I had an eye appointment today.  Not terribly interesting.  All is well and the doctor was quick. Exactly what you want from a doctor appointment. 

Here are a few pics. :-)

Lex woke up this morning looking like this –

So much for improvement with a good night’s sleep. I spent awhile deliberating about who should take him to the doctor.  No question that he needed a doctor!  Alan offered to rearrange a few things and take the day off, but my momma heart was hurting.  Then Lex snuggled me and said he really wanted me to take him.  Decision made.  I was supposed to be at UVEI today, but I’m a momma first.  I also had my own emergency doctor visit today!  Last night I was taking my contacts out and one tore.  I’ve never had that happen before.  It looked and felt like there was a triangle piece still in my eye.  And, of course, it was my last lens.  Luckily it was my right eye, which isn’t all that great anyway.

So we dropped Eve off at school and headed to the doctor’s office for a drop-in, unannounced visit.  They took one look at him and said, “Come right in!”  Almost like that anyway, we only had to wait a few minutes before they were able to fit us in.  The doctor did her full exam and decided it was just a local reaction, which I guess is a good thing.  She gave him a prescription from prednisone and we headed off to see the eye doctor.

The eye doctor was equally quick.  We were lucky everyone was so accommodating to our emergency needs.  The doctor put an orange colored dye in my eye to make it easier to see if there was any part of the lens in there.  She couldn’t find anything.  Then she gave me a trial lens in my prescription, which was amazing!  My right eye has a very unique prescription so I wasn’t expecting them to have that available in trial. I was mostly planning on headaches for a few days until we could order new ones.  I had an appointment scheduled for Thursday, which I will be keeping, and I didn’t want to order new lenses before getting my Rx checked.  I got lucky with the trial one.

Since I could see again and Lex was feeling alright, I decided to take advantage of the “day off” and get some long over-due errands done, like the grocery shopping!  With his swollen face and my orange eye I’m sure we looked like quite the pair walking into CVS.  We headed straight to the dairy case for some chocolate milk to wash down the medicine – doctor’s orders.  Then grocery shopping, book store, and a quick visit to Good Beginnings to drop off some baby items from a friend that have been sitting in my car for weeks.  Like I said, long over-due errands.

We got home, crashed in front of our respective computers for an hour, then went to the bus stop to pick up Eve and a friend of hers who we were babysitting for the afternoon.   By the end of the afternoon we had four moms and seven kids.  We played in the leaves, played in the sand, played in the Legos, and had a noisy fun afternoon.

One mom brought pizza and we had a big dinner party.  Alan came home to a surprise house full of people. :)

Tomorrow Lex and I are going back to school. Hopefully with little to no swelling. Conveniently they are riding bikes in PE and he doesn’t want to miss that, so that will be good motivation to get him out the door in the morning. I’m glad through all of this that he has felt just fine. He looks awful, but he’s had plenty of energy, a good appetite, and a very good disposition. He has made caring for him very sweet and easy.

My blog post titles are getting so clever. Lots going on this weekend. Lots of little things, nothing major.

It started Friday afternoon with a trip to the eye doctor for Eve. Once again she is doing just fine, the doctor is very happy with her eye strength improvements. They dilated her eyes so she got that little bit of fun that only those of us with bad vision ever get to experience. I told her that I’m going next month and they’ll probably dilate my eyes too, so she’ll have to drive us all home. That got a good laugh. We also ordered new glasses for her. It was a debate (between me, myself, and I mostly) because she doesn’t need a new prescription, but her glasses were too small and very scratched up, but so darn cute! She was a bit hesitant about picking new ones (and her eyes were dilated so she couldn’t see well), but she finally found a pair she really liked and got excited after that. Stay tuned for Eve’s new look next week. :)

Saturday morning started with a trip to the flu shot clinic. This time Eve put up a fuss and lots of tears while Lex did ok. He started protesting and wouldn’t sit on the table, so I pulled him on my lap in the chair and wrapped him up and started talking quietly into his ear. The nurse took the silently offered opportunity and did her job quickly! He wasn’t happy, but it was over in no time and he survived. Eve, on the other hand, backed herself into a corner and wailed. Alan pulled her onto his lap on the doctor’s table and gave her a big hug. The nurse saw an exposed shoulder and lickety-split, Eve’s shot was over. She continued to wail. Alan and I both made it through with no tears of our own! :)

Then we celebrated with a trip to play mini-golf. Eve continued to cry about everything and chose not to play. However, the sunshine and fresh air did her good and she happily tagged along while we played. The course is beautiful and Eve enjoyed the flowers and ponds as much as we enjoyed the game. I kept getting distracted with taking pictures. Lex and Alan were more focused on the game. It was a great morning!

