Ugh, Sick Again!

After Dad's St. Patty's day illness (and subsequent sinus infection), Molly and Mama both came down with the same (extremely nasty) bug. Whenever Molly gets sick, she sleeps even worse than she normally does, so I was relieved when her cough, congestion, and snotty nose started to improve. After a couple of days, it was apparent that Molly was just about over her bug ... so imagine my dismay when I went up to get her last night and discovered that she was burning up. She was sporting a 102.5 degree fever and was tossing and turning. I dosed her up with Tylenol and put her in bed with me, but even then she fussed and cried and didn't sleep more than a half hour at a time. She'd beg me to put her in her bed and I'd tuck her in, only to have her wake up 30 minutes later and cry for me to get her. It was a miserable night for both of us.

The next day, the fever was still there – it would go down when I gave her Tylenol, but creep back up as soon as the meds started to wear off. I wasn't worried about the fever by itself, but Molly was listless and sleepless and totally pathetic. Given that this was how she behaved when she had her ear infection a couple of weeks ago, I suspected her ears might be bothering her again.

So, we called up the doctor's office and they managed to squeeze us in that Friday (thankfully)! Because our doctor's office is affiliated with the big university hospital, they often have residents at the office who are taking a turn through the pediatric office. So, sometimes before you see your normal doctor, one of the residents comes in and does a preliminary exam. It always cracks me up at how the residents are so awkward and hesitant about dealing with little kids. They're totally well meaning and don't do anything wrong, but they haven't developed the skills and the confidence (and the tricks) that ease along a child exam. The resident came in and Molly did her best to be uncooperative – wiggling and crying. When the doctor came in later, she sat quietly while the doctor did the full exam.

As I suspected, Molly had double ear infections again. We were sent off with another round of antibiotics. Happily, once again, within 24 hours Molly was much better. Now if we can only stay well for more than a week or two at a time!

Easter

Although St. Patrick's Day was a bit of a bust, we had hopes that Easter would be a little more enjoyable. Unfortunately, Mama managed to catch the wretched cold that Dad had been suffering from and wasn't feeling in top form. But, we managed to enjoy all of our Easter traditions this year. As usual, Mama felt compelled to buy disgustingly cute clothes for the little ones. And, as usual, Mama went a little overboard and ended up with multiple Easter outfits for Max and Molly. And, once again, we demonstrated that the cuter everyone looked, the harder it was to get a nice picture.

We didn't get around to dying our Easter eggs until the Saturday before Easter. We didn't dye eggs last year, since Max was in a cast and Molly was too little. So, this year, everyone was very enthused about the whole process. After setting up nine tubs of egg dye on the counter, I let Max and Molly pull up chairs and "help" dye eggs with Big Brother and Big Sister. As you might imagine, I was on tenterhooks the entire time, because I really wanted to avoid having egg dye spilled on the carpet. The carpet cleaner and I have already spent too much quality time together over the last few years. Since Max and Molly were nothing if not enthusiastic about the whole venture, I spent a stressful hour trying to keep little hands in check. Both Max and Molly thought dyeing eggs was a whole lot of fun. It was a good thing I made a few extra eggs, because they each cracked a couple of eggs before they figured out what they were supposed to do with them (I suppose eggs do look a lot like bouncy balls ...). There were a few close calls, but we managed to avoid overturning any cups of dye (hooray!).

The Easter Bunny dutifully made his yearly visit and filled some small Easter baskets. Everyone got a small assortment of candy and a few sugar-free "treats" (books for the little kids, a DVD and Naruto cards for the big kids). Molly was the first one up and she was delighted when she discovered her goodies. She checked everything out and oohed and ahhed over the contents of her basket. Max got up shortly thereafter and was also happy to find his basket. Unlike Molly, Max immediately set to unwrapping and eating some of his candy (a lesson he apparently learned from the Easter egg hunt the previous week). When the big kids woke up, they took the little kids upstairs while the "Easter Bunny" hid the Easter eggs around the house. Max and Molly got more into the hunt and found more eggs than I expected. They had a great time searching out the eggs and carrying them back and putting them in the carton. We hid eggs in easy places for the little kids and harder spots for the big kids – this might have been the first year Dad and I didn't have to pick our brains to remember where he'd hidden the last, few missing eggs.

