Long Weekends Are The Best

Long weekends are great, until they come to an end and you wake up on Tuesday and can't believe reality means getting up and doing something productive. As a double whammy for me, I got to go get a crown that day. How's that for a rude awakening after a nice relaxing few days? Mia actually came into our room on Tuesday and asked if she could stay home. What? Two weeks ago we were having to have ice cream cones to make up for the fact that we were stuck at home and now you're asking to not go to school?

On Sunday, we had dinner with friends and the kids played hard with two college guys - perfect wrestling partners.  They both came home and slept over 13 hours! On Monday, we went to the museum, walked the trails, and played at a splash pad. On the way home, the kids fell asleep at 6:40 and slept until almost 8 the next morning! See, told you it was a wonderful weekend. Now, how do I work more of that "running them tired" thing into this summer?

The pictures I have from this weekend fall into a 12 in 2012 category, so I'll have to do separate posts later. Until then, here's a freebie picture: another way we're making sure the kids sleep well at night.



Mia has no idea what's about to hit her. Hopefully not literally, although Finn is very into that car and doesn't like to share it too much at this point...

Through and Through

These two things happened today and it just makes me chuckle at how they really show just how different boys and girls can be.

Mia
She walked into my bathroom and seeing that I was wearing a skirt today, said "Oh, Mom! You're wearing a skirt! [pause] Does it twirl?"
Twirling: the only thing that makes something worth wearing. Shorts and pants don't twirl. Thus, they are to be avoided at all costs.
Dresses, headbands, nail polish... A girl through and through.

Finn
Yesterday, a bump. Today, a fat lip. Apparently he tripped on something on the playground and bit it. Literally. Poor kid. He looks pretty rough, but not bothered too much by it. Take life at full speed and see it all as a great adventure to be conquered. Try to lift everything, throw most of it.
Run, climb, wrestle, tumble... A boy through and through.

Oh sure, Mia likes to wrestle and Finn screams when it's not his turn to push the pink stroller, but mostly what happened today is what life looks like for those two...

And how fun is it that I get to twirl with one and brace myself for a tackle from the other one? All in the same day.

Yep, things seem normal now…

*I wanted to update last night, but apparently being back in the swing of things also means running out of time for certain things on some days. By the time I sat down to update, the internet was giving me fits and I was too tired to deal with it.

Finn is back at school with Mia, which means I'm able to work from my office (incredible how much easier that is!) and we're all trying to find what it means to have the old routine back.

His skin is still a bit spotty but it's definitely healing, which is comforting.  When we got back to school, there was an information sheet on Hand, Foot, and Mouth in each kid's cubby.  In the symptoms it said: "5 or fewer blisters per hand or foot"  YEAH, RIGHT. I laughed. Because what else can you do when your kid has 100+ spots on his body? I didn't count and I know it's easy to be dramatic. I don't think I'm far off this time...

But how do I really know that we're [fairly] back to normal? Finn fell on the playground again and bonked his head. Identical way he did it last time - some kind of issue with the popcorn popper - and identical result to his forehead - maybe a little less intense this time - but on the other side, to even things out.  'Cause you know, he didn't have enough red marks on his body already... Gotta love boys who are intense and play hard.

Happy

I needed a pick-me-up this afternoon, so I told the kids that if they were good during rest time we would go get special drinks.

Finn was insistent on bringing this along with him [his idea, I promise]:

Guess you can never be too careful. Don't want to catch anything again... Don't tell him it's empty.

And he's not feeling bad, he had just woken up so that's why he looks like that. I changed his diaper and got him in the car right away. I wanted to get there before 1/2 price drinks were over :)

 

Much, much better...

Not pictured: Mommy's much larger drink.

A ride in the car with the windows down and a nice cold drink was just what we needed. Happy hour, indeed.

Breaking Free!

Ok, ok, so it was only the backyard but, to the two little residents in the house, it didn't matter.

