Billy got back home from Greece Tuesday night. After several flight delays, some due to the bad weather here in Dallas, his plane finally made it in around 10:00 p.m. They were stuck on the plane another half-hour while they waited for an available gate to open up. I think all the delayed flights arrived fairly closely and slowed things down a lot. After waiting around to get everything taken care of, we headed home after midnight and arrived home at 1:00 a.m. The boys were exhausted and fell right into bed when we got home.
I was concerned about Caleb having a setback in his recovery since I was having to get him out in the wet weather, but the rain had stopped on the way to the airport and didn't start back up until well after we had left. Inside the airport was really cold, and he and Jacob were in their pajamas. Caleb huddled next to me to stay warm. Every time I felt his head, he felt feverish. I took his temperature when we got home and it was 101.
Jacob slept in until 11:15 a.m.; I woke Caleb up at 11:45. (He had a coughing spell around 7:00 a.m., but after drinking a little water, he went back to sleep.) When I felt his head, it felt cool. He was thrilled when I took his temperature and it read 98.6! I checked it periodically throughout the day and the highest it ever got was 99.4, not really considered a fever. He was more playful than he had been in several days, and his appetite seemed to pick up a little.
Today I'll be taking him to the eye doctor. When his pediatrician checked his vision at his last well-check, he recommended taking him in because his vision was 20/70. I called in early May to get an appointment, and late June was the earliest I could get him in! I'm glad I didn't have to reschedule because that would probably put him getting in there in late July or early August. We'll find out today if he'll need glasses. He's kind of excited about it. Thankfully, kids don't make fun of each other about glasses anymore. At least not like they used to. Plus, he has some friends at church who wear glasses, so it's not like it'll be traumatic. Not like it was for me in second grade... I remember crying because I had to get glasses and I thought I would be ugly... Now I wear glasses all the time, and I like them.
Yes, things are back to normal. I like normal!
Update: Speaking of normal, Caleb's vision is fine and he doesn't need glasses. The doctor said he's bordering on nearsightedness and should be checked again in 6 months, but for now everything's okay. Caleb liked his trip there, with the exception of having his eyes dilated.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
One More Day
Caleb is still running fever today! Day six! All morning, it was hovering around the 101 mark, then after lunch it went up to 102. When I checked at 2:30, it was 103.4, so I had him take a dose of Tylenol. It's down to 101 now.
I thought with his new antibiotic, he might start to pull out of the fever. Of course, he couldn't hold down his dose last night, so that may have something to do with it. Thankfully he kept his morning dose down. I think that usually happens when he takes antibiotics - the first dose rarely stays down, but subsequent ones do. At least I hope that's the case with this one.
He's also been taking Children's Mucinex in the mini-melt form. He actually likes that. I hope it's working. It's time for another dose of that one right now.
I'm supposed to call the doctor tomorrow and give him an update. I hope I'll be able to tell him Caleb is free of fever, but the way things look right now, I'm not sure. At least he had a better night last night. He still coughed a lot, but not to the extent of the night before. Shortly after midnight, I fixed him a sport bottle full of water to keep on the floor beside him. (He slept on the floor for several reasons, but mostly because I can't get to him that well when he's sleeping on the top bunk.) Maybe tonight will be even better. We all need some good sleep.
I thought with his new antibiotic, he might start to pull out of the fever. Of course, he couldn't hold down his dose last night, so that may have something to do with it. Thankfully he kept his morning dose down. I think that usually happens when he takes antibiotics - the first dose rarely stays down, but subsequent ones do. At least I hope that's the case with this one.
He's also been taking Children's Mucinex in the mini-melt form. He actually likes that. I hope it's working. It's time for another dose of that one right now.
I'm supposed to call the doctor tomorrow and give him an update. I hope I'll be able to tell him Caleb is free of fever, but the way things look right now, I'm not sure. At least he had a better night last night. He still coughed a lot, but not to the extent of the night before. Shortly after midnight, I fixed him a sport bottle full of water to keep on the floor beside him. (He slept on the floor for several reasons, but mostly because I can't get to him that well when he's sleeping on the top bunk.) Maybe tonight will be even better. We all need some good sleep.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Monday Memories
This time last year I was blogging about some of my favorite games. What are some of yours?
