WARNING: ANYONE OPPOSED TO HEARING A GROWN WOMAN WHINE LIKE A LITTLE BABY, PLEASE READ NO FURTHER.

Good thing the kids are both doing better.  Thursday around lunch I suddenly felt like a train had run right into me.  In an instant I was hot, sweaty and nauseous.  Every inch of my body ached.  I was driving home with Lennon and it was his nap time so I got home laid down with him and as he fell asleep I laid awake wishing I could sleep, but not being able to because of the extreme discomfort I was in.  The kids were great for me that night and the next day I managed with some ibuprofen.  Today my wonderful wonderful husband got up with the kids and took them out of the house until about 10 30.  After a while I got out of bed when I realized I couldn't sleep and I wasn't going to be any less comfortable out of bed than I was in bed.  I got up and made some tea and sat on the couch and watched some History Channel thingy.  I had a brief moment of remembering what is what like to actually "get to be sick."  It was nice to be sick and sitting on the couch alone drinking tea and not taking care of anyone.  Now it's 8 45 and I feel completely horrible.  I'm cold so I put on a sweater or pull a blanket up.  One or two minutes later, or sometime AS I'm putting the sweater on I suddenly feel hot and sweaty and have to take it all off.  No sooner have I done that than I am shivering again.  I have a horrible cough, but have to hold it back because every time I cough it feels as though my temples are going to explode right out of the side of my head.  I have to brace my head with each cough.  My eyes are watery and red and itchy.  My chest is burning and my throat is tight and sore.  My nose is alternating between running non stop and being completely stuffy.  I feel like I'm dreaming.  This sucks.  Thank God the worst of this has come on the weekend when Shelby is home to help me out.  Hopefully I will be better by monday.  Boo, hoo hoo.  Waaa waaa.  Sorry for the rant.  I'm too cold or hot to write any more.  

Shelby:  Mia, what are you doing?

Mia:  Just working on a masterpiece.

a few minutes later.  I had not heard their conversation.

Jenna:  Mia, what are you doing in there?

Mia:  I'm working on a masterpiece.

Minutes later she had completed a picture in the style of French neo-impressionist Georges Pierre Seurat of some flowers in a field which she then proceeded to write a story to go along with the picture.  Our scanner isn't working, but I am going to have Shelby scan the completed "masterpiece" in at work and get it on the blog as soon as possible.  

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Mia:  Hmm...Which fairy book do we have here?  Friday the fun day fairy?  Why is Friday so fun?

Mom:  Friday?

Mia:  What?

Mom:  Friday?  Why is Friday so fun?

Mia:  What are you saying?  What is 'fridee'?

Mom:  Oh, 'fridaay'.  

Mia:  Oh yeah, Texas people say 'friidee'  So, I guess you say 'tadee is friidee'  or what about 'what dee is it tadee?'  

I guess we really are raising a little New Englander.

Oh Malden.

Just another typical day in Malden.  The kids and I had just met up with Mia's friend Sophia and her dad to check out some cute little stores in downtown Malden.  As we were leaving Shelby was just getting into the train station so he hopped on a bus and met us at the library and we started walking toward the car.  The weather was so nice today.  Lennon and I took Biance to the zoo this morning and then this afternoon was even nicer.  Lennon didn't even have a coat on for a while.  So, let me just set the stage for the encounter we were about to have.  I am pushing Lennon in his stroller and at this point he is wearing his blue and red coat that looks pretty much like a boys coat.  Shelby is holding Mia and she is wearing a light pink, furry coat and has her hair down.  I notice an elderly man coming down the sidewalk in our direction.  I think "Oh, old people must be so lonely sometimes"  and I give him a friendly smile and say hello, hoping to brighten his day a little with some southern kindness that you don't see too often up here.  

He smiles back a little.  Then says to me  "Is that a boy or a girl?"

Me  "It's a boy."

He points to Mia (again, she is wearing a super girly pink furry coat)  "Is that a boy or a girl?"

Me and Shelby together  "A girl."  We probably look pretty confused at this point.

Old man "Tell me something.  Do you think she's too young for me?"  Creepy smile.

We walk away as fast as we can and try to change the subject with Mia.  I'm thinking words that would frankly offend most of the readers of this blog.  I'm thinking them now in fact.  I mean, (words I won't say)!!!  Creepy old dude.  Thanks a lot for bringing my otherwise beautiful day to a strange and awkward and ooky feeling ending.  

Thanks a lot creepy old man.

Thanks a lot Malden.

