Why?

Why is it that most every time John leaves town (which as you know is quite often), somebody gets sick, something happens, or there is some amount of drama.  

John left Monday morning and is supposed to return Friday night. 

Monday started out normal.  Laundry day, chore day.  We decided to change it up a little and meet Heather and her family at the beach, followed by FHE at Lisa's.  Turned out to be a fun day and great for the cousins to get together since it has been a year since we've seen them.  Well, my gall bladder (or whatever the annoying problem is) started acting up and I was down for the night.  What a pain!  John wasn't there to help, but luckily my kids had their cousins to play with so they were occupied.  I'm so grateful for family to help out.  However, I'm bummed that I missed Lisa's bbq pizza!   

Tuesday started out just grand:  the termite inspector came first thing in the morning to give us a glowing report that we have termites in a few different spots around the house and tenting is a must.  Not only that, but there is a lot of dry rot and pretty much the entire patio cover needs to be replaced.  Great.  There goes my wood floors, or my stairs, or my bathroom, or my window treatments, or anything else I'd rather spend the money on.  Hey, what about a wedding ring?  Back burner yet again. 

That was the morning.  Then in the afternoon we went swimming with friends and cousins at a community pool and as I was starting to unload the car, Ashlyn and Christian took off to the pool to catch up with their cousins.  They didn't have floaties on, nor sunscreen, so I took off after them.  Remember, Ashlyn is a daredevil and loves swimming so she would jump into the deep end if she could.  Madison stayed in the car to put on her bathing suit.  As I was walking back to the car to get all my stuff (floaties, etc.), Madison met me half way and announced very proudly that she already locked up the car (now wasn't that being responsible?).  The only problem is that EVERYTHING except one bottle of sunscreen that I was holding was in the car!  Keys, floaties, towels, phone, etc.  She manually locked the doors and the whole car locked, and even the alarm armed itself.  Luckily one of my friends had the number for AAA and a phone so I could call them and have a tow truck come.  Meanwhile, I had to hold Ashlyn off from swimming for 1/2 hour until they arrived.  The AAA guy came and in little time had my car opened, alarm blaring.  I finally get to the pool and get the kids situated so they can swim and Madison shows me her hand that swollen to nearly double its size.  Turns out as she was digging in the sand at the beach the day before, something stung her on the back of her finger.   Some friends were worried and suggested I rush her to urgent care.  I really, really, really don't like going to the doctor where they treat you like it's nothing and say to take Benadryl and watch it.  So, I packed everyone up, went home, gave her Benadryl, ice, and elevation and decided to watch it to make sure it didn't get worse.  I'm grateful for caring friends to help out and for Denise to call to ask if she could sit with my kids in case I had to go to Urgent Care.

All the while I have two extra kids over and have to make a salad to get to Enrichment at 6:30. Lucky for me a neighbor girl came over to play, too, and her mom came by to chat.  She graciously volunteered to take my kids (all of them!  she only has one so this is a huge change in her family dynamic!) so I could get out and attend Enrichment.  She and her husband were in for a real treat that night.  I'm sure their normal, quiet household was turned upside down.  I'm so grateful for kind neighbors! 

Wednesday was going to be a good day!  Madison's hand was not worse, and not painful, and maybe slightly less swollen.  Brooke had her piano lesson, but Madison still couldn't play.  She was well enough though to have a playdate with Anna all day.  The rest of the kids were able to take an afternoon nap!  Hallelujah!  Then we went to our friends' house (the Gates') to swim and play.  Our husbands are together on the business trip, so what better thing to do than to get together and have dinner and a movie?  The kids swam and in their amazing pool and then we ordered Chinese and watched a video.  Ashlyn was being sooo good and not getting into anything.  She just wanted to be held.  Unusual, but nice!  Then I noticed her forehead getting hot, then her cheeks, then her neck.  Yup, sure enough, a fever.  Luckily Tina had some baby Motrin and a thermometer.  101 - and counting.  I really hate to say this, but it's kind of nice when they don't feel so well.  They just want to relax and be held.   She still had a fever when we got home and put her to bed, but luckily slept through the night. 

Ashlyn woke up on Thursday with a burning fever.  Still there.  She wanted to be held, and wanted to drink.  She was dehydrated from not wanting anything the night before, so I gave her a cool drink, then some more.  Just after I got her dressed and buckled her shoes, she threw up all over them.  Too much drink!  But the good news is that she was quite happy after that.   And, the other good news is that Madison's hand is much better so she could have a piano lesson today.  This afternoon we ventured out to the beach for Thursday beach day.  It's the first time this summer we've been available to go!  I figured that even though Ashlyn wasn't 100%, she would enjoy the beach, and I would enjoy holding her while everyone else played.  She ended up playing a little bit, then towards the end at about 5:00, her fever came back and was over 102 by the time we got home.  She hadn't had any Motrin since 8:00 a.m.  I brought cousins Becki and Melanie home with me, and Christian went home with Lisa.  For some reason, he really wants to play where there are other boys!  Imagine that!  He really has enjoyed being with his cousin Spencer this week.  Us girls all washed the car when we got home.  Then Lisa called me to say Spencer threw up and I might want to get Christian before he's too exposed.  Yikes!  I don't need that added to my repertoire of sick family this week.   After I feed everyone dinner, and Heather picks up Becki, it's time to go to bed.  John calls to say good-night and I have to get off the phone with him because I'm starting to feel sick.  What is going on here?  

I think the moral of the story is that John needs to stay in town more so we can stay healthy longer!