The Week That Was

Every now and then a week creeps up on you that turns a few more hairs gray -- if not making them fall out altogether. The management team at work needs you to redo chart 14 with a different color font and run the numbers one more time.....for the eighth time. Or the battery on the car dies when you need to be somewhere five minutes ago. Or in our case this week, a virus decides to make our 18-month old its host sending life for our family into an unmanageable mess.

Tess's fever spiked on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, approaching 105 both nights and dramatically altering her -- and therefore our -- moods, sleep, and eating habits all week. After two trips to the doctor, several short nights with little sleep, a challenging work schedule, church commitments, and late-night runs to the store for more Motrin, Amy & I were just about ready to throw in the towel. Thankfully on Thursday Tess's fever broke and she slept through the night.

On Friday & Saturday Amy & I tried our darnedest to get Tess rehydrated. And while our little one still isn't back to completely being herself -- she has grown accustomed to being a velcro child attached to a parent (mostly "Mom!!") -- Tess is starting to finally come around. Today she ate & drank like normal which gave her some energy and made her more like herself.

In the meantime, Amy & I did get out with the kids on Saturday. There was a 5K run followed by a family fun day with rides, jump houses, a ferris wheel, face painting, & live music up at IBM. Amy & I ran the adult race, and Owen & Gus followed in the kids' 1/2 mile race.

Gus was practically sprinting the whole way, and he eventually gave out in the last 100 yards. Amy & I coerced him to crossing the finish line with us running along by pointing to Owen (who had passed him) and the medal he was about to receive. Gus quickly turned it around, threw fatigue to the wayside, and wore his medal for the rest of the day, including proudly displaying it when we went out to eat for dinner.

Kids get sick. It's just a fact of life that all parents have had to deal with. It is especially true this time of year when the weather cools off and more time is spent indoors. Children are together in schools passing germs back and forth to each other.

And while our tough week was in no way unique, it is one of those weeks that they don't tell you about before you have kids or else no one would procreate.

On an related note, here is this week's stock tip.



The crew about to board the bus to take us to the races.


Owen gladly sat still for the face painting, surprising us with the dolphin over a snake or a shark. Gus had a ferocious dragon, but couldn't keep his hands off his face. He raced into the house when we got home and washed his off before we could get a picture. We took a mental picture.

Here's to a better week -- cheers!