hoping that by Monday we are all healthy. I'm getting sick of illness.