Day 5 of Fever
Caleb is still running fever today. It was close to 101 when we got up this morning. He woke up shortly before 7:00 from a bad dream, but he can't remember what it was about. He coughed all night, too, keeping up both up until after 2:30. Jacob had a good night's sleep, even though he woke up early.
I think it's going to be a long day. At least my house is clean and all I have to really do today is wash one load of clothes and unpack the things I didn't get to yesterday (almost everything).
I've got 25 minutes before I can start calling the doctor's office to get an appointment, so I'll get the boys ready to go in hopes that we'll get in early.
I'll update more when I find something out. In the meantime, if you think about it, please pray that he'll be better soon.
Update: Caleb has walking pneumonia. We've had to switch antibiotics as well as cough remedies. He's now taking Biaxin and Children's Mucinex. We're homebound until Wednesday, with the exception of picking Billy up from the airport tomorrow night.
Day 5 of Fever
Caleb is still running fever today. It was close to 101 when we got up this morning. He woke up shortly before 7:00 from a bad dream, but he can't remember what it was about. He coughed all night, too, keeping up both up until after 2:30. Jacob had a good night's sleep, even though he woke up early.
I think it's going to be a long day. At least my house is clean and all I have to really do today is wash one load of clothes and unpack the things I didn't get to yesterday (almost everything).
I've got 25 minutes before I can start calling the doctor's office to get an appointment, so I'll get the boys ready to go in hopes that we'll get in early.
I'll update more when I find something out. In the meantime, if you think about it, please pray that he'll be better soon.
Update: Caleb has walking pneumonia. We've had to switch antibiotics as well as cough remedies. He's now taking Biaxin and Children's Mucinex. We're homebound until Wednesday, with the exception of picking Billy up from the airport tomorrow night.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Back to Reality
We're back home after 11 days of visiting with family. It was great seeing everyone and getting lots of visiting time in, but it's good to be back home.
I think the cat missed us. She meowed constantly for about 15 minutes after we got back, probably scolding me for leaving her for so long. Also, she hasn't left our presence since we've been back (a little more than 2 hours now). A little while ago I talked to my friend who stopped by frequently to check on the cat and the plants. She said she only saw the cat once when she arrived, and that was Friday. She called to her, but the cat never came to her, and when she walked back through the living room on her way out, the cat had disappeared to the back of the house. Not surprising for my old, antisocial cat. There are precious few people she will tolerate, and even fewer that she actually likes.
It seems like every time we visit, there's drama of some sort at one point. Usually it's minor, but this time we had two biggies, both involving Caleb.
First, we went to my cousin Yvonne's house to visit and to let all the boys play together. (She has two boys between Caleb's and Jacob's ages.) They were having fun playing in the pool while we were visiting and Rusty was grilling burgers. After we ate, the boys went back to playing in the pool. Grayson and Phillip swim like fish; my two only flail in shallow water because I keep forgetting to enroll them in swimming lessons. (I don't ever think about it because they only get in a pool once or twice a year.) I had reminded the boys several times to stay on the shallow end of the pool, to not go past the rope because the water was too deep for them. Jacob mostly sat on the side of the pool and kicked his feet; he got into a floaty-boat a few times, but other than that, he stayed in waist-deep water on the steps. Caleb is tall enough to walk around the shallow end (actually Jacob is, too), so he had fun playing in the water. He ventured close to the rope and started playing around. I think he must have lost his footing on the slope to the deep end. He went under and start flailing around, trying to regain his footing. Mama saw him struggling and yelled for someone to get him. Daddy, Melissa, Rusty, and Yvonne all jumped into the pool; I broke my conversation with Josh and stood stupidly at the side of the pool, my heart in my throat. I considered jumping in, too, but I wouldn't have done any good at that point. Daddy got to Caleb first and brought him spitting and sputtering to the edge. I wrapped him in his towel and hugged him and reassured him that he was okay. He didn't want to get back in the pool, so we gathered up all the leftover burgers and fixings and went inside to continue our visiting and the boys' playing. We walked out to feed the horses, then went back inside to have some cake and ice cream. (Grayson's 7th birthday was the next day.)
