Who's on Fifth??

Hooray, it's mystery ailment time at the Buying Mockingbirds household! Molly has been a little under the weather this week -- nothing serious, but she's been extra fussy, hasn't been sleeping well, and has been coughing and snuffling a little at night. We didn't think anything of it and just assumed she had a touch of a cold. Molly was having tomato soup for dinner the night before last and I noticed that her face looked kind of red and rashy. She gets some minor face rashes here and there, but this was all over her cheeks and it hadn't been there earlier in the day. I was afraid she was having a reaction to the soup, in spite of the fact that she's been eating tomatoes (and tomato soup) for months now. After dinner, I stripped her down and discovered that she had a small, red rash all over her chest and back. She seemed fine otherwise, so we put her to bed and kept a close eye on her all night (which was easy, since she got up multiple times :P).

The next day the rash was worse and had spread to her arms, legs, and diaper area. Her cheeks are now bright red and look awful! She seems mostly fine otherwise -- no fever, no other major symptoms (aside from a bit of extra fussiness). We'll probably drag her in to see the pediatrician on Monday, but we think she has Fifth disease. If that is the case, the good news is that it is relatively harmless. The bad news is that she would have been contagious before the rash broke out, so Max will probably get it too. The rash can also last a week or two, which kind of puts a kink in the holiday photo ops. Bah!!