Illness hits the house

Last night looking at Andrew I could tell he didn't feel well but I chalked it up to tiredness.  Today I found out I was right.  Everyone (the 3 kids) woke up with fevers of 102 degrees, coughing and sore throats.  I put them all in their rooms and started cleaning, unpacking and grading schoolwork between runs to their bedrooms.  Andrew and Cairn both threw up 3 times, Skylar just felt crummy and had a horrible cough.  They all slept off and on all day.

Cairn and Andrew both missed their piano classes and Skylar missed her weekly playdate with A.  Looks like she will miss her piano class tomorrow - the first one of her graduation year of piano.  She will learn to play the recorder and the guitar this year.

When Dad came home, he was feeling pretty crummy too.

Everyone went to bed early.  The snow started falling, good thing we aren't going anywhere tomorrow.

Another week gone

Well, most people didn't have a fever this week but they had little to no energy and horrible coughs.  Everyone but Cairn missed their piano classes because they were either coughing/runny nose or no energy.  We got some school work finished this week and even got to the park.

I went out with Aunt Trish on Wednesday night and had a Girl Scout leader meeting to run Thursday night so I had some time off.  Thursday the doctor ordered everyone outside for some sunshine and fresh air so we headed to park day with our homeschool friends.

An hour at the park wore everyone out.  I was at my meeting but Dad got everyone into bed and asleep by 7 PM.  I think it was what everyone needed.  I got to hang out with my friends and talk about schooling and just everyday stuff.  The kids got to run around with their friends and Dad got to see the kids interacting with their friends and get some sunshine.

Friday - we started our unit on the human body and we started constructing our body model.  Everyone is making their own.  We built a model of the lungs and then talked about senses and built a model of the face with the sense organs.

After getting some schoolwork finished Dad took the kids to our park down the street.  It was a gorgeous day I didn't want them to miss it.  Cairn got to her piano class while the rest of us went to Whole Foods to pick some stuff we needed.  Dad is gone at a class until tomorrow night.

Cairn completed her 2 Study Island tests for school this week and scored 100%.  She is also progressing very quickly through locating her states on a map on Always Ice Cream.  The next step is just seeing the shape of the state and learning to identify it.  She also started learning negative numbers this week and started a unit study on Colorado.  I went to the library and found a great new librarian that is doing some research for Cairn on good books for her to read.  She has read almost every series at the library for girls.  So she either has to start reading individual books (no series) or I don't know yet.  She also wrote her final composition piece for piano before she graduates in February.

Skylar didn't get as much individual schoolwork accomplished this week.  She is slow to recover so I didn't push her.  She did do some reading eggs and she is starting to progress on learning her state locations.

Andrew is working hard on counting above 10, learning to tell time and sportsmanship.  We play a game everyday and sometimes he loses and he is learning how to deal with that frustration.  It is hard.

Mom is not a happy camper!!

We are still dealing with the illness here but guess what?!  The kids were misdiagnosed.

Remember I took Andrew in on Sunday - he was diagnosed with pneumonia and put on Augmentin.  Skylar was taken in on Wednesday and put on Zithromax.  Skylar has had such a huge turnaround today that I called the doctor back and said Andrew doesn't look so good.  See Skylar ate a can and 1/2 of soup for lunch, he has lots of energy and has had a great attitude.  Andrew still won't eat hardly anything, cranky and has little to no energy - no change whatsoever and he has been on meds since Sunday.

We walk in and the doctor says - it isn't pneumonia - you know that right?  No, I thought it was.  She had looked at the x-ray and called a different radiologist - both agreed - no pneumonia.

I had her look at Skylar's x-ray to double check it.  No, she doesn't have pneumonia either.  They both have congestion in their lungs and that is quite evident but it isn't pneumonia.

The diagnosis for both of them = whooping cough!!

The reason Skylar got better so quickly is zithromax is what they treat whooping cough with but the augmentin is not.  So she got covered quickly while Andrew was still fighting the bug.

Once again I should have gone with my gut.  See I didn't think Andrew was doing better on Wednesday and when I called the office, the nurse kind of blew me off with that he hadn't been on the meds long enough and I need to give it more time.  I should have pushed it and pushed to see our regular doctor.  Anytime, we don't see our regular doc I am unhappy.  I am glad we stayed home and didn't expose people to all this mess.

My nightly canvassing hasn't been very nightly but this crazy illness is to blame.  I will definitely get moving this weekend as we have less than 25 days to election day.  One of the most amazing things seems to be happening.  People are talking about politics.

There is a man in the neighborhood that has painted his car/jeep with an American flag and fighter jets and he usually has an American flag and Gadsden flag hanging off the back.  We love that car and whenever we see it the kids get excited and wave.  If I am driving they want me to honk.  Well tonight I was making dinner and this man is at the door.  Now, I have a no soliciting sign so I don't get people stopping by usually.  The man introduces himself - he is the flag car guy!!  He had noticed my signs in the yard, my American flag hanging and wanted to stop by and introduce himself and invite us to a celebration party the Friday after election day.  He wants to celebrate winning hopefully but also get to know his like minded neighbors.

