Tuesday July 8 was Jaime’s birthday. She got up early, showered dressed and left the house with Scott by 7 am. Scott had promised each kid that on their birthday he would take them to work for breakfast and a tour. She has been excited about this for months. Finally the day arrived and she was on cloud 9. She chose to share her birthday breakfast with Nina, the foreign exchange student living with Joey and Gayle for a month. So they drove to her house and picked her up and then went to Google. Scott has a co-worker that is French and so they met up with him and had breakfast. Jaime had an omelet and fruit and chocolate milk and an It’s-It. She said she was so full she couldn’t finish her ice cream. After they ate Nina and Scott’s co-worker went on a French tour of Google while Scott and Jaime went back to his office for a tour and some dad time. She had the chance to lay on his new couch and play on his computer. It seems that they had a great time. I went and picked her and Nina up at 11. I dropped Nina off and then ran a couple of errands and was back home by 12:30. I put the little ones to nap and then spent the afternoon trying to stay cool on a VERY hot day. Since Scott spent his morning playing he had to work late and so I was a “single†mom for a day. Alix was still super sick. More sick than I have seen a kid in a long time. She was running a 104-105 degree temperature all day. She hadn’t eaten since Sunday evening and she just laid around moaning and groaning. But she would drink and eat Popsicles and she even took a cool shower. I put her to bed with the knowledge that it would be a long night.
Wednesday morning came too soon! Keri slept her usual but I was up with Alix every hour. It was a miserable night and I had decided I needed to call the doctor. They said that as long as Alix was drinking and there were no other symptoms besides the fever, there was no reason to see her until the fever had gone on for 5 days. So we had much of the same day. Alix totally sick and miserable. Me running up and down the stairs to take care of her. Me trying to keep all the other kids away from her so they wouldn’t get sick. And, since it was suppose to be the hottest week of the year so far, trying to keep everyone hydrated and cool so that they didn’t get sick too. Scott came home and took his shift with the kids and we finally got them all to bed. Again it was another rough night. Except this time Alix slept in our bed and I slept on the chair in the bedroom (I didn’t want to risk getting sick too). Keri had a rough night and so did Alix. I went to bed with a slight fever and a clogged milk duct (for anyone who has had that, you know what pain I was in). I was hoping I would be able to pass it before I got VERY sick. Needless to say, it was an AWFUL night.
Thursday morning I informed Scott that he could not go to work. I needed him to stay home. I still felt awful and I couldn’t take care of Alix or Keri. Alix seemed a little better in the morning, but within a couple of hours her fever was high again and she was miserable. I laid on the couch for three hours going in and out of sleep and being down right miserable. I finally got up and tried to eat and drink something and got dressed. By noon I realized I was feeling well enough and so Scott left for work. By late afternoon I took the kids swimming and then back home for baths and bed. Jaime had been SOOOO helpful during the week that I told her she could stay up late and watch a movie. Scott and I cleaned since not much of that happened during the week. We all got to bed by 11. Alix once again had a rough night. A REALLY rough night. Fortunately for me I was feeling better and Keri was sleeping pretty good so I was able to focus on Alix. The whole night I kept trying to figure out who I was going to get to babysit for me since Friday would be day 5 of this and I’d have to take her to the doctor.
Friday July 11 Alix woke up perky and happy. I woke Scott up on time and told him he had to get up and dressed and give me an hour of sleep where I didn’t have to worry about any kids. He agreed and I got an hour and 15 minutes!! Alix ate pancakes, her first bite of food in 5 days and was happy go lucky. The bug guy was coming to do an in house spray and so we all got up and dressed and cleaned up a bit and left the house by 11am. Alix was totally fine all day. She ate a hamburger and french fries and a free slurpy (because the date was 7-11, 7-11 stores were giving out free slurpy’s), she ran errands with me and not once had a fever or any complaints. After we got home the younger kids took an hour nap and then I woke them up and we went swimming again. A friend from my ward, Carrie, opened up her pool to anyone who wanted to come swimming. She said it was such a hot week she realized that it would be fun to have playmates in the pool when her and her son went swimming. It was nice and the kids really enjoyed it. Milo even got in the pool and swam with his swim jacket on. Niah is an old pro now and was jumping off the steps into the pool and dunking her head and everything. It was fun to watch her have so much fun. She has never had fear of the water. Since we were all out anyway, Carrie told us about a park in Mt. View (the city Scott works in) that was having a live play in the park. So I packed up the kids and we picked up Scott and went. It was fun. It was a jr. theater production but it was well done and the kids all enjoyed it. We had a picnic dinner and then played for a while. We got home about 9pm. We put all the kids to bed. I insisted that Alix sleep in her own bed, which she did. She slept the whole night through! Keri slept for 6 hours straight and so I had 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It was awesome! I could feel the difference right away in the morning. The Lord knew what I needed and he blessed me with it. I felt very grateful the next morning!
Love the updates and the pictures. Poor Alix having a fever on those hot days! I hope everyone is healthy and happy now! Keri looks so much like her daddy (and Jaime).