"it could be much worse."

"lice, worms, chickenpox, annie, my dear, it could be much worse."  those were the words from our family doctor yesterday afternoon.  i'm still feeling rather itchy as i type.  see, these toddlers, they are learning to share, and well, they just wanna share everything!

jb stayed home from school yesterday after coming down with a fever (102.8) late saturday night.  a little tylenol, extra snuggles and the kid slept like a rock until 9:30 the next morning.  sunday, his temp was down, but he was still feeling rather sluggish.  he kept telling us throughout the day on sunday that "i have a bug in my eaw" - since our lovely doctor pulls plastic bugs from his pocket right before examining the kid's ear.  fun!  monday, we visited the doctor with the thought of an ear infection.  nope.  jb had swollen glands and a red throat; mr. doctor thought he had strep.  nope, again.  we went home thinking it was just a virus.  monday evening, i noticed little red dots all over his feet as i peeled off his new slippers.  ben thought it was a heat rash.  i thought maybe i should have washed the slippers before he put them on.  fast forward to 1 am and the kid's first of four wake-ups that night.  each time, he was complaining that his feet hurt.  i never even thought of the rash.  i blame the middle-of-the-night, half-asleep, huh? where am i? affliction.  i decided at the 4 am wake up that jb would be staying home from school again - mostly because i didn't want to wake up at 8 am.  and, it's a good thing.   the kid slept in until 10:30, obviously needing his rest.

so with an already scheduled appointment in town, i loaded up the kids.  from the time it took us to get dressed and drive the 10 minutes into wasilla, jb's hands had exploded with a rash, worse than the one on his tootsies.  i called the doctor and was able to get squeezed in but not for 2 hours.  so, we waited.  i was thinking chickenpox?  nooo, he got the vaccine!  i ran through what we had for dinner.  allergic reaction?

hand, foot and mouth disease.  when i called jb's school to let them know he would be home for a while, they told me 2 other kiddos were out because of it.  uhhh, i have the willies just thinking about it.  and wouldn't you know... jack's birthday party was scheduled for sunday.  i quickly made phone calls, delayed the cake order and pushed back his celebration until the following sunday.

because he's now stuck at home, i decided to pull a few of his birthday presents from my closet stash.  i let him pick between a fishing game (where the fish open and close their mouths and you try to get them to bite your fishing pole) and a tow mater version of the classic operation game.  what do you think he picked???

 i got it, mama!

he's really doing ok.  the hfmd sounds more awful than it actually is.  his feet never got any worse, but his hands definitely look a little gnarly.  (sorry, bud, but they do!)  he has a few spots on his body, but never developed anything on his face or in his mouth.  the doctor said it's about as contagious as the common cold, and there are no antibiotics for it; it just has to run it's course.  i mentioned jack's birthday party on sunday, and he just dismissed it as jack would be fine for it - "but dylan should be full blown by then!" he said with a chuckle.  so, that's why i decided to push it back.  so far, so good.  she hasn't had a fever yet, and i'm praying that my baby girl's immune system is in kick-butt mode.