Ivy missed the bus

Every morning, we get Ivy ready and get her out the door at 7:45 am to catch the bus. Then she heads across the street to wait. When the weather was bad, she waited inside the house across the street with another kindergartener and they came out when the bus stopped. A few months ago, there was a substitute bus driver that didn't know they waited inside and he just drove on by. After a few phone calls (I was without a car that day), the driver to come back and get the two kids he was supposed to pick up, after he dropped the rest of the kids at school.

Today, I got her out of the door as usual. She was waiting inside and the bus came. I saw one set of little feet get on the bus, the bus waited a little longer and then it took off. The mom across the street came running out of the door as the bus turned the corner with Ivy running behind her. I got a little upset, but I figured that maybe Ivy had been in the bathroom or some such distraction. Ivy walks back across the street, with some minor yelled conversation between the mom and I.

Ivy comes in the house and I ask her to explain why she missed the bus. She tells me that the dog across the street was jumping on her and she was afraid of it and didn't make it outside. At this point, I can barely contain my anger at her. I know it is unreasonable to be this mad, but I still am.

Luckily, Glenn was running late and still here, so he was able to take her to school "on the way" to the office. However, her school is in the opposite direction of his office and she got to school late.

Since this is the second time that waiting inside has caused a problem (and since the weather is nice), Ivy is no longer allowed to wait inside for the bus. She can wait in the yard so that she sees the bus coming and the bus can see her.

Exhaustion

*sigh* I am very tired. More tired than normal. I am not sure what is going on. Maybe I am fighting the virus that the kids have had for a week. Or maybe I am just tired from dealing with one kid or the other that has had a fever over 100 since last Tuesday night.

It is funny, I wasn't very tired at work, but after being home for a half hour, I got really, really tired while helping prepare dinner. Getting lettuce out of the bottom of the refrigerator, I overbalanced backwards and ended up sitting down hard on my butt. Then I didn't feel like I had the strength to stand up for a bit. I know that I am conjested and that is causing some dizziness as well.

In good news, the dishwasher is running - I managed to get it loaded and the kitchen cleaned up. Also, the weather today was gorgeous! Taking the trash out at work at 6:00 pm and I didn't need a coat and it was still light out. What a big difference from January where I took out trash in the dark while it snowed on me.

Make a living will!!!!!!!

Enough said.

Immunity failure, part 2

Well, Ivy has the flu or a flu-type illness. Basically, she has a high fever, lots of aches and pains, and a headache. When her fever is going up, she has classic chills - including chattering teeth. Yesterday was her last day of antibiotics for the strep throat, but she had a high fever that morning. I took her into the doctor's office, where we spent an hour and a half in the office waiting for the results of various rapid tests. The rapid test for strep was negative, as was the rapid test for the flu. They one for influenza is intesting, they take a nasal wash and then run a PCR reaction on that material. It apparently has a relatively high false negative rate, so they then take some of that wash and culture it for viruses as well. If it is positive for influenza, they let us know so that we can start on anti-flu medication if one of us gets the high fever. Those medications are only effective if you start them the first day of the flu. If Ivy had been positive, she could have started the medicine to shorten her illness time, but since she was negative, we have to wait it out.

Last night at 1 am, she woke us up with her feeling awful. I took her temperature, and it was 103.5 under her arm. I started getting nervous, that temperature is higher than I am comfortable with. Luckily, a dose of ibuprofin lowered it within a half hour. She spent most of the rest of the night sleeping with us and sweating. Later, Rose joined us and complained about being "squished" when she is trying to be the 4th person to squeeze into bed. I realized that my patience for whiny children is pretty low at 3 am.

Today, Ivy was better, but still pretty low. Ivy was able to get up and play, whereas yesterday, she spent the entire day (even at the doctor's office) laying down. As bedtime approached and her earlier dose of ibuprofin wore off, Ivy got the chills again, so she got more medicine. Then Rose got really fussy - and she had a temperature too! Rose's temp was not as high as Ivy's has been, but Ivy had a lower temp on Wednesday night as well. We will see tomorrow how sick the kids are. Glenn and I had planned to go to dinner and dancing with some friends tomorrow night - hopefully the kids are well enough that we can go. At this point, I am not counting on it. AND - I get to take care of the kids by myself tomorrow during the day while Glenn has to work for several hours.

