Toasty Bear

Our fabulous weekend came to an abrupt end when the Cbear woke up moaning at 4:55 a.m. on Tuesday. JP happens to leave the house at 4:50 to go swim (because he's insane), so I was awake as I watched the headlights back out down the driveway. Usually I roll over, miss his presence in bed, and fall back asleep. On Tuesday, I heard some pitiful whimpers and hopped up to check it out. We are blessed with two kids who sleep without a peep from 8 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., so the rare late night sound always means something is wrong.

And oh, something was wrong. My little bear was flaming hot. I could feel the heat radiating off her restless body before my hands even touched her. I scooped her up and started frantically flipping through my memory to remember where we put the thermometer. Landon and Claire haven't been sick in months, maybe years. I don't think Landon has had a fever since he turned 1 and Claire's last sick baby visit was when she was 9 months old and had her one and only ear infection. I'm not sure where the thermometer was in Austin and I definitely wasn't sure where it was in Fort Worth. I finally found it (in the kitchen pantry -- why??) and when I sat her on the counter to take her temp, she was whimpering and her arms were shaking. I did not like seeing my feisty little honey badger like that. Not at all.

happy and healthy on Saturday

Her fever was 103.8. It was just after 5 a.m. and I was trying to figure out who to call (we don't have a Fort Worth pediatrician yet), whether I should call whoever I should call, and where in the hell we'd put the children's tylenol. I ended up contacting our insurance company's 24-hour nurse line. The nurse was very nice and helpful and answered on the first ring and I chatted with her in a hushed voice while I snuggled Cbear on our bed. She said to take her temp again after an hour and if it had gone to down to at least 101, I could wait to call our pediatrician when the office opened.

I googled a pediatrician on my phone while watching the clock and at 5:55 her temperature was down to 101.5 and she wasn't shaking anymore. JP came home at 7 and took over the snuggle duties while I grabbed an extra hour of sleep (insomnia had kept me up until 2 a.m., of course). Then Claire and I snuggled and watched Disney movies all morning before going to the pediatrician at noon where she was diagnosed with... a cold. Poor C-bear, all that drama and such a mundane diagnosis (not that we want anything fancy, but something with an immediate cure would have been nice).

Since then there's been lots of coughing, lots of nose wiping (and then lots of squawking when she realizes there's yucky snot on her hand, she does NOT like that), regular doses of ibuprofen, and the most snuggles I've ever received in 36 hours.

first morning cartoon viewing since March;
Landon thinks Claire should get sick more often

Today JP hung out with the Bear while I went in to work for a few hours (I'm almost out of sick days). She was a bit of a nuisance on his conference calls, but luckily she's doubling up on naps while she recovers. And because she has her daddy wrapped around her chubby little finger, she got him to cover her head in about 20 "hairboes" on a short break between calls. She was very proud.

so fancy

She's still coughing and her voice is hoarse and her nose is runny, but she's perkier and she hasn't had a fever since this morning. Hopefully she's turning a corner, because she is supposed to look like this:

from last Friday- yes, that's her favorite shirt

Not this.

Poor toasty bear.