Fevers, Hello Kitty, Valentines, fake sledding, a Rapunzel tower, and the weather.

So I'm sitting down to remove the 1,560 pictures from my camera card (not a typo or an exaggeration!) and wondering which of them to blog about first. All? None? None is sounding good, but I have some doozies in there. Unfortunately none from last night.

Let me tell you about last night.

Well first let me tell you about last week.

Troy got sick. His doctor suspected strep but did not test him since he also had an ear infection and put him on antibiotics. Then he slept for an entire day, which sounds good except it went like this: Troy cries inconsolably until I hold him and rock him to sleep (about 20 minutes). He sleeps for about 20 minutes. Wakes up, cries inconsolably. Repeat 400 times. Here he is taking his second nap of the day (and it's 9:30 a.m.!)

 Anyway, so he was sick for a few days, with a fever up to 103, and that was all not very fun, but the real fun began when he passed it along to Brooklyn. She pretty much had an identical episode, including the full day of sleeping but wanting to be held, and then her fever went away. The rest of that day and all of the next (yesterday), she seemed totally back to normal. She went to bed as usual, but then woke up around 9:00 crying for water and totally burning up. I measured her temp at 104 and called her doctor, who sent her to the ER. We stayed until 1:30 while they ran a whole list of tests, including strep, flu, and a chest x-ray. Brooklyn dozed for a little bit, but when the Motrin & Tylenol brought her fever down, she felt good as new and wanted me to chat with her and count her stickers and play "I Spy" with the utmost enthusiasm. I was truthfully having a hard time holding my eyes open, and I know I fell asleep sitting up more than once as we waited. The diagnosis finally came back as pneumonia, and she had to have an antibiotic injection. I've had this one before, and believe me I'll never forget it. So while I could fully sympathize, I also knew what she was really in for! The nurse told me it would be in her bum, and there were two of them ready with two injections - they split it up because as they said, it's a lot for a little bum to take! However, when they saw her bum (or lack thereof), they decided to try her thighs instead. As soon as they quickly and simultaneously "poked" her, and she was screaming in pain, they grabbed for their band-aids, and she shrieked, "NO! I WANT THE HELLO KITTY BAND-AID!!!" which she had found in my purse earlier. Well, okay then. We quickly swapped out one of the band-aids. It was funny that at that moment she was so concerned. I kinda do wish I had pictures.

Well, Brooklyn is doing much better today, and I had a lovely relaxing day at home with just her.

And speaking of days spent at home, let's talk about the weather. (No really.)

The day before Valentine's Day, a snowstorm blew in that closed school for the day. And it was perfect. It was just enough snow to play outside and fake-sled (it's not REAL sledding if the hill is less than 20 ft. high. Oh and if you can't find your regular sled) but not so much that we were miserable, and it didn't overstay its February welcome. It was gone within 24 hours. The day at home meant we could catch up on our Valentine stuff, which I don't really make time for otherwise, I'm afraid. We made Valentines (Brooklyn made her own to give to her friends at our Valentine brunch/playdate the next day) and a paper heart garland and Kate's Valentine box for her class (which I'd of course put off until the day before).

 

 THEN, three days ago, we had this gorgeous 75-degree day in which we all played outside WITHOUT COATS (people here stare at me because I'm the only one who goes out in a gigantic coat. I have no idea why. Because it's 15 DEGREES OUTSIDE, OF COURSE I HAVE A GIGANTIC COAT!) all day until dinnertime. The next day, here is what we saw out the window.

HUH????

 And of course, by afternoon, it was 55 degrees, the snow had melted, the sky was brilliant blue and the sun was shining, and green grass was showing through the dead winter ground.

This place is so weird.

And I have more to say about this place, but before I begin yet another totally random and not-so-smooth segue, I'll, um, just save that for next time.