At one point during all the excitement at the pool, Jacob burst into tears and no one could understand what he was saying. Finally he stopped crying long enough to say, "Pops lost his glasses in the pool!" Jacob had seen him dive in fully clothed - shoes, cell phone, and all. I don't know if he had taken his glasses off or not, but Jacob was worried that they were gone forever because he wasn't wearing them. He calmed down after we showed him they were on the table. A few days later he told me he didn't have fun in the pool because people jumped in with their clothes on. I'm not sure he caught on to what happened to Caleb, it all happened so fast.
Now for the second dramatic event. Caleb started running fever Thursday afternoon. He had been laying around on the couch all day and we thought it was because he was exhausted from all we had been doing every day. He fell asleep on the couch after eating a little bit of supper. When we checked his temperature before bedtime, it was over 100. I don't remember what it was, but I gave him a dose of ibuprofen to keep it down during the night.
He woke up Friday morning feeling hot again, so I checked around and found an urgent care clinic in our insurance network. I gave him a dose of Tylenol before we left, and by the time we got to see the nurse, his temperature was a measly 99-point-something. The doctor probably thought I was overreacting about the fever because he commented about it being "just low-grade". After examining Caleb, the doctor determined he had some sort of bacterial infection: "cobblestone" blisters on his red, irritated throat; fluid in his ears (not from the swimming incident); and a crusty nose. He wrote a prescription for Augmentin and gave us some samples of Aldex D (antihistamine and decongestant).
Caleb hates Augmentin and remembers the hard time he had taking the "white medicine" a while back, so every time he's had it since, I've had to camouflage it with a little food coloring. When the pharmacist asked if we wanted to add a flavor to it, Caleb said he did and chose bubble gum. As soon as we got back to the house, I poured his first dose. He took one tiny sip and gagged (not uncommon) and refused to take any more. I called the pharmacy, explained the situation, and asked if I could bring it back and get a second bottle with no flavor added. They did, and now I'm coloring his doses yellow. I goofed this morning, though, and left the bottle of "white medicine" on the counter beside his doctored dose. I hurriedly gave some explanation, which I think he bought. We'll see. I just have to remember to keep the bottle hidden out of his sight in the refrigerator. (And I have to keep him from reading my blog over my shoulder, which he does from time to time.)
Fast forward to today. It's the fourth day he's been running fever! And I'm not talking about a low-grade 99 degrees, either. Friday evening, it was just over 103; early Saturday afternoon it was hovering around 102; this morning it was a little over 100, but by the time we got home at 3:30 this afternoon, it was up to 101.7. I checked again at 5:30 and it was 102.9! I'm pretty sure I'll be taking him in to see his pediatrician tomorrow, especially if he's still running fever. Unfortunately Caleb will miss out on music camp tomorrow and possibly Tuesday. I'll have to ask the director if it would be too late for him to join in on Wednesday. The big production of "From Acorns to Oaks" is next Sunday.
I don't want to end on a depressing note, so I've saved the highlights for last:
* One day we went to Sci-Port with Billy's mom. Although there were tons of groups of kids there, we had fun. We went to Bass Pro Shop for lunch (Sonic), then went back to Sci-Port. There were very few kids there in the afternoon and it was much quieter and easier to get to the exhibits. We even caught a last-minute alcohol rocket demonstration.
* Billy's mom and I had a girls' day out Saturday and went shopping. I found a pair of shell earrings at Coldwater Creek that were marked $10.99 - down from $45 - that perfectly match a watch band I made! I thought the earrings had been marked down because they were chipped, but it was actually a piece of glue that I was able to gently scrape off. Now I just need to buy some more shell beads and make a matching necklace. I also bought a second pair of shell earrings (mostly beige with iridescent pink highlights) to wear with my khakis.
