The last week and a half or so has been a lot of fun mixed with a lot of terrible. It all started the Friday before the 4th when (on my day off) I decided Evie needed to go to the doctor. She had some spots on her chest that originally looked like bug bites, but they kept getting more and more red and didn’t seem to be going away. She had also been sneezing quite a bit but we’re having major allergy issues right now so I blew that off. The doctor diagnosed her with a bacterial infection for the spots on her chest and prescribed her both a topical antibiotic and an oral antibiotic.
That afternoon we had an appointment to have Zach’s 4-year portraits taken. By the time we got there, Evie was a mess. The portrait studio was running behind schedule and it ended up taking nearly three hours from start to finish. By the time we left Hubby was cranky, the kids were cranky, and Evie was running a fever and had green stuff oozing from her nose and eyes. We should have just stopped then and gone home, but we were all hungry and Zach had been promised a trip to Target to spend his birthday money.
We celebrated the 4th with my family at Grandma’s where the kids got to swim in the pool. Fortunately, Evie was feeling a bit better. We celebrated our country’s Independence Day by eating tons of Mexican food, including Hubby’s homemade guacamole and salsa (yum!). Then we headed to Corporate Woods to enjoy the fireworks, though we weren’t sure we would even see anything through all the clouds. The kids loved the fireworks, but Zach decided about halfway through that they were too loud.
Sunday was a catch up/run errands/do laundry/snuggle with sick kid kind of day. It ended up being much busier than I had planned. It wasn’t a bad day though, until I realized that Evie’s Motrin had worn off and she still had a fever. That didn’t exactly bode well for heading back to work Monday morning.
Evie ended up at work with me Monday because I had things that just had to be done at the office. I worked as long as I could before she started getting too cranky then brought her home so she could get some sleep and I could do a little more work. Tuesday I ended up staying home with her, since her fever was still up. I was hoping that giving her a day to rest would help her recover, but the darn fever just wouldn’t come back down. Wednesday my sister took both kids so I could work and Thursday Evie was back at work with me. Her fever finally broke at some point on Thursday and I was thrilled to finally be able to take her back to day care on Friday after an entire week of fever.
Friday night was what I had been both waiting for and dreading all week. I picked the kids up, drove to my sister’s house, dropped the kids off with my BIL and Mom and headed out for a night out with the girls. It was for a friend’s bachelorette party and even though I knew I would have fun, I was pretty worn out from the week. The party ended up being a blast, just as I expected. We rented a party bus that drove us around all night while we consumed adult beverages, listened to music, danced, and chatted. We stopped off at a couple of bars, but mostly enjoyed our time together on the bus.
The next morning, we packed up and drove to Springfield where we joined my cousins, Aunt and Uncle for their annual 4th of July bash. They always have a huge BBQ and then my cousins put on an amazing fireworks display. The kids loved getting to see fireworks again and I really enjoyed seeing some of my extended family. The best part was getting to meet my cousin’s two week old baby boy, Kyler. He is just precious and instantly gave me that sad “I don’t have a baby anymore” feeling. I didn’t get to hold him for long since Evie was practically attached to my hip all night, but the few minutes of baby snuggling I got in made the drive all worth it!
The other nice part of the trip was getting to see my Grandma. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s so I’m never really sure what to expect when we’re around her, but she did seem genuinely happy to see all of us even if she couldn’t remember exactly who everyone was. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of her holding baby Kyler, but I already had my camera put away by the time she got her hands on him.
We didn’t check out of our hotel until almost noon on Sunday, stopped to eat and let the kids play at Incredible Pizza, then set out for the drive home. By the time we got to my house I felt like I needed another weekend to recover before heading back to work, but that just wasn’t an option. So far this week I’ve done nothing but play catch-up on the things I wasn’t able to finish last week and there’s a lot more left to do. I’d give just about anything for a long nap.
(Yes, super long post, I know. I just needed to get it all down. But at least I gave you pictures to look at!)
