Welcome to the Sick Ward

Its been Theme Week around here. So with Theme Week I'm bound to the theme of the day. A few things have happened in the mean time. I've had a house full of sick kids. I was supposed to have a reporter come and interview our family on Wednesday. The gods of Baby's R Us must have aligned with rising Jupiter and a crescent moon and allowed me a glimpse into Emma and Ryan's future. I got to go to the bathroom-- alone.

But alas, I was writing about a different bathroom experience and hats. Not that theme week wasn't fun, but now these other things are old news. I'm going to write about them and you're going to say "That was so 3 days ago" to which I'm going to reply "And your point is?"

Last Sunday as I was preparing to be Good Citizen Denise and go eat cheesecake go listen to a school board bond proposal, Jenna was complaining of a headache. A fever was soon behind.

It lasted about 36 hours, a low grade fever, constant headache and occasional tummy ache. Jenna went back to school on Wednesday.

In the meantime, Julia came home from school on Monday crying. She had a sore throat that was killing her. She had gone to the school nurse but since she didn't have a fever the nurse sent her back to her class. By 7:00 Julia had a fever. By 9:30 she was hugging a toilet. The next day I took her to the doctor to receive a $30 diagnosis that I already knew (remember I watch House now)- a very nasty case of Strep throat.

Monday was Chinese New Year, the Year of the Ox, which coincidentally is the Year of Julia. To celebrate, and I use the term quite loosely, I ordered Chinese. Sickly Julia turned her nose at Chinese and wanted Sonic. So being the doting mother that I am (I heard that kids!) I got her Sonic and a Sprite.

On Tuesday morning the babies woke up when I did, around 7:00. I was upstairs checking Julia and when I came down I found this:

Yes, that would be Julia's Sonic cup the Emma had taken out of the trash. Great. I mean, ordinarily I wouldn't care that my baby pulled a cup out of the trash and started drinking it, but you know, this one was covered in strep.

Wednesday night Emma was running a very low grade fever and was cranky. The question was did she have Jenna's virus or Julia's strep? Thursday she ran a low fever off and on but by that night it was higher and she wasn't eating and even gagging on food. I've been known to make a meal or two that my kids didn't like, but this was pizza.

Off to the doctor for us this morning, with Ryan in tow. Diagnosis: Strep, and a nasty case at that. I felt terrible. It didn't present like strep so I didn't take her the doctor making her suffer a day longer then necessary. One more thing added to the Mommy Guilt List.

So what does a poor little 18 month old with a nasty case of strep throat look like?

This would be Emma who was still quite incised that not only had someone stuck a cotton swab down her throat, but someone else stuck a stick in her mouth. The indignity of it all.

You would think that she would want her mommy to make it all better when we got home.

And she did, but was still unhappy until she spotted this:

To which she instantly stopped crying and started reaching and grunting. When I picked it up she started babbling "gabba gabba."

I don't know about you, but whenever I see a remote control Yo Gabba Gabba is the first thing that comes to mind.

But my baby was miserable and if she wanted to watch oversized, overgrown, stuffed animals bouncing around, singing annoying songs I was going to let her. She started on my lap but was soon down in front of the tv.

Nothing like Yo Gabba Gabba to make things all better.

I think Noggin needs to add that to their list of endearing qualities: Enhances preschoolers' social skills and self-awareness, expands musical and kinesthetic skills and is a baby narcotic. I always told you it was Baby Crack. Just remember who told you first.

And so, there's one question that remains.

When's this ticking time bomb going to go off?

By the way, the shirt is completely appropriate.



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