We went to the park so I could “show off” Angelina and Madeleine’s park antics. They weren’t eager to slide like last time, so we had to push them down.
The sad part was Angelina fell off a step, which I didn’t think was bad. I don’t know if it was the fall or me trying to pick her nose but her nose suddenly started bleeding. Good thing I’d brought a towel so we used it to help stop the bleeding.
Thursday
Yesterday morning Jubilee woke up with a cough. A somewhat serious cough, but since she was acting normal I wasn’t too worried. I did my best to attack the situation.
I taught her how to gargle with warm salt water. How do you teach a velar trill? (Sorry, couldn’t resist the linguistic note.)
I gave her hot water with lemon and honey.
We prayed.
By the end of the day she was slowing down and at dinner I took her temperature and it was 101.7. Hmmm. So she got some Tylenol, as much Robitussin as she could handle (”It’s spicy!”), and went to bed.
At 2:30am she woke up saying she was coughing. When I went to her, she was burning up. 103.5! Yikes! I tried to give her Robutussin mixed with Advil but she took very little of it. Now she’s afraid of Robitussin and Advil. Thankfully she still likes Tylenol.
When we got back to her bed, she said, “God, heal me.”
“Do you want to pray?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she replied. “Dear God, Help me not to cough so others don’t get sick.”
Oh my beautiful girl, you are learning selflessness through suffering!
On a lighter note, an hour later she woke up asking me, “Is the Barbie stamp still in the house?”
Friday
This morning, she is bright eyed, cheerful, and hyperactive, aka normal. Fever’s gone. I call the doctor with the most crucial of all questions: “Is she contagious?” The answer was if the fever is gone, then she’s not contagious. Which is a good and bad answer because most fevers are gone in the morning and appear later in the day.
Jubilee tells me she wants to go to preschool in the afternoon. I decide to wait and see.
We have a normal morning together. At 12:15pm, Angel and Maddie are still asleep, so I realize that I have to scramble really fast if I’m going to feed them lunch if we’re going to make it to preschool on time. Ah!
I check Jubilee’s temperature and it’s 99.0, which is not a fever, but higher than what it was this morning. I ask her if she wants to go to preschool. “No,” she says, “because I will cough there.” (Secretly, I was actually relieved that she didn’t want to go because we would’ve definitely been late.)
You could tell Jubilee was worn down. She wasn’t listening to me and when I told her to lay down for 10 minutes, she willingly went and actually stayed in bed for almost 20 minutes.
She also began her room time without arguing. At some point she fell asleep. When I woke her up the fever had returned. It was only 100.0, but that meant it would be getting higher as the evening continued.
I asked her if she wanted to cancel the party and she said yes. I think she was too tired to cry. But she knew it wouldn’t be good for her.
Of course tonight she stayed up way past her bedtime because she had taken a nap. And since I gave her medicine again, her fever went away and was hyperactive again. I must confess, it’s so much easier when your child has a fever because they don’t want to do anything. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.
Jubilee was eating grapes this morning. Typical of human nature, Angelina and Madeleine wanted that which they cannot have, for grapes are a choking hazard. Angelina was trying to grab Jubilee’s bowl of grapes, so Jubilee began walking backwards holding the bowl up high. Angelina walked after her desperately trying to grab the bowl! “Look at what Angelina’s doing?!” Jubilee cried. I think it was about 5 steps; I was on the phone so I couldn’t pay close attention to the event. But wow, desire certainly brings about determination!
JAM girls and I were shopping at Safeway. At one point I stopped the stroller to look at the shelves. Angelina started crying. “I’m right here,” I said, thinking she was upset because she couldn’t see me. She kept crying, so I went over to show her my face. Much to my surprise, she was sitting on the ground! We tend to keep the seatbelt loose so they can lean forward better. Now that they’re older, I guess it’s not as good of an idea because they can really wiggle themselves out.
I had planned to go to Target between lunch and afternoon room time. The plan was to eat at the noon hour, go out at 1pm, then be home by 2pm for their nap.
The babies didn’t fall asleep immediately for their morning nap, so it was well past 12pm by the time I forced them to get up. Then they didn’t finish lunch until 1:30pm. My dreams of going to Target were fading away quickly.
So I decided to go out for a wagon ride to the park. This delighted Jubilee. However, it takes me forever to get Angel and Maddie dressed. (It didn’t help that I had to change Maddie’s diaper twice.)
I picked up Angelina and asked Jubilee to play with Maddie while I put Angelina in the wagon. I get to the garage…no wagon. It was in the backyard. No big deal–I put Angelina in the wagon and pull it back to the front driveway. As I arrive there, I hear Jubilee shouting, “No Maddie, no! Come back!” Maddie had escaped the house and was scooting down the driveway with Jubilee desperately trying to catch her. Mommy to the rescue!
