Chelsi lately…

My poor, poor Chels was sick a couple of weeks ago. Poor baby kept coughing and coughing and then she started running a fever. Funny thing is that I usually do NOT take my children to the doctor for a little fever.....I rarely even do for a big one. It's just a way of fighting things. But the night she started running hers, we'd just gone to church that night and was coughing and I thought to myself that I would take her to the doctor if she started running a fever just to make sure she doesn't end up with pneumonia. After all she was a premie with previous pneumonia and the cough had been going on for a couple of weeks. But I just kept thinking to myself and telling myself, in church, that it wasn't on it's way to pneumonia as long as there was no fever. At 3:00 am I got up with her and sure enough she was running a temp. She never, in the couple of days she had it, ran too high of one, but I had already brought her to urgent care that Sunday morning, first thing when they opened.

We were the first ones there and they went ahead and ran a strep and influenza test, just in case. They decided it was bronchitis and, as I feared, we should be worried of pneumonia. She felt so bad the first day or two, but perked back up quickly after antibiotics and prescription cough syrup. In the last several days, she's done so much better! Glad I listened to my intuition, it's usually right with my kids! I did feel back taking milk away from her for the first few days since that is her most favorite drink, but I didn't want her cough to be worse.

Here's how pitiful she looked the first day.

Three strikes and you’re out!

Not in the sense of baseball, but not really in the sense of the law where you commit three of the same crimes and you're out.  However, strikes against you nonetheless.  That's Cole.

He's been spiraling out with his academic life and well, he's not going to like me much longer.....if he did in the first place.  I know I'm mean.  I know we discipline and he doesn't like it, but our hopes is one day he'll get it.  It will click and as he's making an bad choice he'll hear us in the back of his mind and stop or change whatever he's doing.

Earlier in the week he had papers he apparently wasn't turning in.  He "says" he had them done and had them in his desk, but suddenly couldn't find them.  His desk is, honestly, probably as messy as his shelf above his bed used to be.  His teacher was nice enough to let him complete and turn in and he slops through it with a C!  This kid can go from a C to an A in a matter of two weeks.  When he actually uses his mind and attempts to try he breezes right through, but this is him not trying which is particularly usual of him.  So tonight he brings home his "Friday" folder half full of A+'s and half full of non-passing grades.  He's grounded from playstation and all other screens for the weekend.  He's not happy, but, well, what are you going to do!  So I made him correct all papers C and below and redo and redo and redo until they were correct.  He's got to try!  One was completely careless and the other it was obvious he wasn't paying attention during that lesson, because after I explained he did just fine correcting his mistakes.  I keep trying to tell him that if you take the time to do it right the first time you won't have to do it a 2nd and 3rd and so on. 

I think I'll punish him for the homework issue the same way we have in the past.  Find worksheets online in those subjects and make him do extra school work.  He loves that one.  The grounded is for trading Pokemon cards on the bus, to which he owns none of in the first place.  Well, apparently at some point someone gave him a few and he was trading with neighbor boy tonight and took one and really upset him, which meant a meeting of the moms.  So now he's grounded since he's been warned.

We keep telling ourselves over and over and over again "this is good for him", "he will eventually get it" or "we're doing what's best for him".  All right already!!!!

Lisa

The horror of it all!!

Fevers, fever everywhere.....well at least 50% of our children.

First Chels came down with a fever on Sunday morning.  Combine with the cold she'd been fighting for almost 2 weeks I took her to urgent care to find out she had a sinus infection and bronchitis.  Can't be too careful with colds for a premie.  She's now on prescription cough meds as well as antibiotics.  Slowly, slowly getting better, but boy has she been a wee bit on the grumpy side.  Her two year old personality that everyone expects is coming out now and that's such new territory swith us for her.  She's been such a pleasant two year old 'til now.

Then Kae came down with a fever Monday evening.  I stayed with her Tuesday as she just laid around.  Then yesterday her fever went away and she returned to daycare today.  Then today it came back!!!  You know the feeling....oh crap what now?  Now she has a funky rash on her cheeks....yep it's the slap face look of Fifths Disease!  Thank God once you get that you don't normally get it again so that rules out the boys getting it as they had it last year.  I thought the rash on her cheeks looked a bit odd.  At first it looked like she'd been wiping her nose too much, but closer study revealed little bumps.  Then I pulled her sleaves up and yep.....there's the lace looking rash the boys had last year.  So nothing terribly harmful, she just feels a litt yucky.  It was kind of nice that she didn't feel like chitter chatter non stop, but she's in full return and talking 10 miles a minute again.  Nope, I wouldn't even give her a mile a minute since she talks so much and never rests her tongue.

Now for everything to go away.....Ahhhhh....how nice.

Lisa