This is what what we need to do and make sure we continue to know our neighbors.  We have gotten to lax in our society in regards to many things but knowing our neighbors and who is in the neighborhood is a big one.  I feel a lot of excitement as I talk to more and more people these days.

Still falling down hill but some good news too

Skylar fell hard today with the bug.  Her temperature skyrocketed to 102.3.  I got her into the doctor this afternoon and she also has pneumonia.  Tonight her temp was still 102.1.  Hopefully, it will break overnight.  We got her started on antibiotics too.  Andrew was doing a little better but his fever came back slightly so I will keep an eye on that tomorrow too.  Cairn seems to be doing okay.  She still has a cough but no fever and not much energy but it hasn't moved into pneumonia yet.  Keep those fingers crossed.

The good news is I went out tonight with Andrew to pass out Romney signs along with some of our local reps who are running in the election.  I had a great response.  Most people wanted a sign - we were only turned down twice.  Everyone loved to see Andrew helping me - "You must be raising him right."  Then I would tell them we homeschool and they loved that he wasn't in the public school system.  I will try to get out most nights from now until the election and even some days if I see people home to get the word out.

What are you doing to help take back our Country?

Down hill quickly

Just a quick note that everyone is now sick - Dad, Cairn and Skylar.  Both girls complained of not feeling well this morning but by tonight they both have temperatures of 101.5.  I will be calling the doctor again tomorrow.

Uh oh...more coming down the road

Andrew had another rough night.  So bad that Dad slept on the couch while Andrew slept with me.  He just can't breathe.  So another night of little sleep for me and not very good sleep for Andrew.  No one got out of bed until 8 AM though.

The girls did school while Andrew just laid around and rested.  He played a little with his toys, rode his bike when we went outside before lunch but didn't have much energy to get it going very well so he got frustrated.   I tried to get him down for a nap but I had missed my window.

The girls and I are not feeling very well.  Cairn is developing a cough and she says a sore throat.  Skylar says she has a headache and feels yucky.  Me, I am just run down and feeling yucky too.  Going to bed as soon as I get school done for the night - hopefully by 9 PM.

Early Sunday visit to the Urgent Care

Andrew had a super rough night.  He was in and out of his bed, my bed and on the floor and he just couldn't get comfortable or breathe well.  He laid next to me and I listened to his labored breathing for hours.  It was scary and then he would wake himself up with a cough and it hurts to cough so he tries to stifle it.  He was miserable.

At 5 AM, he wanted to go downstairs and lay by the fire so we went downstairs.  He seemed to sleep a little better in the bean bag because his head was elevated but it wasn't very deep sleep.

He didn't move all morning.  He asked for a bagel to eat but he couldn't seem to muster up the strength to sit up and feed himself so I sat him up and fed him. 3 bites later and he was falling over in my arms exhausted.  At 9 AM, I took him to urgent care.

Andrew has pneumonia.  His entire right lung is full of it.  He came home and barely moved the rest of the day.  He fell asleep in the bean bag again for about an hour but then woke up coughing again so he wanted me to hold him.  He kept falling asleep he was so tired but never got any good sleep because of his cough.  Tonight I was able to get him into the shower to get cleaned up and clear his lungs a little before bed.  I dosed him and put him to bed.  Hopefully, he and I will get some sleep tonight.  We are doing school, at least the girls are, or as much as we can get finished with Andrew needing to be held.

Still has a fever

Andrew continues to have a fever which doesn't allow much work to get done.  He just wants to be held and cuddled.  His voice sounds horrible and he now has a cough.  When I talked to the doctor on Friday she said it sounded like a virus so continue to treat the symptoms and he still had a fever on Monday to bring him in.  If he fevers all day tomorrow I will take him in.  Luckily, we don't have Girl Scouts on Monday so it should be easy to get him in.

Jewel is over her illness but now Scrappy, the oldest cat at 10 years old, has lost his voice.  The vet swears there is no way Jewel passed on anything to Andrew but now that Scrappy has lost his voice and Andrew is too, I don't know if I believe it.

Andrew got a new bike on Friday.  Dad had found a bike on Craigslist for $10 here in Highlands Ranch so we went and picked it up.  The person we bought it from just moved here from CA.  She asked why Cairn wasn't in school and I said that we homeschool and she said so do we.  It ends up she just joined our homeschool group and I would have met her had we gone to park day on Thursday.  She lives just down the street.  She has 2 boys - 8 and 6.  The 8 year old was very talkative as soon as he heard we homeschool too.  He was very nice.  Anyway, we brought the bike home but Andrew hasn't had a chance to ride it yet since he is sick and it is so cold outside.  Hopefully, next week.

Today, we moved the kids' desks into the TV room next to the fire since we freeze whenever we are in the classroom.  Then we moved my picture stuff out of the loft and moved the toys up there since it stays warm upstairs.  Hopefully, that will help keep people on task this winter as we can stay warm and keep working.