Okay, we’re finally at the park. It’s 2:26pm!!! I’m already worn out. What happened to getting a nap by 2pm so we could go to the gym before dinner? And I haven’t even gotten to the crazy part of the adventure.
I decide to take Angel and Maddie out of the wagon so they can roam around the play structure! The ground is tan bark so I didn’t want them on the ground, but at the same time I had to make sure they didn’t fall off. This is not an easy task to pull off.
Both babies enjoyed me holding them as they went down the slide. (I wasn’t sitting with them, I was standing next to the slide.) They liked climbing up and down the steps. It’s not easy watching two non-walking babies and a toddler shouting, “Mommy, watch ME!”
The next thing I know, as I’m watching Angel, I look up and see Maddie at the top of the slide. I go over to her just in time as she slides down by herself! I pick up Maddie and she is giggling hysterically with static hair flying everywhere. Suddenly, I see Angel at the top of the slide and she’s ready to come downon her tummy! She’s now at the bottom of the slide too, giggling hysterically with static hair flying everywhere.
Apparently they like to go down slides the way they like to go down stairs.
Jubilee also got to slide down holding Angelina in front of her. We didn’t have a chance for her to do this with Maddie.
Later on, I’m guarding both babies again when I hear, “Mommy, help!” Jubilee’s stuck at the top of the other side of the play structure. I have to put Maddie in the wagon, pray Angelina’s stays still where she is, and rush over to rescue my oldest daughter. Thankfully, Maddie was happy to find her milk cup in the wagon and Angelina didn’t move.
By the time we got home, it was 2:43pm. We weren’t even out for half an hour and I was exhausted!
Maddie just threw up. I’m pretty sure it’s virus related because she threw up after I put her in the high chair for lunch, as opposed to during or after she had already eaten lunch. I’m so glad she already had her bib on! Aside from what was on her face, it caught everything! Whew!
I put her back in her crib. She’s only been out of her crib for about 40 minutes, but didn’t argue. She hasn’t fallen asleep yet, but she’s laying there contentedly.
As I wrote the last sentence, she started crying. I guess she’s done resting!
Addendum:
Hmmm, maybe she’s not sick? I got her out of bed and she wanted to eat. Maybe she found some parmesan goldfish crackers on the ground and ate them. I think those have made her vomit before. We’ll wait and see.
I awoke at 2:30am last night to the sound of Jubilee moaning. I figured it was either a nightmare or that she wanted her blanket again. So I got up and stumbled to her room and saw that she was sitting up in her bed whimpering and shaking. I still didn’t think it too unusual since she often sits up when she calls for us.
But then I spotted the vomit. Two puddles to be precise: one on her pillow and one in her lap.
I scooped her up in my arms and hurried to the bathroom where I sat her in front of the toilet. Then, with the light on, I realized her hair was full of vomit and it was all over her backside as well.
My Poor Jubilee!
[That’s enough play-by-play.. I’ll just give highlights for the rest of the time.]
We had to shower her, wash her hair twice, and blow dry her hair. We also had to change the sheets and then put the dirty sheet, pillow case, pajamas, and bathroom rug in the washing machine.
While Daphne was dressing Jubilee into clean pajamas, Jubilee whimpered, “I don’t ever want to do that again.”
Then they moved to the couch in the living room to check her temperature and Jubilee threw up again.
Once again we had to change her into clean pajamas and she sobbed, “I’m never going to get to sleep!”
All said and done, it was 3:45am by the time Jubilee was back in bed, and we finally fell asleep around 4:30.
That was by far the most difficult child illness we’ve had to deal with yet.
She slept almost the entire day in our bed. She enjoyed listening to her favorite playlist (a collection of songs ranging from Animaniacs to Switchfoot to Veggie Tales) while watching the computer’s screensaver pictures. She was most like her perky self when she got to eat popsicles.
Getting ready for bed tonight, she was pretty much back to her old self: singing, dancing, procrastinating bedtime.
Madeleine scooted toward me so I picked her up. Her bottom was soaked. Oh no, her diaper leaked! I took her to the changing table to unzip her pajamas only to find her diaper was not attached on one leg and the diaper had fallen to foot of the opposite leg! Even worse, she had done more than pee. Eeewwwww, those pajamas went into the washer immediately!
Angel just stood up (without holding onto anything), took 3 steps, then fell to the ground.
She did it twice within a few minutes of each other!
Dear Jubilee,
Is it really that difficult for you to put your blanket on yourself? Especially in the middle of the night? Do you really need to moan “Blanket! Blanket!” and gradually increase your volume until I finally stumble into the room to help you? If this is all still necessary, then I will keep doing it.
Love,
Mommy