* I finally got to eat at Macaroni Grill. The food was excellent - and there were so many delicious entrees on the menu! I can't wait to go back and try something else.
* I spent some time outside blowing bubbles for the boys to pop. I love to blow bubbles. I find it very relaxing, and I like to see how big I can make them. I could do that for hours.
* The boys got to play a lot with their cousin Seth for three days last week. On Monday, Mama and I took them to Kiroli Park, but we got rained out not long after we arrived. On Tuesday, we went to play mini golf, but it was too hot outside. We only lasted 5 holes before escaping to the clubhouse to cool down with some ice cream. On Wednesday, we had planned to go to the zoo, but since it had been so hot, the boys decided they wanted to play indoors at The Jungle Gym. They had a blast there and spent two hours running, jumping, climbing, and sliding. They were exhausted by the time they got into bed every night.
* I got to play Nerts 3 times - and I won every time, too!
* I did 2 Pampered Chef shows in West Monroe.
* Mama and I went garage saling Saturday morning. Along the way, we picked up Melissa and Lindsay, then stopped in for some Southern Maid donuts. Mmmm... (Krispy Kreme's got nothing on Southern Maid!) I bought two books and a frisbee for the boys and a bread basket with a red-and-white-checkered napkin. Melissa bought a set of skewers; Lindsay found a cute, coloful oil dipping set. Mama had the steal of the day: a beautiful opal pendant for only $1!
* I got to spend some time with my grandmother. Daddy took Memaw, Melissa, Lindsay, Jacob, and me out for dinner at Cracker Barrel Friday night. (Mama stayed at the house and tended to Caleb since he was sick.)
* I got to spend some time with my parents and my sisters.
Once I download the 100+ pictures I took, I'll share a few.
I think the cat missed us. She meowed constantly for about 15 minutes after we got back, probably scolding me for leaving her for so long. Also, she hasn't left our presence since we've been back (a little more than 2 hours now). A little while ago I talked to my friend who stopped by frequently to check on the cat and the plants. She said she only saw the cat once when she arrived, and that was Friday. She called to her, but the cat never came to her, and when she walked back through the living room on her way out, the cat had disappeared to the back of the house. Not surprising for my old, antisocial cat. There are precious few people she will tolerate, and even fewer that she actually likes.
It seems like every time we visit, there's drama of some sort at one point. Usually it's minor, but this time we had two biggies, both involving Caleb.
First, we went to my cousin Yvonne's house to visit and to let all the boys play together. (She has two boys between Caleb's and Jacob's ages.) They were having fun playing in the pool while we were visiting and Rusty was grilling burgers. After we ate, the boys went back to playing in the pool. Grayson and Phillip swim like fish; my two only flail in shallow water because I keep forgetting to enroll them in swimming lessons. (I don't ever think about it because they only get in a pool once or twice a year.) I had reminded the boys several times to stay on the shallow end of the pool, to not go past the rope because the water was too deep for them. Jacob mostly sat on the side of the pool and kicked his feet; he got into a floaty-boat a few times, but other than that, he stayed in waist-deep water on the steps. Caleb is tall enough to walk around the shallow end (actually Jacob is, too), so he had fun playing in the water. He ventured close to the rope and started playing around. I think he must have lost his footing on the slope to the deep end. He went under and start flailing around, trying to regain his footing. Mama saw him struggling and yelled for someone to get him. Daddy, Melissa, Rusty, and Yvonne all jumped into the pool; I broke my conversation with Josh and stood stupidly at the side of the pool, my heart in my throat. I considered jumping in, too, but I wouldn't have done any good at that point. Daddy got to Caleb first and brought him spitting and sputtering to the edge. I wrapped him in his towel and hugged him and reassured him that he was okay. He didn't want to get back in the pool, so we gathered up all the leftover burgers and fixings and went inside to continue our visiting and the boys' playing. We walked out to feed the horses, then went back inside to have some cake and ice cream. (Grayson's 7th birthday was the next day.)
