Seclusion, Day 7

AKA: I am slowly going crazy.....

We have had a bear of a week in the Callegari household.

Last Saturday Ellie had a mild fever and really wasn't acting like herself.  I figured it was teeth (which is my go-to answer for anything these days, since homegirl is 11 month old and still only has two chompers).  Then I noticed a diaper rash that had some white bumps in it.  I consulted my mom-of-girl friends who assured me that was possible.

The bumps seemed to disappear as a truly nasty diaper rash and bout of diarrhea took over.  I decided I should make her an appointment at the doc while Drew was at school on Tuesday.

As we prepped to leave the house for the doctor, I got a call from Drew's school saying he had a 101 fever and I had to come get him.  I called the doctor, let them know I was bringing in two munchkins, and we made a day of it.  Strep tests and flu tests came back clean and we got the dreaded "just a cold."

The next day Drew woke up with no fever, but a rash of bumps on the top of his thigh.  Called the doc, who said that sometimes happens when a fever breaks and they weren't concerned.  But I saw the bumps start to spread.  Wednesday afternoon I made us another appointment at the doc for Thursday morning.  Drew was fever-free and acting totally normal, so he WAS going to school once they confirmed this was just a "fever breaking rash."

She took one look at said "chicken pox."  Awesome.  Except then she looked in his mouth.  The bumps were in his mouth, ruling out chicken pox and positively identifying hand foot and mouth disease (or, in my son's case, thigh butt and mouth disease).  Highly contagious, but the kid feels fine.  Its the WORST kind of sickness.

Looking back, Ellie had a much more mild version on Sunday, but the diaper rash covered it up and the doctor couldn't see the bumps when we were in on Tuesday.

So D was quarantined until Monday.  Yet somehow, in the midst of quarantine, I managed to catch a cold on Friday and pass it on to the rest of my family on Saturday.  The snot levels in this house were serious, but I felt 100,000 times better today.  I think we are going to make it.

Except for Ellie, who was gnawing on her hands and drooling like a faucet today.  Teeth, I hope.

Five, Six, Seven, EIGHT

 

 

Beautiful daughter of mine,

Time goes so fast.  You haven't had monthly posts because mom hardly gets her computer out anymore to write them up, but I haven't stopped with the pictures on your actual day of birth each month!

Ellie, you are a delight these days. A true little person!  You have strong opinions about your need to be entertained and your food options, but you are usually pretty content.  You have had a few bouts with needing MAMA and only MAMA.  It seems to correspond with when a new tooth is about to pop through (you have two now),  but your family and our friends were none to happy when one of those weeks corresponded with when everyone was here for Thanksgiving and wanted to love on you!

Food.  Oh my.  I think we are about to stop with the baby stuff all together.  You would spit/throw up any single pureed foods.  You did better with the ones with several foods mixed together, but your favorite thing is whatever we are eating, no matter how much spice it has!  You enjoyed our chili and some tamales the other day.  It's making mealtimes much easier, though.  I just give you what Drew has, but cut into smaller pieces!

The one thing that has surprised me about you is your ability to go from 0 to 50 overnight.  One day? Not rolling over at all.  The next day?  Log rolling around the floor.  One day not sitting up.  The next day sitting up for 45 minutes at a time.  You are working on crawling now, and I actually see more "steps" towards that than I have in the past, but I fully expect you to skip that "rocking back and forth on my knees" part and move straight into bolting across a room to get whatever you want.

Dear child, you have 0 schedule, and I have no idea whose fault that is.  Some days you nap 30 times, 30 minutes each.  Some days you take a pretty long afternoon nap (which is why I am writing this now!), and some days you prefer not to sleep at all.  You generally go to sleep around 6:30pm and wake up between 6 and 6:30pm, so at least that is constant.

You LOVE LOVE LOVE your brother.  I love when I am in another room and can hear you two laughing together.  It's my very favorite sound in the world these days.  He will make you laugh or hold your hand during wagon rides, and it makes my heart happy.  HOWEVER.  I do apologize that you are the front line of him learning to share.  Guess that comes with the territory, but we get to do a lot of teaching him at your expense when he rips something from your hands.

Precious child, you delight our hearts-- all of us.  Life is better because of you.

Love,
Mama