The worst part of all this for me is that I, as well, feel horrible. My head hurts, I ache all over, but I have no fever. The kids get to lay around when they are sick - I get to clean the kitchen, cook food, take care of them, etc.

Gaming was cancelled for tonight, so I got a short break from crabby kids to run to Target and shop for candy and toys for bunny baskets on Sunday. I picked up new Barbie dolls for the girls - a Poison Ivy one and a Batgirl one. I couldn't resist and it fits our "non-traditional" Barbie rules [ok, they are more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules].

Ok.. commentary for The Incredibles is over, so I am gonna put the computer down.

Internet silliness

An animated gif of Jean-Claude van Damme dancing. I think it is from Bloodsport, but I am not sure since all of his movies are so similar. It is jerky until it fully loads (1.8 MB) and then he will dance at normal speed.

A music video of We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel that uses images of the references in the song.

And a random quiz:
How Daring Are You?

You Are a Dare Devil

For you, life is one big dare. And you're all in for any adventure. Others find you exciting, inspiring, and a bit intimidating. You're biggest challenge at this point is trying to top yourself!

Immunity Failure

Well, we thought that Ivy was gonna make it through this without getting sick. No such luck. Yesterday she was very clingy, wanting to be with us at all times. When it was time to put her to bed, she was hot, so I took her temperature and it was 102. This morning, it was 103, so we kept her home from school. She was pretty miserable all day, so Glenn took her into the doctor in the afternoon. Ivy has been diagnosed with strep throat.

In irony, Rose finished her amoxicillin yesterday, and now Ivy is taking it as well. Having amoxicillin in the house really makes me nervous as it was the first antibiotic that I had an allergic reaction to. That reaction was pretty bad and I spent a full day in bed recovering. I am not sure which I am currently more afraid of, having a reaction to the amoxicillin or getting strep throat and having to take antibiotics myself. Oh well.

In good news, Rose has recovered from the ear infection and the doctor said that they look fine and we don't have to bring her back in three weeks. We just need to keep an eye on everyone to make sure they don't come down with strep. Wish us luck!

More on illnesses

Ok, Glenn is better, I am worse, and Rose is still sick. Wednesday night/Thursday morning she had an ear ache that kept waking her up. When she awoke, she would cry for a half hour until she fell back asleep. We got one hour chunks of sleep from around 2 am until a little after 5 am, when she fell asleep and stayed asleep. When she finally woke up at 11:30 am, she said her ears felt fine, but she had a temp of 102. I gave her some tylenol. Fearing an ear infection, I took her in to the doctor's office, where she was examined and declared to have a viral cold. When we give her ibuprofin or tylenol, her temperature drops.

This morning, shortly after waking, she had a temp of 103.7. Several hours after getting some ibuprofin, her temperature was bascially normal. Now, as the medicine wears off, her temperature climbs. It is currently 100.2 and she is complaining of being cold, so I am afraid that it is still climbing. It is obvious when the ibuprofin wears off as she gets sluggish and whiny. I have a phone call into the doctor's office to talk to a nurse.

Today, I have been feeling sick as well. Funny, since I just finished a course of antibiotics for a sinus infection. Oh well. I had a really hard time getting out of bed today, but no fever yet. We had to cancel gaming tonight as it would not do to make our pregnant friend sick two weeks before her due date.

Update: We took Rose into the doctor's office and she does have an ear infection. Apparently, there is a blister on each eardrum. We filled the amoxicillin prescription and she has now had her first dose. Why she is not complaining of ear pain now, I have no idea.

Sickies

Glenn is home with a fever for the 2nd day in a row. He has been running a temp of around 101 this whole time. As of 2 pm, he is still in bed today. Rose had a fever for two days and she seems much more happy today, although her appetite has not returned and she is still coughing. Now I am feeling some of the initial symptoms that Glenn had, although the muscle soreness could just be a result of my two days of work. Ivy seems to be immune so far, but only time will tell.