Notes from the House of Pestilence

"The House of Pestilence" is the label my friend, Jean, assigned to my home this week.  "Why would she say such a thing?" you might ask yourself.

It all started on Friday, Nov.6.  Matthew came home from school and "didn't feel up to" playing with his friends. You parents out there know that statement from a child is a big, red flag that something's wrong.  Sure enough, when I checked, he had a fever.  The only other symptoms were a mild cough and occasional loss of appetite.  So we had a low-key weekend, and Sunday night at bedtime he was fever-free.

But by then Jeremy had started a fever.

Matthew stayed fever-free on Monday and on Tuesday was able to go back to school.  But that evening his coughing really escalated, and when he got up on Wednesday morning he had a fever again.  So off to the docs we went.  They both tested positive for the flu,and Matthew had developed pneumonia as well.  Jeremy was tracking exactly 2 days behind Matthew.  Sure enough, on Friday he was seen at the doc and diagnosed with pneumonia as well.

So, for 8 days now the boys have been home sick.  Matthew seemed just perfectly  normal again today, and it looks like he'll be back to school on Monday.  Jeremy was still feverish all day today, so unless he's normal tomorrow he'll miss *another* day of school.  As I tucked him into bed tonight, he turned and said to me "Mom, I really miss my school."  Me too, buddy, trust me!

We did manage some fun, though.  They were both kind of bummed out Wednesday at dinner time, missing school and their friends.  So Ryan and I offered up a special bath in our tub.  We have an extra-deep garden tub in our bathroom, with nice jets.  We put enough water in to cover the jets, then turned them on.  Jets + bubble bath = bubbles nearly 2 1/2 feet high!  The boys had an absolutely blast playing in it!  And the cat, naturally, had to inspect the situation.

So far, Ryan and I have managed to avoid getting sick, and we're hoping it stays that way.