Spring (Scarlet) Fever

Every once in a while I start to feel like I've got this parenting thing down. With four kids I've seen a lot of things, been a part of a lot of weird experiences. I mean, yeah, I'm still a rookie as far as parenting teens goes, but I've got the young kid thing down. Not much can surprise me.

And then one of my kids surprises me.

Tess had a little fever Friday night, but it went down and she was fine Saturday morning. We even went to Spring Fest for the first time in years.

But by Saturday after lunch her fever spiked up to 103.4. She even took a nap. On purpose. IN HER BED. That's when I started getting nervous.

She woke up and was tired and grouchy and wanted to be entertained but was entertained by nothing. She didn't want to watch a movie or read stories or play a game. She just wanted to sit next to me and complain. Around 6pm I noticed a rash on her arms. Further inspection showed it was on her back and tummy as well. The rash didn't hurt, but she complained of a sore throat and headache. 

I've seen a lot of viral rashes, but most come a day or two after the fever, not during. So I decided to call the pediatrician and see if anything has been going around.

While we waited for the on-call doctor to call back, we had some dinner and Tess tried to take another nap. This made me even more anxious. TWO NAPS in one day?! Something was definitely wrong. Although she did manage to eventually eat some watermelon, which helped her perk up a bit.

The pediatrician finally called me back at 7:25pm. It was some guy I had never talked to, and he seemed kinda put out that he had to call me. Whatever, dude. You chose this profession. Sorry my kid being sick is inconvenient to you. Think how inconvenient it is for me! Kidding. Let's just say I wasn't too impressed with him. Especially after certain parts of our conversation.

Doctor: Okay, with her symptoms, especially the rash, it sounds like she has Scarlet Fever. Of course, I'm not there to examine her, but I suggest you get her checked out tonight.

Me: Scarlet Fever?! 

*Note: I said this out of surprise, not fear. But he misread my exclamation.

Doctor (a little condescendingly): Now, don't worry. It's not as dangerous as it used to be. It's not like on "Little House on the Prairie" when Alfonso went blind from it. She just needs to get a strep test done and put on some antibiotics.

Me in my head: WHAT THE WHAT?! It's ALMANZO, not Alfonso. And it was MARY who went blind from Scarlet Fever. The SISTER, not the HUSBAND. Sheesh. Okay, now I must question everything you say, because seriously...

Me out loud (resisting the strong urge to correct him): Thank you so much. I'll need to rush to get her to urgent care before it closes!

And so that's what I did. I told her to slip her shoes on and grab one stuffed animal while I went downstairs to tell Lance what was going on. I swooped her up, put her in the car, and rushed down to urgent care. Not because I thought she was gonna die (or go blind, sheesh), but because I didn't want to have to pay to take her to the ER! Hey, it's all about priorities, people. 

We made it to the urgent care on Creasy (next to Lance's work) 20 minutes before they closed. I'm sure they were oh-so happy to have a patient so close to closing time on a Saturday night. (From the looks on their faces, no. No they were not.) But I didn't care! I got her signed in, paid the ridiculous $50 copay, and sat down to wait. Yeah, wait. We were the ONLY people there, but we still had to wait. Some things are universal in every medical situation.

Fortunately, we only had to wait 5 minutes. Poor Tess wriggled on my lap, sweaty and grouchy. We got into a room and had her throat swabbed by a nurse. Tess was NOT happy about that. Then the doctor came in an diagnosed her on the rash alone, but of course we had to wait for the swab results so the insurance company wouldn't get mad. (No lab work + prescription = angry insurance.) ((Stupid insurance.))

Another nurse came in with the prescription and let us know that there was only one pharmacy in town open that time of night, so with prescription in hand and only 20 minutes after our arrival we set off to get her drugs. (It was the Walgreens on South and 18th street, in case you were wondering.)

We were at the pharmacy longer than we were at urgent care! But Tess had fun looking at the toy aisle while I called a couple of moms because their daughters had been at Tess's party the day before. Oops. Sorry we possibly exposed your kid to some pretty crazy germs...