We could have come outside sooner probably, but I really didn't want Finn's sores to get dirty and risk infection. They looked good enough to take on the backyard. And he was ready, too.

It was a perfect evening, filled with fun stuff:

Swings:

Look! FOUR pictures and Finn's smiling in every one! Never mind he was done about 30 seconds after this, but hey! Smiling pictures on the swing. Yay.

 

Water play:

 

These two love playing with water. And the fact that this table has balls that you can throw into the center thing so they can spiral down and into the water is just more fun than Finn can handle. He was literally climbing into the thing to grab another ball and pulling the whole thing over to get a closer look.

Ice cream:

 

Um...yeah...you dropped some, buddy.

I had promised Mia earlier today that after dinner we could go outside and have an ice cream cone. After 3.5 days without going anywhere, we have to have something to look forward to. At dinner she told Mark: "We're having an ice cream cone after dinner. Because staying home all day is sad." Uh, you think she likes being out and around people? The excitement of getting to leave school early on Thursday to hang out at home with mom and little brother has faded, I'm afraid. That's ok, little girl. It's been almost a week. We understand. And you'll be back in the routine soon.

Until then, we'll have more ice cream and swinging.

Just Another HFM Day…

What do you do when you've been held captive indoors thanks to HFM for so many days in a row?

You break out the really large things that you usually only play with when there's 20 inches of snow outside.

 

Tent fever is better than cabin fever, though. Even if I was tripping over it all day.

I got caught up on laundry.  For the first time in months.  So I guess that's a positive. All 3 of us also vacuumed the house. And when I say all 3, I literally mean all 3 of us were holding on to the vacuum and pushing it around. I can't say that it's efficient, but if going over the same spot 20 times means you get all of it sucked up then I'm pretty sure we're good.

Oh, and maybe you squeeze in a haircut.

 

She's pretty excited about it.

Guess who else is excited about it?

 

Or excited about something else? Who knows...

This is just to prove to you that I'm not making all this up.  While Mia has maybe four spots around her mouth (and if I really look maybe 1 or 2 on her hands and arms), her brother has more than I want to count.

If I squint my eyes and see the glass half-full, I see that they're getting better. They are getting a little better, just not going away, which is really what I want them to do.  Some of them are so dark on his skin (doesn't help that he's so fair) that I'm wondering how long it will be for them to fade away (and really, really hope they do completely and don't leave spots or scars... I know that's superficial and I know that this is a minor illness but this is the longest we've been home "sick" and when you see all of that all over your baby's skin it's hard not to be a little bent out of shape.  It's just hard. Ok, done.) To top it all off, we've entered the gross stage...he's now peeling from all these blisters.  Doesn't seem to hurt him but I have to make sure he has socks on because he'll sit there and pick at his feet (where the peeling is the worst) - and you can't tell me that wouldn't hurt...

But, even though it's frustrating to wake up and still see red all over his body, I'm thankful that as I watch him, it's clear to me that he thinks this whole HFM thing is just a big fuss and why can't we go play outside already?

Same Song…Second Verse

I loaded up the kids this morning to take Mia to school. Finn was along for the ride in his jammies since we don't want him going to school the way he is. I was pulling out of the garage when I looked back at Mia for some reason and....drove back into the garage.  Yep, you guessed it. Tiny spots around her mouth.

My sister, such the encourager that she is, responded to my "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?" text with "You knew it was coming!"* Well, yes I did. But I like to live in denial.  It's a happier place.  Free of spots.  And honestly, I'm shocked it took this long for them to show up. Still not sure that's what it is because frankly, I look at those teeny tiny spots and I say "that's nothing compared to what we have going down the hallway" but we'll see what morning brings.  I really don't know what's going to be staring back at me in the morning when I wake up.  More spots? Bigger spots? Less spots? No spots? HA.

So far, I don't see any inside Mia's mouth and there aren't any on her hands and feet. Maybe it's some kind of allergic reaction to something (doubtful, but hey...). Too early for zits?

