Sickness, Halloween, More Sickness, Trip to the ER, Walking & Sick again

I think the title fairly covered all points...but let me bring you all up to speed.

So the Tuesday before Halloween, Michael started to feel poorly, and by Wednesday he was miserable. Cold like symptoms, times ten, fever, just miserable. Took Thursday off of work, went back to work on Friday, feeling better. Then Friday evening WHAM...not only did he feel bad again, he felt worse & the fever was back.

Which lead us to a Daddy-less Halloween. While he was laid up in bed, I got the girls ready (Riley's first Halloween!) and began my Halloween runaround, err, umm, their trick or treating. Leaving the house 30 minutes later then planned, headed across town to Meghan's....knock on the door, nobody home (thanks Megan). Head to "Grammy's" for "Boompa's" birthday. Trick or treat at a few places there, have cake & ice cream, leaving at 6:45 back towards our house to pick up my mom. Okay, have my mom, who is standing in for Michael, and we head to our regular area of trick or treating. About half a block down Madison says "Mom, I have to go to the bathroom". Of course she has to go to the bathroom, because that's what 5 year olds do when they are dressed in a costume with long flowy sleaves, even though they went before we left the house. Okay, that's alright...."aunt" Lori lives somewhere on this street. Bathroom break taken we continue on. Just as Madison begins complaining that it would be "wayyyy more fun if we were with friends" who should we run into, but one of her good friends Naomi & family! Yay! So we hit a street with them before going in different directions. Their direction was home, which really was a good direction. Ours was back down Nebraska st, to visit with a friend. That's okay though, they had a chair, so I got to sit down.

While out trick or treating, in the whole hour and a half we were out, I got calls from 3 different family members asking when we were going to stop by. Finish our official trick or treating at 8:20 & head out to Grandpa & Granma Roxann's house. From there we head back across town towards our hood...but ha! if you think we are heading home on Halloween at 9:40 at night with a whiney 5 year old & an asleep baby, you are WRONG. Nope we're heading over to Carol's...which really ends up being her neighbors house that they are partying at (which I want to add in, had some awesome decorations inside!). So it is finally 10pm and we are officially headed home.

Poor Madison didn't even get a chance to zone out on candy when we got home, she asleep by the time we pulled into the driveway.

So on with the sickness....Sunday night (Nov. 1) about 30 minutes before bedtime Madison says she doens't feel so good, thinking it was too much Halloween candy I told her she'd be fine. Putting her in bed I realize she does feel a little warm. Break out our handy thermometer and she has a temp of 100.3, officially .3 degrees above what her school tells you to keep kids home from. The next morning I take it again, it's hovering at 99.9. Deciding not to be one of those moms that all the other moms hate for sending her child to school sick, especially in this day of H1N1 I keep her home. Someday when she is a teenager and is begging NOT to go to school, I will appreciate this, but that morning she cried, yes, cried about not wanting to stay home, begging for me to let her go to school. I kept her home Monday & Tuesday to be on the safe side.

So Wednesday, all is clear, Michael is back at work, Madison is at school, I had breakfast out with a girlfriend & Riley was great. We're all good right? Um....no. After breakfast Riley choose to snooze in her carseat on the way home. She was still sleeping when we got home so I just left her in her car seat, as we would be leaving within the hour to pick Maddy up anyway. She zzzz'd away the entire time at home. While at the school, she was pretty darn mellow and I realized she was feeling pretty warm. Got home & her temp was 104. Stripped her down & temp after an hour was 103. Then it went up to 103.6. Waited 2 hours for a call back from the doctors office (with one nearly irrate call in between from me) for them to call me & tell me to take her to the ER, it sounded as if it was H1N1.

Get to the ER & to their credit, they had us in the back within 10 minuts. They took her temp & it was 105.2. OMG! I felt like the most horrible mommy in the world. They put an ice pack on her back & ended up giving her a double dose of Tylanol & Motrin. Nearly 3 hours later we walked out, after 2 failed attempts of trying to catch her urine in a bag attatched to her girly regions, and her temp dropping down to 99.9 with the diagnosis of an upper respratory viral infection. The doc on the sly said it was probably H1N1, but they don't test for it there.

So, mommy has been dealing with a very unhappy baby. Things were getting better, Tessa even watched her on Friday while Michael & I took Maddy to the movies on Friday. Saturday we brought her out while we went to dinner with Mary & Jonathan. She had been cruising around, laughing some, playing. Oh, AND walking! Yes, she had taken a single step here & there, but Saturday she took 4 steps to me!! Yes, we all saw it, so it wasn't dellarious tired mommy imagining Riley was walking, but my mom & Michael all saw it! Woohoo! Beginning to walk at 10 months 1 week!