Anywho, we eventually made it home and got her to take her medicine. (No small feat. She's adamantly opposed to taking medicine for some reason. Bribery? I'm not above it.) She finally got into bed and then slept for 12 straight hours.

As you can see, she's already feeling much better. Hooray for modern medicine! 

Now, no more surprises for a while, please. 

This and That - Plus: Hair Color!

I really should blog in the morning. As I was getting ready I had all sorts of ideas running through my head that would've been perfect to blog about. Now I can't remember a single one. Dang it. Let's just assume they were all super witty and poignant and interesting, because I'm sure they were.

Instead, let's play a little catch up.

Last week was Muffins for Moms. Only I had a doughnut, because when there are chocolate cake doughnuts from Mary Lou's YOU EAT THEM. We had to sit on the stairs to the stage because it was so crowded and there weren't 4 seats together in the entire cafeteria. Also, Muffins for Moms is usually around Mother's Day. This, combined with a few other things school has done earlier than normal this year, has thrown off my internal mom-of-school-children clock. I feel dizzy. (Perhaps I need another doughnut.)

Actually, I really did feel all out of whack last week. I went to get my usual blood test for my thyroid and was sure they would come back all crazy, but nope. I was both relieved and annoyed. Stupid hormones. Also, I had a student phlebotomist poke me. And that's all she did - poke. And move the needle. And make me want to smack her and grab that dang needle out of my arm. Fortunately, my usual phlebotomist took over and got the blood draw. But ouch. I'm usually fine with students for medical stuff - they have to learn somehow, right? - and have never really had an issue with one. But now I'm rethinking being so easy going. 

 

This girl went to Kindergarten Round Up last week and was on top of the world. I of course forgot to take a picture. Dang. She loved every minute and put up a fuss when it was time to leave. She truly thought she was starting Kindergarten then. At 6pm. If only, Tess. If only. (That's a Timberwolf she got for visiting all the stations that night. Go Wea Ridge Timberwolves!)

I got a new vacuum cleaner. Woo-hoo! (Adulthood...) I have sincerely loved my Dyson, but it started acting funny last month. I figured out some of the problems and then found out we were out of warranty by 3 measly months. Dang it. To replace the broken parts would cost at least $150 and wouldn't guarantee it would work great again. So I decided to buy a new vacuum, and after quite a bit of research I decided to go with a Shark this time. All the reviews say they're just as good and quite a bit cheaper. And so far - I think they're right! I love this vacuum! The Dyson still works well enough to now become the basement vacuum, so we'll still visit often. Hah. We call the new vacuum the Sharknado. It's already picked up an embarrassing amount of dirt from our floors.

I have the crazy eyes in this picture and its not the most flattering pose, but I dared to combine polka dots and florals for church the other day and I liked the result! I was feeling pretty trendy.

You know what else is trendy? Color in your hair! I've been thinking about doing this for a while and finally bit the bullet today. I really like it! I feel like one of those cool moms - you know the ones. I feel like, Yeah, I'm a pretty typical, conservative mom of 4 but wait - what's that? Teal highlights?! Maybe this mom's not quite so boring! Maybe she's a little more wild than originally thought!

Apparently teal highlights make me have weird conversations with myself. And a few delusions of grandeur.

Who am I kidding. That's a daily occurrence.

I really do like them, though. Just in time for spring and summer.

I NEVER would've done something like this to my hair when I was younger. I was preppy and whatnot. (Plus, it wasn't the trend.) Heck, I never even used to color my hair, but that's not an option now because I don't think I'd quite rock the grey yet. I get my hair colored every 6 weeks - getting a color like this and maintaining it isn't really that big of a deal, now!

I'm kind of excited to see what the little old ladies at church think this Sunday.

Tess got a haircut today, too. She was a little disappointed that she wasn't getting her hair colored - she wanted pink. Sorry, girlie. You'll have to do that on your own dime when you're older.

It took Tess a good 30 minutes to notice my hair. The boys have been home for over an hour and haven't mentioned a thing. We'll see if Lance is a bit more observant. (I suspect he is.)

It's National Grilled Cheese day, so YOU KNOW what the Madsens are munching on for dinner.

It's been a good day.