Finn is doing better, I cautiously say.  I think some of the spots are starting to calm down a bit, but they are still pretty intense and plentiful. I think I read that it takes about a week to go away, but I'm learning that's probably for average cases. I'm buckling down for the long haul. He continues to eat and drink well, so really the biggest issue we have on our hands right now is that he's decided that drawing on the tile with crayon is the most fun he's had in days. Cabin fever, anyone?

Let's hope this song is done and there are no more verses to add.

*To my sister's credit, she offered to come to my house, have some tea, and laugh about life. We live about 1000 miles apart so she was just kidding, but the offer was nice.

Mother’s Day

Thanks to my great family, I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I was wondering what it would look like for us this year since Finn has spots and blisters all over his body and Mia had a sore throat and low fever last night.  I knew we wouldn't be able to go anywhere since Finn is in the last day or so of being contagious and I was wondering if we would have a sick bay on our hands today with either or both.  Fortunately no. The kids were acting great (but Finn still looks really bad). And even though we had to stay away from people, that didn't keep Mark from making sure I didn't have to work in the kitchen today - we all piled in the car and went and got take out for lunch (Finn does not do well cooped up so at least getting out in the car was a good break from it all, even if it did mean just going for a ride and staying in his car seat the whole time).  Nothing worse than being on house arrest when all you want to do is be around people and running barefoot in the grass.  No dice, buddy. Sorry.

I woke up to the kids bounding into the room with gifts and cards.



Flowers to cheer up my bedside (and One Thousand Gifts for my new bedtime reading). Sorry about the tea-stained coaster, but it's evidence of my mommy-time treat: tea and a book.

And possibly the best cards ever this year.  They totally speak to what is going on in their lives right now. (Having a husband who works for a greeting card company has its definite perks)



From the princess girl. And can I just say that there's nothing sweeter than finding MOM, written in the cutest three year old handwriting, on random pieces of paper and on drawings throughout the house?



From the spotty boy. (Mark added the spots.)

It was good to get something that made me chuckle about the whole thing - even if it was so painfully close to the truth. I have to admit that it's been hard to see Finn with this hand, foot, mouth thing.  It's amazing how bad he got it and according to every other person I've talked to who has gone through it, he has it so way worse than anybody has ever seen.  It's hard to look at his skin and know the best way to treat it. Fortunately, he's acting like it's no big deal and is carrying on like nothing is wrong.  I'm really not sure how. If it were me, I wouldn't want to be moving around or be touched. We'll be spending a while at home

Even though Mother's Day looked different for us this year, we still had such a good day as a family.  We rested, didn't do any work at all, played lots with toys, read books, put together some puzzles, and watched some fun shows together as a family. I'm so blessed to be a mom to these kids.  The hugs and kisses they gave me today remind me why this is the best job in the world, even on days when I'm caring for a sick child or dealing with strong opinions from the 3 and under crowd...

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and…oh wait.

That's not right.  Let's try that again.

Hand, foot, and mouth...that's right we're stuck at home.

Here's the short version:

• Diagnosis: Hand, foot, and mouth disease.


• Patient: Finn


• Prognosis: He'll be fine.


• Current state: Looks horrible, acting pretty normal.


• Treatment: House arrest. Oh, and Motrin.


• Official family statement: Sorry if my kid licked yours this week.

Long version: sigh...

• Tuesday - started not eating very well.  Surprising since he usually eats anything around him, but toddlers go through phases so we just decided to keep an eye on him.


• Wednesday afternoon - small bump on the inside of his elbow, looked like a bug bite. Keep an eye on it.


• Wednesday bedtime - small red spot near corner of mouth. Huh...that's interesting.  But, again. Keep an eye on it.


• Wednesday 11pm - crying from Finn's room. Ok, weird.  He doesn't usually wake up in the middle of the night.  Comfort, back to sleep.