Well, that now brings us to Sunday. Now Riley is acting worse then the day before & so is Daddy. He has a swollen knee and says he feels like he is sick all over again. So he is once again laid up on the couch, while I am holding on to a clingy unhappy baby who is rubbing her snot all over my sweatshirt.

On the brightside.......hmmm......I know there's a brightside somewhere here. Give me a minute...I'll find it.

OMG - I love these Aprons

So I'm a slacker...or some of you may be a little nicer & say I'm a procrastinator...same deal. Anyhow, I've been saying forever how I'm going to make myself an apron. A cute one. So that when I'm making my kitchen look like a tornado just ripped through it while I cook (yes, I do cook people) I can keep myself clean & look a little cute at the same time. Well, as my sewing machine is still sitting in it's box (taped up how it came from the store) I'm doubting that I'm going to make the apron any time soon.

And then it fell into my lap...well, actually onto my computer monitor. Thank you to Mommy Loves Giveaways I have now come across Flirty Aprons. I'm going to hold out until the contest ends on the 4th to win one...but if I don't, then I'm buying one that same day...so while I bake my pumpkin pie & other Thanksgiving foods, I can do so in style....with the chocolate brown apron (that's the one I really want, though they have tons of other cute ones).

So check out Mommy Loves Giveaways and maybe you can beat me out and win one of your own.

Autumn Fun

We just capped off a great, busy, wonderful Fall weekend.

Friday the kids went over to "Grammy's" while Michael & I headed over to Fright Fest at Marine World. Mary joined us & we all got to ride the grown rides aka, Roar, Medusa & Tony Hawk. I only screamed 3 times by roaming zombies...so I think I did pretty good lol!

Saturday, joined by Carol & Sue we headed up to one of our favorite fall traditions, Apple Hill. The place was PACKED! I've never seen the area so busy. Even though it was so busy, we still had an enjoyable day. Maddy got to ride the ponies at High Hill Ranch and finally got to do the train at El Dorado Orchards (which is where we had some killer Tritip Sandwiches).


We hit Boa Vista in between those two, and then finished up at Rainbow Orchard to get our Apple Cider Donuts. Finally we were really able to let Riley out of her stroller & roam in their grass, all the other places were just too busy.




We didn't make it to one of our other favorites...Ables Acres....it was CRAZY there, it'll just have to be one of our first stops next year.

From Saturday we rolled into Sunday....an hour late! Our alarm clock in our room is programmed to automatically change for the time change each season. Unfortunately it was manufactured before the time switch changed to later in the year. So while we thought we were waking up at 7:15 to leave the house at 9, it was actually 8:15. Amazingly....we got out of the house on time!

Now, as to where we were going....we were going to meet Joleen & family at her sisters to go to the San Francisco Zoo. The were doing a cute thing called Boooo @ the Zoo, where the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes and there were trick or treat stations around the zoo. We had a blast.




At the end of the day and weekend...I'm am done....mentally & physically...I'm too old to have an action packed weekend like this! Lol...

As soon as I get the pictures off the camera I'll make sure to post some!

Day 1

So I finally got my butt in gear & went back to Curves. I'm beat, but I'm glad I took the step. I weigh more now then I ever have. I didn't gain any weight while pregnant with Riley and I need to at least get down to that weight....at the very least. So wish me best!

Gosh, I'm old

So every once in a while, you realize that you are in fact, old...or at least older then you used to be. I had one of those eye opening moments the other day at the school while working.

So Tuesday I get there and a little boy, 2nd grade I think, asks me to open his wide mouthed thermos. I'm twisting & twisting with all my might and it's not budging. I ask the boy "Who do I look like, He-Man?"

The boy looks up at me, you know that quizzical up through your eyebrows look and says "WHO?"

Me, not quite grasping yet that the kid isn't deaf, but instead has absolutely no idea what I'm talking about says "He-Man, ya know?"

Then a chorus of little voices all around the boy says "Who's He-Man"

Then I had to admit I was old...I had no choice, so my answer goes "Oh He-Man, I guess he's a little behind your time...he was a cartoon when I was your age, he was kind of like a super hero, like Spiderman & Ironman".

Then it all made sense to them, yep the Noon supervisor lady was old, but at least she knew something about superheros.

Oh, by the way....I'm just old, not a total weakling, it took passing that thermos around to 4 different people before it finally got open.

Camping Part II

Okay, so now I'm going to finish what I started haha, which will be pretty amazing for me.

So Thursday night led into Friday. We had a nice day of mostly around camp, a lot of lounging, which was great for me. Madison and the other kids kept busy by a lot of nature walks around the camp ground. Finding pine cones, chasing squirrels, spotting chipmunks and any other "wild life". Madison even got so worn out from the fresh mountain air that she took a nap! As of course, Michael did too!



