So Much To Say

So much has happened over the past couple weeks. My mom came to visit. Louisa was sick. We went to Portland for LJ's 2nd birthday and a DC United vs. Portland Timbers game. I got sick again (weird).

The weekend after Easter my mom arrived. Friday morning, Tilley and Jessica came over for homemade donuts. It was a beautiful day and the three of us sat in our back yard while the girls played with LJ's dolls. Friday evening, we went to our favorite pizza place (for the ambiance, not the pizza) with Crysten. Unfortunately, Louisa was not feeling well. In the middle of dinner we gave her some Tylenol and, despite the presence of Mom and Crysten, Louisa fell asleep as we ate. I assumed it was a quick fever/fluish/allergy illness that she would recover from by the next morning. Also, we watched the new Footloose that evening. Despite what Crysten says, it is one the best movies ever made. I highly recommend it. Kevin who?

Saturday, my action plan was to prepare the backyard for a garden with my mom's help. We were fairly successful initially. We found a great garden store, collected a number of interesting flowers and vegetables. But that afternoon, after Amos had left for his game, on our way to Louisa's favorite place, Target, Louisa vomited in the car all over herself. We quickly pulled over to clean her up, but she cried and cried for Target. "Target!" she wailed, "I want to go to Target!" Mom and I decided we could run into Target and buy Frozen as we had planned and put off the other purchases on our list. When we arrived at Target, I ran in to see if they had an inexpensive 2T t-shirt for Louisa so she wasn't sitting in her own puke. The universe smiled upon us and, there, in all the glory of the Target florescent light, was a 24 month pink Frozen t-shirt. I bought it, ran to the car where Mom was cleaning the chair and comforting Louisa, and dressed her. Unfortunately, we made the wrong decision. While in Target, Louisa continued to dry heave until we exited and she threw up all over the parking lot. By the time we got home, LJ had a high fever. So Mom cooked while I cuddled her on the couch with Frozen in the background. Let me tell you, it is nice to have your mom around during times like these. I didn't have to think of making dinner, cleaning the kitchen, or anything. Mom took care of it all. "That's because she is a Minnesota Mom," my friend insists.

One of the fun gifts Nanny brought for LJ's birthday. A Dusty airplane.

Gardening

Dirty babies are health babies

Making an action plan

The next morning, Louisa was feeling better and insisted on spending the day outside with Nanny. When I would come out with them, Louisa would say, "Mommy, go inside" as she wanted Nanny all to herself. We did manage to do a lot of planting that morning and made plans for additional planting, but my garden remains unfinished. I had thought I could complete it the rest of the week but it downpoured until we left for Portland on Thursday.

Sunday evening, Louisa had slipped back into a fever and her right eye was "bugging" her. By the next morning it was swollen and shut. She basically didn't open her eyes again until Wednesday. Amos stayed with her Monday and Wednesday and I stayed home Tuesday. You'd think staying home with your sick kid would involve the child sleeping and you accomplishing necessary tasks (i.e. gardening and packing). But Louisa refused to be put down so I spent most of Tuesday lying on the couch with her.

Wednesday we kept her home but she was on the mend. Unfortunately, her eye was still painful so she kept her eyes closed most of the day. This did not stop her, however, from dancing to Frozen Heart when we turned on Frozen. She is committed.

Finally, Thursday she returned to school but was fussy most of the day. We flew out to Portland that afternoon and my story will continue from there tomorrow. I need to get some medicine.