Temper. Temper

Last night I made a very simple dinner for the kids in light of their recent illness.  I honestly thought Lennon would be psyched about it.  It was elbow pasta tossed with butter and green peas and sprinkled with parmesan cheese.  After being served his meal Lennon immediately asked for more cheese.  I gave him a little more, but after receiving it he asked for more without even tasting it.  I told him no and boy was that the wrong thing to do.  He threw such a fit.  He was screaming like a velociraptor.  Then he made a clear decision.  If I wasn't going to give him more cheese he would just go to bed.  He began asking for his paci and blankie and demanding his bed.  I brought him to his room and dressed him for bed and everything expecting he would change his mind.  He didn't protest at all until I guess he decided to ask for oatmeal and since we had some leftover in the fridge from breakfast I let him eat that for dinner.  As soon as he was done though, he again asked to go to bed.  He originally asked to go to bed around 5 30 and was asleep by 6.  I have no idea where this decidedly hot temper comes from.  I don't think either Shelby or I have a temper like that.  I can certainly get mad about stuff, but Lennon gets so determined and is so quick to get angry about stuff.  If anyone out there can claim that gene, let me know.

A Full Day's Work

Well, after 8 hours in the Children's Hospital Boston Emergency Room, a catheter, an iv, four viles of blood, a stool sample, several chest and abdominal x-rays, a urine sample, countless tests ordered and some run, we finally know ---that we still don't know what is wrong with Lennon.  We know some things that it is NOT.  It is not a urinary tract infection.  It is not pneumonia.  There are no problems with his liver or kidney function and his lungs look okay.  He does have an elevated white blood cell count with slightly concerned the ER doc and his salt or something in his urine was a little off of normal, but she didn't seem too concerned with that.  They are running lots of tests and most should be done by the end of the week.  They will only call us if a test comes back positive, so no news is good news.  I guess I should just be relieved at this point unless I get a phone call.  Poor little Lennon was such a trooper.  He just lay there crying on the x-ray table while they took the pictures.  He was probably the most unhappy about the catheter, understandably.  The little dude was so sad, but really didn't struggle much at all.  He was clearly unhappy, but didn't put up much of a fight.  They gave him some fluids half way through the day, but that was about it.  They didn't really have any answers for us at the end of the day either.  Their best guess without any results back is that it "may" be rotavirus, but that usually lasts a few days up to two weeks and this is now moving into it's fourth week tomorrow.  They are checking for all kinds of things such as CF, celiac disease, other metabolic disorders that might cause malabsorbtion of nutrients, food allergies, bacterial infections, and so on.  They said that the extreme stinkiness of the poo was a little indicative of a metabolic disorder, but not necessarily so.  So, we basically are in the same boat information wise as we were this morning.  At least some tests are being run and we should know more by the end of the week.  

Okay, as a sister in law/step sister, I officially suck.

HAPPY SUPER DUPER BELATED BIRTHDAYS UNCLE JAY AND AUNT SHONDA!!!  I am so sorry this is so so so late.  I won't try to make excuses.  Better late than never right?

Lennon Update

Lennon is still sick.  Yesterday the on call doc from our pediatrician said to take him to the ER and we spent 3 hours there before finally just leaving because it was 6 30 he was hungry, tired and grumpy from sitting in the ER for three hours.  They told me I most likely would not get back to see the doc in the next hour.  I may take him back in the morning, but first want to put in a call to our doc to see what they think.  We are supposed to get 10-15 inches of snow tonight and school is cancelled tomorrow for Mia so she will have to come with us whatever we do which sucks for her, but I'm sure Lennon will be happy to have her with us and I know I will.  The on call doc said they may want to check his head to make sure the vomiting isn't neurological and do blood work and a stool sample.  I spoke with a pediatrician at church this morning sort of hoping she would say "oh yeah, that's been going around my practice and it's totally normal, no worries."  She didn't.  She said she thinks we should make an appointment with a neurologist to rule out pressure or bleeding in his head.  She wasn't trying to scare me, she just thought we should make sure it wasn't in his head.  I'm so tired of him being sick.  I realized today that outside of a few days in between he has been sick with either a respiratory thing or this digestive crap since early january.  He has been in pretty good spirits though.  He's been really enjoying standing in a chair next to me while I cook and helping to "wash" the vegetables in the sink.  He's become fond of playing with Mia's Littlest Pet Shop animals and he loves playing in the kitchen that we have now moved into his room.  He loves Mia.  He was playing in her room today and put on a pink, frilly tutu from her dress up box.  He looked pretty funny.  He hasn't thrown up again since Friday night, but he did sort of gag at one point during dinner tonight which may have just been commentary on my cooking.  :)  He also recently noticed that Biance had Elmo on her diapers and kept asking about Elmo each time we would change his diaper.  I kept telling him how much cooler Mickey Mouse was than Elmo and in the ER they were playing that Mickey Mouse version of The Three Musketeers and he thought it was pretty awesome.  At home this morning he wanted to watch "Mick", but we didn't have anything other than Fantasia and he lost patience with that before the conductor stopped chattering.  We're going to have to get him some Mickey Mouse movie or something, especially if he stays sick much longer.  He's been doing a lot of laying around in my lap watching Horton Hears A Whoo and Baby Einstein Neighborhood Animals and stuff like that when he's feeling the worst.  Hopefully everything will just stop as suddenly as it came on and he will be fine and we will always talk about "that weird thing he had for so long back when he was so little."  Who knows.  More updates to come.