coming out of quarantine

We've had sickness in our house for a month now. Seriously. Perhaps a few two-day spurts of no fevers maybe twice over the last month but overall just sick. Fevers here, fevers there, some sky high, some mild but all in all I've had enough. I'm tempted to move back to Australia because we didn't get sick there once, not once! I can't even imagine.

some days were better than others :)

We've been stuck inside for way too long, suffering from a Dora/Little Einsteins/Curious George overload, burned through bottles and bottles of childrens tylenol and motrin, used our thermometer an average of 4 times a day, spoke with our doctor WAY too often over the phone - sometimes multiple times a day (it was worth it, we avoided the ER) and after all this I'm so ready for warmer weather and healthy kids so we can be once again out and about.

setting up 'resting spots' around the house, her contribution to healing

too bad you can't see one of M's iconic, self-selected outfits under that blanket

Fevers yesterday and Henry was up 6-7 times last night but today we were fever-free!  I didn't want to risk it too much so our morning outing involved going down to the laundry room to do a whopping 5 loads.  Just imagine all those looks I get from single students who hire cleaning ladies.  Yep, just me and the cleaning ladies in the laundry room during the day - at least the kids get lots of attention.  I'll have to bring my camera one time to document our laundry journey :)

Madeleine is off and on with her naps these days; however, she does great with quiet time.  We set the timer for 90 minutes, give her some books and she's not allowed off our bed.   Fortunately, about a week ago Madeleine dropped the timer and miraculously the sound or beeping no longer works.  This little accident has transformed my afternoons.  She now reads books for roughly 60-90 minutes and then falls asleep for another hour and a half.  Magic! There are days she doesn't fall asleep but she'll typically stay up there for at least 2 hours.  However, lately with fevers and such 3-4 hours of free time in the afternoons have made the last month of cabin fever barely managable.

Henry typically puts in a solid 2, sometimes 3 hour nap so he and I often times have some rare one-on-one time with him before Madeleine wakes up.  I'm sure this is only fueling Henry's ever-increasing attachment to me but for now I'll take it and wishfully blame the separation anxiety on the sickness.  I can't get enough of him.  I mean, look at these picutres, he kisses his own leg when he bumps it!  I just want to gobble him up. 

Madeleine picked out his clothes, hence the shorts, and she takes this self-assigned job very seriously.  She'll pick out clothes days in advance and put them in secret places, (under her bed, in her kitchen oven, behind the toys, under her pillow) and in the morning spend forever deciding which of her stashed outfits would suit her that day, and the same for Henry.  "Diva, get a move on!" is my typical morning thought when she's discussing with me which outlandish outfit combination she should wear and why.  Henry is much easier - he prefers his bike shirt, suprise suprise, and if that's dirty he's up for anything Madeleine picks out. 

Adorably sporting a Madeleine-chosen outfit (we got lucky today), Henry and I went out on our balcony and enjoyed some rare sunshine and yummy goldfish.  55 degrees gave me some fresh hope on our recent quarantined status.  We're coming back world!  Wish us luck in our quest for a healthy start to spring.

Oh, you want pictures of the spoken-of momma's boy?  done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

looking seven stories down, I'm grateful for the bars!