Wii Fit

Sam and I have been getting a bit rounded and need more exercise. Matt set up the Wii fit this morning and Samantha is obsessed. She loves to move and strive but I haven't been able to get her going. The Wii Fit has her running, doing hula hoops, ski slalom and jumping, yoga, deep breathing. It is amazing. The impersonal computer fitness trainer seems to work well for her. Thank you Matt!

We had lunch at Blue Ribbon, a local barbecue place. I like it. Joshua's mac and cheese was spicy. Who does that? We sat next to three elderly men who seemed to have been friends since they were boys. They were so sweet to my children. Very funny, witty people. I love talking to people like that. They all had grandchildren and were delighted to see more of them. I am really grateful for how patient they were with my wild things. Josh was sitting sideways and poked his neighbor with his feet. THe man just laughed and started teasing about putting his feet on Josh, which led to a discussion about life with size 15 feet.

Wowed the dentist with Sam and Josh. They didn't act too badly while I sat in the chair with my mouth full of putty. Looks like two more months of braces for me. We visited Matt's dentist downstairs so Sondra could see Matt's children. SHe was thrilled, as were the hygeinists. We went to the pet store, Big Fish, Little Fish, and looked at the python, the tarantula and the 10 inch wide turtle. there was also a Macaw and many parakeets and other birds. They did have Betta fish. THe second Betta of Joshua's died, and I got him another one. The pet store owner said to make sure they were warm enough and to make sure no food was leftover. I was going to buy a silver one like Silver Moon, but he suggested getting the $4 fish, not the $15 fish. Very thoughtful. The new fish has pretty blue fins and josh named him Blueberry. "Blueberry LOVES me Mommy!" Well yes, pretty much everyone does, Joshie. Smile.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

I am pretty sure Johnny Depp would have been proud. A week ago Samantha asked if she could have a tea party. I said yes. WHy? I don't know. Matt may never forgive me. Really everyone was a wonderful guest, but whooee, five girls can giggle. Joshua loved them all, of course, and the feeling was pretty mutual. Samantha was very excited to have everyone there, almost buzzing with excitement. Then we added sugar to the mix, and she was buzzing. They played for a bit, decorated gingerbread men, drank tea (apple juice) and watched a Tinkerbell movie. Matt comes downstairs with a funny look on his face " I found Joshua in bed with not one, but two girls." We shake our heads. Gotta keep an eye on them all the time.

Really they had a great time. Samantha set the table, laid out the crackers for the cheese on towels in a very decorative way, like a caterer would, and sliced the red pepper all on her own. The table was very pretty, with perfectly folded napkins, silverware and the fancy tea cups. She did a really beautiful job. I spent the better part of two days cleaning the house so I could stand to have guests and ache all over right now, but they all had a great time, so it was worth it. THe guests were very puzzled, kept thinking it was a birthday party, but Samantha would say no, I just wanted to have everyone over for tea. We thought the parents were coming too, but none of them did. I think they were all grateful to be without children for a bit over the long weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving. I am grateful to Matt, who can corral five little girls into the car like no one I've ever seen. I am grateful for Samantha, for bringing such lively wonder into our lives. I am grateful for Joshua's smiles and kisses. Ella and Tucker's support and affection, Hamlet's exfoliation expertise, our lovely home and wonderful community. We are very blessed. I hope our families and friends all had a wonderful THanksgiving too.

Horseback Riding

Just a quick update today to post some video of Samantha riding Jules yesterday.

Tired Boy

Yes, he was tired. He had a little to eat. Sam and I went downstairs to work on laundry "I love helping you with laundry, Momma!" It was quiet upstairs so I went up to check. Quiet on the first floor too, which made me worry. I found him in his room passed out upside down on his bed, feet still in sneakers and sticking up over the head of the bed. He was so tired that he didn't even wake up when I changed him into a pull up for the night. Poor little fellow.

Stop!

