The Flu

The kids had a rough week.  We determined that they had the flu. (Covid test was negative.) Henry threw us off at the beginning with his sore throat.  We expected strep.  Then when Josiah fell sick, and eventually Caroline too, they didn't have the extreme sore throat that Henry had.  Besides that, they all followed the same pattern.  Fever day, followed by an extremely high fever at night, followed by a "normal" fever day.  There was throwing up and headaches, muscle pains and just a general sick feeling.  All three of them said their legs hurt.  When they were finally able to eat, Gatorade and crackers were their friends.  We rotated who slept on the couch.  When Henry felt well enough to go to his own bed at night, Caroline rotated down to the couch.  Nights were very rough.  When Caroline first fell sick, she woke at 1:30 a.m. and was up the rest of the night.  At 2:30 a.m. she asked me why my eyes were closed.  I'm tired....

By Tuesday, Henry was feeling better and actually completed his school work on his own volition.  

By Wednesday, Henry was feeling well enough to go to our neighbor's orchestra concert.  Our neighbor had invited the whole family, but that wasn't happening.  The neighbor kid was really excited for us to come because the kids were allowed to wear costumes and he was going as a banana.  After they played their first song, Henry asked if that was it.  Nope!  After an hour of three different school orchestras playing, Henry was pretty much done with middle school orchestra concerts.  The best costumes were the cello players from the high school orchestra.  They all dressed as Expo dry erase markers.  It was a very clever costume.  

By Thursday I had to tell Henry to "slow down" a hundred times a day, so he was totally better except for a lingering cough which will take a while to kick.  

I knew Josiah was doing better when he kept asking for taquitos and burritos to eat.  

Caroline has had a slower recovery.  On Friday she seemed to be getting better, but over the weekend it felt like she was regressing.  It sounds like a sinus infection has taken the place of the flu, so we're off to see her doctor this week.  

We did get one thing accomplished.  Caroline's loft bed finally arrived and we spent the afternoon putting it together.  Todd got a new drill out of the deal since we needed a more powerful one to build it.  We also determined quite quickly that the loft was never leaving this room.  With every screw Todd drilled, it became a permanent structure in this house.   I hope she likes it...for the next nine years at least.  Caroline had previously had a queen size mattress since we've used her room as the guest room.  Neither boy wanted to have a queen size bed, so we got Caroline a queen size loft.  Once she feels better, we'll get her comfy chair and bookcase set up underneath to make a cozy reading nook.  Her room has been a long time coming, but we're finally at the end of the all the changes.