Herpangina Anyone?

If you're thinking "Herpa Who???" - you're in close company because that was exactly the thoughts that ran through our heads, and as one friend said today "that sounds like 2 very bad things put together that nobody wants!" Too true, nobody wants this, but our son Zachary has managed to catch it. Perhaps we should change his name to an Indian name - something like "Him Who Catches Everything!" Good grief - for a child who doesn't eat sugar, doesn't drink sugary drinks, gets proper amounts of rest, tons of vegetables, doesn't go to a daycare, you'd think that he'd have the immune system that would be as strong as a tank, but oh no, if there is something strange to be caught, he'll catch it! :)

New Year's Day after Zachary got up from his nap, Amy sat down and was snuggling a bit with him and noticed that his head was really hot. After the seizure from this summer, she is one finger away from hitting the panic button at all times, so off to get the thermometer she went! Sure enough, his temperature was 102, and over the next hour it went up to 103 range even after giving him Tylenol. Of course with it being New Year's Day, there wasn't any regular pediatricians open, so we went to Night Lite Pediatrics, which is a walk-in urgent care clinic that is run by Florida Hospital Pediatric Specialists. We love that place - no-one was there (good for us, bad for them!), so we got right in and the doctor gave Zachary a good check-up to figure out what was going on. Basically herpangina is a fairly common childhood illness that is similar to Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, just without the foot and hand part. He has a few blisters at the back of his throat, so the Doctor said that he may not be wanting to eat very much as it is VERY painful and lasts about a week. But, we've been fortunate in that department as he has been eating well so far (keep the prayers coming! :)) - but his fever stayed high through Friday (it seems to be holding in a normal range today).

Amy kept him home Friday with the fever and it went back up to 103 again - fearing a seizure (which thankfully did not occur), she took him into a lukewarm shower which did manage to bring it down into the 101-102 range. God answers prayers to be sure as Kaleb slept for 2 hours and 45 minutes Friday morning - this from a child who wasn't sleeping longer than 30 minutes in the morning all week. This made it much easier to try and focus on Zachary's temperature and keep the boys separated as much as possible to help reduce the chances of Kaleb getting it.

We're all praying that we don't get it in fact - this is not a fun thing to have!

We are the proud new owners of 2 additional Britax carseats - "proud" we say loosely, but "poor" is a definite. Those Britax car seats are not cheap, but they are supposed to be the best so at the end of the day, we become stalkers on Ebay trying to find good deals! Kaleb is getting close to outgrowing his infant car seat carrier (which is a blessing and a curse - it is easy to just take the car seat everywhere but he is so heavy now that it is hard to actually carry without your arm breaking off!). These are actually bigger seats, so we'll move Zachary over to the new seats and move Kaleb over into the old ones at the appropriate time. Luckily our existing seats are in prime condition, so Kaleb should never guess that he has hand-me-downs! :)

This week, the backyard fence project began. This project involved replacing the existing fence and taking the Jasmine down to the ground. The Jasmine was planted by the original house owner, and over the years had gotten so tall and thick/heavy that it made the existing lattice collapse. The fence is completed, and Karis is about half-way through removing the Jasmine. We're fairly confident that the Jasmine will grow back, so we hope to keep it in check better this time around.

We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! We stayed at home and had a quiet evening (good thing with the next day fever!) - didn't want to be out on the road with the other "crazies". Who are we kidding - we go to bed at 9:30 to try and keep up with our kids! :)

Daddy & Zachary playing on the new "Plasmacars" - these are super fun little "cars" - you sit on them, and move the steering wheel back and forth in your hands, and they move on their own with the friction of the wheels on the ground. They hold an adult's weight, so although these were Christmas presents for the boys, we'll admit to the parents playing on them just as much as Zachary!

While Zachary wasn't looking (very possessive of "his car" we put Kaleb in the car to give it a "sit" (he's too little to do anything else yet). As you can see, he loved it!

Phrase of the Week: "I didn't seep berry well" - Zachary announced this one morning this week - not sure if he really knows what that means, but he's clearly heard Mom and Dad say it!