Samantha woke Joshua up this morning at 5am because she was lonely. He happily crawled into her bed with her and they slept until 7am. Maybe slept. Given Joshua's behavior, I'd say he didn't sleep much. He freaked out because I gave him juice from the bottle that was already open and not from the new bottle. He cried piteously for a half hour over that and which sippy cup I gave him. I gave him the one he wanted, but it spilled a little, and that upset him. We went to the vet for Ella's meds for her liver, and saw that they had candy. We left without the candy and got food next door. Josh was okay with that, but when we headed for the car with our food, he flipped out again. I tried to grab onto him but slipped away from me and ran down the sidewalk, over one driveway and around the corner with me raging after him screaming stop. He didn't, but neither did he run into Massachusetts Avenue. He eventually stopped and I threw him over my shoulder and carried him to my car, so livid I couldn't speak. "Don't ever scare me like that again, that was really dangerous to run away." He is home now, safe in the house. Deep breath, Mommy. Now on to the next thing. Clean up the floor. Again.

Sometimes it's all in the presentation

Me, presenting Joshua with a PB&J for lunch: Joshua, it's time for lunch!

Joshua: I don't like peanut better and jelly sandwiches. I HATE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!

Me, taking the sandwich back to the kitchen: Okay, okay...

Me, 2 minutes later, presenting him with the same sandwich but cut into small squares and served on toothpicks: Look, Josh, Monster Bites for lunch! And they have arrows stuck in them!

Joshua: Cool! I LOVE monster bites!

Joshua happily eats entire sandwich ...

Oink oink

It occurs to me that someone reading this blog who's not familiar with the events of the past week might be saying "Hospital? What hospital?" after reading the last entry.

Last weekend Samantha was feeling sort of poorly, tired and under the weather. She was feeling a lot like Joshua and I felt a week or two earlier, and we assumed that we all have either a cold or a mild case of the flu. But Samantha's cough kept getting worse and she started complaining that it was hard to breathe. Sunday afternoon she had no fever, by Sunday night her temperature was 103.

We called the pediatrician on call Sunday night and were advised to give her Tylenol and Motrin to control her fever overnight and if her breathing wasn't better in the morning to bring her in. Her temperature didn't go down much, and breathing wasn't better. It was worse -- fast, shallow, and labored.

We took her to the doctor's office on Sunday morning. Her doctor spent about 5 minutes looking at her and listening to her lungs, checked her O2 sats and found them in the low 90's, then asked if we wanted to drive her to the hospital or take an ambulance. We drove, although if I'd known how bad traffic was going to be and how much Samantha's condition was going to change just on the drive over we'd have taken the ambulance. By the time we got to the hospital she was slumped over in the back seat, burning up with fever and mostly unresponsive (though some of that was simple exhaustion).

Samantha was admitted to the hospital on Monday night and stayed until Wednesday. Lab tests confirmed that she had the H1N1 flu complicated by double pneumonia. So it was three days of I/V Tamiflu and antibiotics, steroids to reduce the inflammation in her lungs, oxygen, etc.

Thankfully, she recovered quickly and completely and is home now and fine, though she'll be on antibiotics for another week and may need to use an inhaler every once in a while for a few days.

The doctors and nurses at Childrens Hospital in Boston are the best.

The morals of the story are vaccinate your kids against H1N1 as soon as you have the opportunity, and if you or your child does get the flu, watch carefully for signs of respiratory distress and take them seriously.

What's it LOOK like I'm doing?

Amy got a small cake as a sort of "welcome home" gesture for Samantha for coming home from the hospital. (She was actually discharged on Wednesday, but we usually do some kind of dessert on Shabbat, so the cake was tonight.)

Toward the end of dessert I was clearing the table and asked Joshua if he was done with his cake. He said no, although he wasn't eating it. So I asked him what he was doing. He looked at me, grinned that sly grin of his, and said "I'm making cake wheels with my monster trucks!" ... as he proceeded to roll two toy monster trucks back and forth, back and forth, over his plate and through the cake and frosting.

It made quite an impressive mess.