At one point during all the excitement at the pool, Jacob burst into tears and no one could understand what he was saying. Finally he stopped crying long enough to say, "Pops lost his glasses in the pool!" Jacob had seen him dive in fully clothed - shoes, cell phone, and all. I don't know if he had taken his glasses off or not, but Jacob was worried that they were gone forever because he wasn't wearing them. He calmed down after we showed him they were on the table. A few days later he told me he didn't have fun in the pool because people jumped in with their clothes on. I'm not sure he caught on to what happened to Caleb, it all happened so fast.
Now for the second dramatic event. Caleb started running fever Thursday afternoon. He had been laying around on the couch all day and we thought it was because he was exhausted from all we had been doing every day. He fell asleep on the couch after eating a little bit of supper. When we checked his temperature before bedtime, it was over 100. I don't remember what it was, but I gave him a dose of ibuprofen to keep it down during the night.
He woke up Friday morning feeling hot again, so I checked around and found an urgent care clinic in our insurance network. I gave him a dose of Tylenol before we left, and by the time we got to see the nurse, his temperature was a measly 99-point-something. The doctor probably thought I was overreacting about the fever because he commented about it being "just low-grade". After examining Caleb, the doctor determined he had some sort of bacterial infection: "cobblestone" blisters on his red, irritated throat; fluid in his ears (not from the swimming incident); and a crusty nose. He wrote a prescription for Augmentin and gave us some samples of Aldex D (antihistamine and decongestant).
Caleb hates Augmentin and remembers the hard time he had taking the "white medicine" a while back, so every time he's had it since, I've had to camouflage it with a little food coloring. When the pharmacist asked if we wanted to add a flavor to it, Caleb said he did and chose bubble gum. As soon as we got back to the house, I poured his first dose. He took one tiny sip and gagged (not uncommon) and refused to take any more. I called the pharmacy, explained the situation, and asked if I could bring it back and get a second bottle with no flavor added. They did, and now I'm coloring his doses yellow. I goofed this morning, though, and left the bottle of "white medicine" on the counter beside his doctored dose. I hurriedly gave some explanation, which I think he bought. We'll see. I just have to remember to keep the bottle hidden out of his sight in the refrigerator. (And I have to keep him from reading my blog over my shoulder, which he does from time to time.)
Fast forward to today. It's the fourth day he's been running fever! And I'm not talking about a low-grade 99 degrees, either. Friday evening, it was just over 103; early Saturday afternoon it was hovering around 102; this morning it was a little over 100, but by the time we got home at 3:30 this afternoon, it was up to 101.7. I checked again at 5:30 and it was 102.9! I'm pretty sure I'll be taking him in to see his pediatrician tomorrow, especially if he's still running fever. Unfortunately Caleb will miss out on music camp tomorrow and possibly Tuesday. I'll have to ask the director if it would be too late for him to join in on Wednesday. The big production of "From Acorns to Oaks" is next Sunday.
I don't want to end on a depressing note, so I've saved the highlights for last:
* One day we went to Sci-Port with Billy's mom. Although there were tons of groups of kids there, we had fun. We went to Bass Pro Shop for lunch (Sonic), then went back to Sci-Port. There were very few kids there in the afternoon and it was much quieter and easier to get to the exhibits. We even caught a last-minute alcohol rocket demonstration.
* Billy's mom and I had a girls' day out Saturday and went shopping. I found a pair of shell earrings at Coldwater Creek that were marked $10.99 - down from $45 - that perfectly match a watch band I made! I thought the earrings had been marked down because they were chipped, but it was actually a piece of glue that I was able to gently scrape off. Now I just need to buy some more shell beads and make a matching necklace. I also bought a second pair of shell earrings (mostly beige with iridescent pink highlights) to wear with my khakis.
