Being Sick

Since Pony Gal's premature birth, I have always been hyper-vigilant about us spreading our sickness elsewhere, and tend to get peeved when others do not at least give a heads up. Unfortunately, I have been pretty lax here lately about staying home. With the frigid weather, our whole household has been inundated with cabin fever. It seems that getting out of the house is about the only way to help. We really don't get sick too frequently, though. This most recent cold, from which I am currently suffering, is really cruddy, though. Superboy and I were both up all night with earaches and my throat is terribly swollen. To anyone we have been around, I apologize. Unfortunately I think this stuff hit and didn't show symptoms right away because it was just overnight that the whole house started getting icky, and ickier...I thought I had escaped it.
Now, that being said, as the kids get older, I have gotten lax in avoiding others who are sick, as well. I believe a little bit of this or that now and then helps to build the immune system, as much as it sucks to ride it out. That is also why we are delaying and avoiding certain vaccinations for Superboy, and nixing continuation of some of the ones Pony Gal got as a baby (much to the doctor's chagrin).
I know not everyone is up for being sick, and had it been feverish or pukey, we totally wouldn't have ventured out. I do wait a day or two after I see stuff pop up to make sure it isn't more than a cold, but for Sarah at the Sci Center yesterday, I hope we didn't pass this too you. It escalated after we left to some serious crabbiness, but it was fun to hang and talk!
I CAN'T WAIT FOR WARMER WEATHER!

Mosquitos? After THAT weather?

We have known for some time that Pony Gal reacts pretty strongly to mosquitoes, and that they are oddly attracted to her. She gets this tendency from her dad, as I rarely get bitten unless it is like swarming with the evil little things. We were at my sister's the last half of the week for prison town to the north's citywide garage sales, and despite the rather chilly weather, she had tons of bugs. We haven't had any out here at the farm for quite some time. Anyway, Pony Gal got several bites Thursday, which we benedryl'd and calamine'd and moved on. They swelled a little, though not as badly as we have dealt with before. Two were on her head, and the biggest one was on her nose, making it look like it was broken. Friday she got stung on her forehead. Not good. By dinner time it was so large I wouldn't have recognized her if I didn't know who she was. Come Saturday it was on the verge of taking over her eyes, which would have meant a trip to the er. The Dr. told us to wait until that point, if we reached it at all, but to use claritin and something for the itching. So then we noticed that she was WAY hyperactive and irritable all weekend. Aaah. Thus the epiphany that Pony Gal is one of those kids who react to claritin. It has been a just fantabulous last few days waiting for that stupid bite to go away so I can get my kid back. I will not be using claritin again with her. If it weren't for the fact that it was pretty serious I would have avoided using it anyway, but she was so uncomfortable. We did get some great balm from Prairieland Herbs while were out there for their open house on Sunday. I actually bought several things and grabbed quite a few samples, too. I highly recommend the healing stick they sell. It made such a difference for her forehead. And it will be used for our diaper rashes, now as well. We will be going back. For sure. And Pony Gal is all back to normal, now, but I am rather paranoid about letting her out after sundown as we don't want anymore bites. It made our weekend waaaayyyy too long.

Random Stuff

First and foremost, I hate being sick. I have dealt with allergies that I have not had for the last three years, which have been trying as I can do NOTHING about them. I refuse to medicate my baby. I do drink some tea that helps, but definitely does not fully alleviate the problem. Now, I also have a nasty cold on top of it. I think it is due to catering my brother in law's wedding this weekend, which totally wore me out. I am, after all, eight months pregnant. I woke up-no got up because I did not really sleep at all-about an hour and half before I usually do and ran a hot bath (as hot as it can be because of the baby) and laid in it for about the full hour before my husband got up. My throat had pretty much swollen shut so I wasn't going to be sleeping. I tried to nap yesterday when Pony Gal did, but it was futile. I hate flies also, I might mention. They were the problem then. I still had to get farm deliveries ready and need to get garage sale stuff ready, too. I can't really give myself much time at this point to be miserable, and yet I am.
So, about the garage sale. For those of you who like the city-wides, as I do because then you don't have to drive much, you can walk most of the them, the prison town to the north is having theirs this weekend, Thursday on. My sister lives in town there, so we are selling a lot there. Lots of toys that I have weeded out that I just don't care to have around anymore. Plenty of other stuff, too, of course.
On a third note, Pony Gal is growing up so fast. We woke up this morning and there were lights on in the house that we know we turned off last night before we went to bed. I noticed the kitten had not followed us in to sleep like she usually does, so I left the door cracked. Well, at some point she must have decided she wanted to come in, but needed to be rescued to do so. Pony Gal woke up and was telling me about the kitten crying and how she had gotten her. I didn't think anything of it until the lights issue came up. She managed to get up in the middle of the night, turn on lights, find Callie, and bring her back in to go to sleep with her. She has done pretty well at helping with her care. I am trying to find a bucket to keep the food in so she can keep that topped off and she runs Callie to the litter box when she gets whiny like she needs to potty. She also watches her to make sure she isn't getting into trouble.
I love the weather, though. It is definitely nice. If only I could enjoy it...