Saturday afternoon we spent outside, playing in the leaves. I’m glad we did too, because it rained Saturday evening and all night, so the leaves were wet and gross today. Glad we got some good leaf raking and pile jumping in on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday was quieter. The kids played outside and played their computer games. I went for a walk/run. Alan worked. This afternoon he started working in the basement again and we started moving things back in!!! Exciting! I’ll post pictures of the basement soon. It’s beautiful!

At dinner time Lex wanted garlic bread. He didn’t want to make it himself so he decided to order some. He got out a few menus and compared prices. When I told him that they probably wouldn’t deliver such a small order, he recruited Eve and Alan to go in on the order as well. Everyone paid for their own food and, most exciting of all, Lex phoned in the order!!! He did it all on his own. He gave them our order, our address, got the total, and even used good manners and a clear speaking voice. I was impressed. I was in the kitchen, right nearby just in case, but making a salad and not hovering. He figured out the money (with a little help from Alan and I on the tip) and collected everyone’s contributions, and got done just before the delivery guy came. He was so proud of himself.

We had a bit more excitement this evening when I noticed red spots all over Lex in the tub tonight. His abdomen and inner thighs are covered. There are also a few spots on his arms and legs and one hand. I immediately thought chicken pox. I turned his bath into an oatmeal bath and told him to stay put for awhile, then I called the doctor. His first question was, “Is Lex acting sick?” That seemed to be the determining factor. Lex wasn’t acting sick at all. In fact, he was full of energy and feeling just fine. The doctor said it’s most likely hives. Just thinking of hives this evening has left me feeling hot and itchy all over! I gave Lex some antihistamine (expired in 2010 ’cause I’m a rockstar parent!) and let him stay up late and watch a show with Alan. He went to bed still spotty, but less itchy. Hopefully they clear up soon! I thought maybe it was a flu shot reaction (a first) but Lex reminded me that the itchiness started yesterday afternoon after a weird caterpillar fell out of a tree and into his lap. So maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe we’ll never know. I’m holding off on telling him about my hive related trips to the hospital. He’s worried enough without that little factoid!

The doctor said as long as he’s feeling ok and not acting sick then we should send him to school tomorrow. That was my real reason for calling on a Sunday night, otherwise I would have just called during business hours. I didn’t want to be “that mom” who sends her kid to school with chicken pox! Conveniently I’m right next door to him in school, so if he’s having trouble at school tomorrow I can dose him up again. I’ll keep ya posted. (Alan did some googling just now and determined it was a Hickory Tussock caterpillar. So there’s that.)

On to another full week at school. My first solo day of teaching is this week. I have an awesome lesson plan written and I’m ready to go!

My poor, neglected blog. I have run out of time in my days. Run out of energy. Every last drop this week and last has been spent on UVEI writing assignments and lesson planning. And, of course, life. I’ve yet to find that “pause” button allowing things to slow down a bit. I can’t say this is unexpected though. I know this will be a full, action-packed year! So far I’m loving it, Alan is hanging in there, and the kids are doing just fine. Well… they have become video game junkies, but otherwise doing fine! I dropped them off at school on Tuesday because UVEI didn’t start until a bit later and Alan really wanted to sleep in. He’s not used to these early mornings. :) When we got to school Lex asked if I was going to walk them to their classrooms. I said no, though inside I really wanted to say yes! I said “Daddy drops you off right here and I think I’ll do the same.” He considered it for a moment then said ok, gave me a hug, and ran inside. I think the separation was harder for me than it was for him! As it should be, I suppose.

Hmm… what else?! We mostly go to school and come home. Last weekend we were busy all weekend, but I don’t remember many details. We had a goodbye brunch with friends who are moving out of the country and we had some other friends over after school a few times this week. This weekend we have a flu-shot appointment. Hopefully we won’t have to drag Lex out from under the doctor’s desk like we did last year!

I’m trying to keep my jealousy under control as I think of most of my family in VA this weekend, visting Joyce! The kids and I were researching airline tickets yesterday. Still expensive! :( Alan said we should just hop in the car and drive down… and I thought real hard about that! Alas, I am a realist (and maybe a bit boring these days) and really can’t swing it. That and we would be ditching school in so many different ways! So we’ll stay here and just be with you in spirit!