Fine Art

Tess is quite sad that we took down the Easter decorations last week. She keeps asking "What do we have for April?" I keep trying to explain that I only decorate for holidays and that the next big holiday isn't until the 4th of July.

I am told this is unacceptable.

So I have decided to start displaying fine art in our entryway.



Behold "Pirate Ship at Sunset" by contemporary watercolorist Joshua Madsen. His use of light is striking; the pirate ship fearsome. It's an original, signed on the back by the artist hismelf.

I like it's refreshing and unusual use of Sharpie.

"I miss the Easter Eggs and bunnies," says Tess.

Cole Popping Bubble Wrap

This is a fairly typical representation of our house in the evening. Things get funniest around the 1 minute mark. (Sorry, I was too lazy to edit the video.) ((Not sorry. Lazy.)

Cole's in jammies because he stayed home from school today. When Josh found out he suddenly became deathly ill, too. Growl. I tried to guilt him into going to school and have him make the right choice, but it backfired. Sometimes parenting is hard.

And sometimes parenting is funny. (Like while recording Cole head butting bubble wrap.)

PreSchool Crime Spree

PreSchool was abruptly cancelled last Thursday. I assumed it was because of the big storm the day before. (Possibly a roof leak?) Tess assumed it was the end of the world and there was far too much crying and comforting at 9 in the morning for my taste.

Turns out we were both wrong.

Yikes! This was just a little too close to home. I mean, okay, I'm not really worried about some thief breaking into the preschool while the kids are there. But this is still a little creepy.

Questions:
1) Why did they not notify us until 10 minutes before preschool began?
2) How did they apprehend the guy?
3) Why in the world is there a flamingo clipart on this note?

Tess was especially upset because she was supposed to take snack that day for the class. This morning I felt I should still take it, just in case today's helper forgot in all the cancellation excitement. Turns out it was a good thing I sent snack because the little boy who was assigned was home sick! The preschool teachers were pretty relieved and claimed that vanilla wafers and yogurt raisins never tasted so good.

Punch Board FHE

Our Family Home Evening tonight was a pretty good representation of life around these parts lately: loud and tantrum-filled. I'm pretty sure we're all just sick and tired of wintery weather and could use a full week of sunshine and warmth. Instead, we're bundling up and getting ready for a hard freeze that will probably kill all the buds on my fruit trees. *sob* Stupid Indiana late freezes.

Anyways.

I was in charge of the activity for FHE. At first I thought we'd go on a long family walk. But with the wind chill? No thanks. So I decided to do the punch board game instead. Everyone loves the punch board, right?

No. Not everyone loves the punch board. Little 4 year old girls who are tired and grouchy and upset with life, the universe, and everything - and who do not like chocolate now - (whose daughter is this?!?!??!) - they do not like the punch board. Or life. Or the universe. Or anything.

Just keepin' it real with pictures of Tess falling apart. And Lance and Spencer in the background with looks of "Really? Again?" on their faces.

Cole liked the punch board. So much so that I couldn't get a clean shot of him.

Great form, though.

Josh REALLY liked the punch board because he got one of the candy bars. Yeah, that candy bar is a year old. You're welcome to it, Joshie. (I'm all about cleaning out the old candy stash for the punch board game.)

Despite being a to-cool-for-school 12 year old, Spencer got into the punch board. Because candy. That is the magic of the punch board!

Tess tries again.

And fails. (Well, she didn't fail. The punch board did.) ((Wait, I take that back. The punch board never fails!))

I ran out of FHE questions, so I asked Cole to recite the months of the year in order, and then the colors of the rainbow in order. No problemo. Then I asked Josh to tell me the planets in order. Problemo. Fortunately, his little brother was there to help him out.

Then Spencer needed to recite the Scout Oath. It took a while, but he got there eventually.

Oh man. Sometimes I wonder why we even have Family Home Evening. Who am I kidding - I wonder that most weeks. But I know that eventually, some day, it will all be worth it. Even if I have a daughter who doesn't like chocolate.

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - Heather's Bed

Yet another prime example of why we were often home alone on Friday nights... ;)

Hah! We had fun. So much fun. Weird fun, but fun.

I'm especially proud of the background on these pages - just like Heather's comforter!