Beth's sister & her boyfriend Mike joined us early Friday afternoon

Tricia & the boys joined us later Friday afternoon. A few hours after that, Tim joined Tricia with his mom & dad.

The kids had a blast roasting hot dogs over the fire & making smores.

Saturday
Saturday we started out the day with a humongous breakfast. Pancakes, potatoes, bacon & smoked sausage, scrambled eggs & mini bagels. We used that to get us ready for our walk to the USDF's Stream Chamber Profile. It was a pretty walk. We took in a lot of trees & foliage, Kanoke Salmon & Crawdads in the stream, along with to our surprise, a bear! We had almost all left the side of the stream and were heading a long the path to the profile chamber when Amy came running up to me. There was a bear back at the stream. So I ran back to get some pictures before it disappeared.



After the stream chamber, we went back to camp for lunch. At that point, some of us left to go on a hike above Emerald Bay while a few of us, Carol, Tricia, Beth, Mary, Jonathan, Mike & I stayed behind. Shhh...don't tell the kids, at this point we went over to the ice cream shop. OMG, their kid's scoop was like a double scoop from Baskin Robbins!

It was while we were sitting out on the grass by the ice cream parlor that I realized my mistake....I forgot to pull that nights dinner (tritip) out of the cooler. I had frozen them from when we went shopping the night before & never thought they'd actually stay frozen. But I had told myself the night before that I needed to pull them out in the morning to defrost...whoops!

So dinner Saturday night ended up being a great camp out feast....at the food court in the Harrah's hotel & casino lol! After dinner, we headed to the arcade with the kids, which was a lot of fun.

Headed back to the campsite around 10 and sat around the fire with the remaining kids & adults playing games. You know, like telephone and I'm going on a trip & in my bag I'm packing a....

Sunday morning came and it was time to pack up. We had breakfast via Beth, who baked up a bunch of breads to sustain us through camp break down time....then it was time to hit the road!

It was a great time, but I can tell you that camping with an 8 1/2 month old definitely has its challenges. I was very grateful to my family(and friends, but you all know you're the same to me) that helped keep Riley entertained & me from pulling my hair out.

Here are pictures to leave you with











And last but not least....pretty camping faces



Lily

Nathan

Camping Part I - Getting there

I know it has taken long enough...it's been over a week now.

So our late in the year annual camping trip (this year back to Camp Richardson, Lake Tahoe) got off in our household's traditional fashion....late. Planning on hitting the road at 3:30, we were still packing at that point. When I say packing, I'm talking about our bags & the coolers, not our van yet! We finally hit the highway at 4:20, after stopping so Mary & Jonathan could get gas & we could run through Wendy's. Just about as soon as we hit the highway...we stopped. We got stuck in some of the worst traffic I had seen on a Thursday for a long time.

So we were majorly sweating it, as we had to register before dark. Traffic really cleared up once we hit Placerville, but were highly doubting we were going to make it by dark. Then Madison said she had to go to the bathroom. Of course she did, what trip with a 5 year old isn't complete with HAVING to stop to go to the bathroom. While Michael hustled her Cheeto powder covered self out of the van into a gas station bathroom in Pollock Pines, I called Camp Richardson. I didn't realize I had been holding my breath for the last 2 hours until I let it out when the guy on the phone told us "no problem" about registering after dark.

When we got to the camp grounds we realized why it was "no problem"....because, besides our groups 3 campsites, there was 1 other campsite being used in the entire camp grounds. Um, yeah, a little eerie. At least we didn't have to worry about an late night partiers.

It's another one ladies & gentleman!

Just came across another great give away blog, this one is Just for Me and You . They have a great give away going on right now, it is to win a free child's, toddler's or infant's costume. The site that is offering the give away is Anytimecostumes.com. They have two super cute one's I'm in between for Riley (since Grammy is making Madison's). I can't decide between the Little Green Frog or the Sugar Plum Fairy!

Adorable Kiddo hats that I WANT

So, my friend Bobbi hosts a blog Giveaway Addict http://giveawayaddict.blogspot.com/2009/09/review-parttimediva-designs-giveaway.html and on her blog she currently has this adorable!!! hat made by Part TimeDiva Designs http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6948550, up for grabs. The one up for this contest is the Red Apple hat, which I love...but I have to tell you, I'm dying for the lil pumpkin one also, I know it will look adorable on Riley.

So, anyhow, check it out, get your contest on and support a mom by getting your kids these adorable hats!

Erghhh

So I thought I was smart...really I did. Everyone has one, so will I, I figured. A blog that is. But apparently I'm not nearly as smart as I thought I was. I can't figure one thing out. That includes but is not limited to, using Photos shop so I can make a cute banner, or customizing this thing in any way. Perhaps I need to wait until the youngest is taking a nap & the oldest is at grammys?