* I finally got to eat at Macaroni Grill. The food was excellent - and there were so many delicious entrees on the menu! I can't wait to go back and try something else.
* I spent some time outside blowing bubbles for the boys to pop. I love to blow bubbles. I find it very relaxing, and I like to see how big I can make them. I could do that for hours.
* The boys got to play a lot with their cousin Seth for three days last week. On Monday, Mama and I took them to Kiroli Park, but we got rained out not long after we arrived. On Tuesday, we went to play mini golf, but it was too hot outside. We only lasted 5 holes before escaping to the clubhouse to cool down with some ice cream. On Wednesday, we had planned to go to the zoo, but since it had been so hot, the boys decided they wanted to play indoors at The Jungle Gym. They had a blast there and spent two hours running, jumping, climbing, and sliding. They were exhausted by the time they got into bed every night.
* I got to play Nerts 3 times - and I won every time, too!
* I did 2 Pampered Chef shows in West Monroe.
* Mama and I went garage saling Saturday morning. Along the way, we picked up Melissa and Lindsay, then stopped in for some Southern Maid donuts. Mmmm... (Krispy Kreme's got nothing on Southern Maid!) I bought two books and a frisbee for the boys and a bread basket with a red-and-white-checkered napkin. Melissa bought a set of skewers; Lindsay found a cute, coloful oil dipping set. Mama had the steal of the day: a beautiful opal pendant for only $1!
* I got to spend some time with my grandmother. Daddy took Memaw, Melissa, Lindsay, Jacob, and me out for dinner at Cracker Barrel Friday night. (Mama stayed at the house and tended to Caleb since he was sick.)
* I got to spend some time with my parents and my sisters.
Once I download the 100+ pictures I took, I'll share a few.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Not a Spider?
Billy suggested that our intruder may be a lizard of some sort, which, for some strange reason, seems worse to me than a spider.
After thinking about it, he may be right. The trail it leaves behind isn't sticky and disintegrates when I touched it, like maybe it had been slimy (Ugh!) and dried out.
If it is a lizard, I may need to fire my cat. She's obviously not doing her job! It may be because she's old (nearly 15) and lazy, but I still see her run and jump and play from time to time. I think she's actually scared of it. She's no cat; she's a chicken!
After thinking about it, he may be right. The trail it leaves behind isn't sticky and disintegrates when I touched it, like maybe it had been slimy (Ugh!) and dried out.
If it is a lizard, I may need to fire my cat. She's obviously not doing her job! It may be because she's old (nearly 15) and lazy, but I still see her run and jump and play from time to time. I think she's actually scared of it. She's no cat; she's a chicken!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Tinsel Town
I've got some sort of 8-legged creature that runs rampant in the boys' playroom every night. For about 2 weeks now, every morning when I walk in there, I see a rather large silk trail running randomly across the carpet. I've never seen that before, and I'm scared to see how big the spider is that's doing it!I thought it would stop after Billy sprayed for bugs a few days ago, but it's been there every morning regardless.
I don't think the boys have noticed it. At least they haven't said anything to me about it. I considered mentioning it to them so they would get busy and get their toys picked up, but I thought that would probably have the opposite effect. They would refuse to even set toe in the room. So I've kept it to myself.
Last night after the boys went to bed, I picked up the few stray toys that hadn't made it to their proper places. Then I got out my big can of bug spray and went crazy spraying all over the carpet and rug where I had seen the spider's trail.
I haven't been in there yet this morning. I've been kind of scared of what I might find: either a dead tarantula or another silk trail. Maybe I've seen too many scary movies in my life (I'm not a fan of them by any means!), but I'm having fears of a horrendous spider hunting me down in the middle of the night, seeking revenge for trying to poison it.
I guess I better put on my brave face and peek around the corner. I've glanced that direction from the living room, but all appears well from that vantage point. But that's also not the main range of my uninvited guest.
Note: That is not my uninvited guest in the picture! It's one from the bug building at the zoo.
Update: I ventured in
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