We made the traditional egg salad for lunch, although since Easter was so early this year, we had to use scallions in place of the fresh chives that we usually use. The chives in the backyard "garden" haven't even sprouted yet. Max seemed to like egg salad fairly well, but not as much as his beloved "peanut butter jelly white" (a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, on white bread). Molly, however, took one bite and then scraped the egg salad off of her tongue in disgust.

After unsuccessful nap attempts, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter dinner. The kids were treated to another egg hunt (this time for plastic eggs filled with goodies). Molly loved finding the eggs so much that after the hunt was over, she'd take her eggs, go hide them herself, and then "find" them ("I find it!! I find it!!"). It was really funny. Max quickly discovered that Grandma and Grandpa's computer could also access the PBS Kids website and we pretty much had to pry him away from it (which was almost a nice change from him turning the house upside down, like he usually does ;).

When all was said and done, the kids had consumed too much sugar, the adults had eaten too much food, and everyone had enjoyed a nice (although exhausting) day. Now we just have to figure out how to use up three dozen hard-boiled eggs before they spoil!

It's Not Easy Being Green

We always like to use St. Patrick's Day as an excuse to cook up a lot of food and do a little celebrating. Since Mama has a fair dose of Irish blood, she likes to act like a goofy American and honor her (long since transplanted) Irish roots. We had grand plans – Mama took the day off of work and we had a fun-filled day of food, activities, and movie watching planned (The Quiet Man is always a St. Paddy's day favorite). Mama, Max, and Molly all got up early and made some cranberry scones together, so that Dad could have a nice treat when he got home from work.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, when Dad got home from work we discovered that he had fallen victim to the crud that was going around and was feeling poorly. He quickly went from bad to worse and was sent up to bed for the day. To add to the day's disappointments, the weather was totally rotten and Mama couldn't even take advantage of her holiday and take the kids out for a walk. So, we had to scale back our plans – we managed to throw together our traditional Irish feast of corned beef and colcannon (along with some un-Irish sourdough rolls and Cowboy Cake) and listen to a lot of The Pogues, but we gave up the movie and the hope of any outings. Dad went to bed right after dinner, so the evening was a bit of a wash. But, before the day was over, Mama at least managed to snap a couple cute pictures of the kids and their traditional wearing of the green. Maybe we'll try again next year!

Easter Egg Hunt

We haven't had very good luck for the last few Easters. On Max's very first Easter, he was only just out of the hospital and still on house arrest (although we did risk smuggling him over to Grandma and Grandpa's for Easter dinner). His second Easter he had a nasty case of bronchiolitis and was not feeling well at all. Last year, he was laid up with a broken leg and had to endure the humiliation of having a baby sister who was more mobile than he was. So, THIS year, we definitely wanted to participate in some Easter fun.

The Saturday before Easter, the church (also home of Max's future preschool) was holding an Easter egg hunt for all the kids. Since we hadn't been able to participate before, I grabbed a couple of baskets, buckled everyone into the car, and headed over to the church for some egg-hunting fun. Everyone gathered in the gymnasium and it was packed! Of course, I quickly rediscovered how hard it is to keep tabs on a wiggly 1 1/2 year old and an energetic 3 year old at the same time. Happily, Grandma and Grandpa were there for the festivities and I was really grateful for some extra kid-wrangling assistance.

They had the egg hunt broken up into two age groups -- kids three and under had their own egg hunt in one section, while the older kids had a bigger egg hunt in a different section. It was really funny -- we lined all the little kids up around a big square of grass that was covered with plastic eggs. One the hunt officially began, all the kids wandered onto the grass and started picking up eggs. Max thought it was great fun, although his strategy could use some improvement. He'd run up to an egg, pick it up, shake it, decide that it wasn't the egg for him, put it back on the ground, and move on to the next egg. With a little prompting, he eventually started to put some eggs in his basket. Molly, on the other hand, was an egg-hunting fiend! I held her basket for her while she methodically picked up egg after egg and piled them in the basket. She eventually filled her basket up completely and we had to start putting her eggs in Max's basket! I wish I could have snapped some pictures of the actual egg hunt, but I had my hands full helping the kids.