• Thursday morning - sore where the red spot in corner of mouth was. Oookaaayy... Blister where small bump was on elbow.  Hmmm....  Change diaper, lift feet and see bumps all over bottom of foot.  Um, ok.  Mouth....Feet....let me see your hands. ...Spots.  1+1+1, and I'm pretty sure I know what this is.  Problem is he had other spots other places, like the elbow one so we decided to call the nurse.  She confirms what we think and says that spots may appear other places, not to worry.  No need to come in unless we want to. Keep hydrated, alternate tylenol and motrin. Got it.


• Thursday afternoon - this is out of control. Spots/blisters everywhere. We're now singing hand, foot, and mouth, and legs, arms, and back. Neck, belly, there is nothing without a spot... Make appointment.


• Thursday evening - diagnosis confirmed. Apparently in 1 in 8 children, it goes haywire.

Meet Haywire Finn.



Our Dr. had seen 20-25 children that day with it.  I think that qualifies under "it's going around." He also said that it would probably look even worse in the morning.

He was right.  Wowzers. Poor kid. Not really a ton of new spots, just mostly same ones a lot angrier today.

He's acting a lot better than he looks. He's acting normal (making big messes), interacting with his sister (pushing her buttons), and communicating with me (whining/"talking back"). Yes, it seems that while he looks really bad, he's doing just fine.

The only ones that seem to be bothering him are the ones in his mouth (now him not eating makes perfect sense).  He's getting a lot of fruit chillers, popsicles, ice cream, cold applesauce, and cold yogurt.  He eats a lot of those and is drinking cold stuff really well.  Ice chips are also a favorite treat. Goal is to keep him hydrated and not worry about healthy stuff at this point. His diapers are in the normal range so we're doing ok, I think.



Yesterday.



Today :(

So there you have it. This is a first for us and apparently Finn wanted us to have the full experience. Way to go above and beyond kid - represent the 1 in 8 out there.  And act fine through it.  Proud of you, bud.  Now, just stop wrecking the house in the process.



Eating ice chips with sister.



Playing trains, or something like that. He was sitting so nicely in the middle of the track and then right when I went to take the picture, he got up to go chase a ball.  Clearly he's not slowed down too much...

(Mia seems just fine.  We have pulled her out of school as well, just as a precaution. Yesterday was hard because keeping those away from cuddling, wrestling, hugging, kissing, stealing sippy cups, spit swapping in general is exhausting.  Dr. seemed to think that because she's older, if she were to get a lot of symptoms, she would have been showing them by now because of the incubation period.  She may say she has a little bit of a sore throat and that's it.  She's not showing or saying anything at this point).

Just Swinging

As some of you know, Mark is working on a playset in the backyard for the kids. Somebody on Craigslist was selling all the wood, hardware, and extras from their fort/playset for a really good price so we have a ton of wood, swings, a slide, and hardware to make our own in our backyard. It's a tough project because there are no plans though, which means Mark is just building it all from his own drawings and measurements and using the wood that we bought. I think deep down, even if it is a bit challenging, I think he's having fun with it. It's really coming along and is shaping up to be so cool. The kids have fun playing in the backyard and are now starting to recognize how they can play on it.

Of course, when they saw these go up, there was no containing the excitement (at least from the 3 year old).

There are lots of giggles coming from our yard these days.

From the smile on Mia's face, you can tell she loves it and would swing forever if we let her. Getting her to come in is always a challenge. Finn, as you can see, is wondering if he's a fan or not.  He is generally fearless and is definitely not afraid of heights but he's at the age where he recognizes when something's out of his control. Swinging fast qualifies as not being in control, apparently. This evening, he was definitely more excited about it so I think pretty soon he'll be as into it as Mia is.

I'll post more pictures as construction develops...

“Makeup”

(Chapstick at our house = makeup, according to a little girl...)

Guess who was soooo excited when Mom found a new tube of "makeup"?



Guess who didn't realize the lip balm was tinted before she handed it to the 3 year old?



And no, she wouldn't let me wipe off the extra. Can't see the pink when it's only on your lips, Mom.

Lesson learned: always read the fine print on new tubes of lip balm...