The whole thing was over within 10-15 minutes -- once all the eggs had been found, the kids all trooped back inside to empty their eggs and check out their loot. You should have seen the look on Max's face when he discovered that all of his eggs were full of candy. He started unwrapping candy and shoveling it into his mouth as fast as he could. Not to be outdone by her big brother, Molly started handing pieces of candy to me and asking me to unwrap them, so she could get her sugar buzz going. One of the eggs ended up having a prize ticket in it, so in addition to all the candy, we took home another whole Easter basket full of toys and goodies.

We hadn't been in the car more than about 60 seconds before Max was begging to "go to Max's school, find Easter eggs more!" Needless to say, after all the excitement and goodies, nobody took a nap this afternoon!

Candy, Iron, Wood

According to a couple handy websites that I found, the traditional gifts for one's sixth wedding anniversary are supposed to revolve around candy or iron (???). If you're more modern minded, you can go for a gift made of wood (can you tell that the sixth year has some total filler gift themes?). Since Dad and I opt to pick out a gift together, rather than getting each other gifts, we don't usually pay much attention to the gift traditions. This year, we're going to send in all our wedding photo negatives and get them scanned into high resolution digital files, so we order prints whenever we like and so I can stop having nightmares about something happening to the negatives! I suppose since paper comes from trees and trees have that wood thing going, that we can almost count that as adhering to the theme. ;)

All crazy gift themes aside, we had a nice anniversary. Grandma and Grandpa gave us the best anniversary gift of all – they offered to babysit so Dad and I could go out to dinner together. Alone. Being able to sit down together at the table, eat our food, and carry on a coherent conversation was a rare treat. Neither of us had to get up a half dozen times, cut up anyone else's food, retrieve utensils or sippy cups from the floor, dodge any flying vegetables, or remind people NOT to rub food in their hair. We went to a local Italian restaurant that we had been wanting to try – the food was good (although the table location wasn't the best), the service was fine, and I thoroughly enjoyed a glass of wine. We had to try the tiramisu for dessert, along with a nice, strong cup of coffee.

Of course, as usual, we ended our perfectly fine meal by agreeing that, although the food was good, the food we make at home is better. No wonder we don't usually bother to go out to eat. But, I must say, it was nice to have someone else do the dishes for a change. ;)

Double Whammy

We're apparently having the Winter o' Sick over here. It seems like we've had at least one family member sick at any given time since before Christmas – I'm tired of it!! Dad and Molly have logged the most number of sick days, followed by Big Brother and Big Sister, with Max and I trailing the pack. This week, Dad caught a nasty cold and kindly passed it on to Molly. Molly had a few days of coughing and sneezing and a stuffy nose and then seemed to be on the mend. Then she woke up on Wednesday night and when I lifted her out of bed, I could feel that she was burning up. I took her temp (102 degrees), gave her some Tylenol, and tucked her back in bed. Needless to say, she didn't sleep well and ended up in bed with me for most of the night.

For the last couple of days she's been totally moping around – she won't eat, she's clingy and lethargic, and she's definitely not her usual cheery self. So, after three days of fever, I decided to drag her in to see the doctor. They managed to squeeze me in yesterday and I'm glad we didn't wait until Monday – the poor little baby has ear infections in both ears. That explains the fever and the general misery. The doc sent us home with a prescription for amoxicillin and said Molly should be feeling better in a couple of days. Happily, she was right – after 24 hours on the meds, Molly is feeling much better and is playing and smiling again. Now if we can only keep everyone else from getting sick (again).

Max and Molly Rediscover a Classic

Max and Molly (with help from Mama) recently "discovered" this old Muppet Show classic on YouTube:



Max refers to it as the "little pig song" and now asks me to sing it to him before bed every night (cracking up at every "manah manah"). Ahhh, it's nice to know that true classics never go out of style!

Happy Homecoming-i-versary!

Three years ago today, Max stopped being a NICU patient and started being a baby. The older Max gets and the more his preemiehood fades, the easier it becomes to forget that he spent the first couple months of his life in the hospital. Every year when this day rolls around, I'm shocked (and saddened) by how long ago his actual birthday was. It already seems like such a long time since December and it really drives home how very early Max was and how much growing and developing time he lost. Those NICU days seemed to last forever and we were overjoyed (and a little scared!) when we could finally bring our baby boy home.

So, Max, happy homecoming-i-versary! What a wonderful three years we've had!