Chris and Kristen + 2: Sick and Stuck Inside

We got struck by hand, foot, and mouth disease the week I was set to go in and work on pulling my classroom together. Hannah actually started us out with a very mild version which we at first thought was a reaction to a fruit spread she had never eaten before as she never got the characteristic high fever. So of course we didn't know that she was contagious when she was...you know where this is headed. We knew by Saturday when the pin pick dots appeared on her hands and around her mouth that hand, foot, and mouth it was indeed. She handled it pretty well and would really only complain when eating. She had an appetite, but would cry when she swallowed certain foods and came to eat yogurt for almost every meal. She was also quickly introduced to popsicles and ice cream too!

You've got to get creative when stuck inside. My ab ball made for great entertainment for a good while as it was rolled, bounced, and kicked around our house (this is the most use it's seen in about 2 years or more). You can see that Hannah is feeling pretty good despite her illness.

You can see the blisters on her tongue...poor girl.

Popsicles--cold!

Hannah spends time playing with our Kindle which she calls cookie. She has several apps, but her favorite is the Peekaboo Barn.

Owen did not fare as well as Hannah with hand, foot, and mouth. He had a fever of 102 when I got home from setting up my classroom on Monday afternoon, it spiked to 103 that night (which put me on the phone with our pediatrician's on call service), and on Tuesday he did not want me out of his sight. So bless their hearts, Nana and Grandma, left me at home with sick babies and went to finish my classroom. By Tuesday afternoon I could not put Owen down and he would just randomly cry out in pain. He stopped eating and drinking. At one point I thought we were going to be waiting at the pediatrician's office for IV fluids when they opened because we couldn't get him to drink for 12 hours. We were up every hour or so all night trying to soothe him and get him to drink something. He would shake his head no and tell us back, back, back. It was so sad. He would only sleep laying on top of me and thank goodness PBS Sprout does not run infomercials because we watched it several times throughout the night over a 48 hour period. He did not eat for over 48 hours and we called the pediatrician's office several times and paid a visit too. Owen ended up with tons of blisters in his mouth and throat, on his bottom, and his legs were covered. It was the worst I have ever seen him feel. Chris ended up having to take off two days and my mom helped us out too. Chris and I lysoled, bleached, and sanitized toys every night. I was so happy to see our Owen return to normal, not have Hannah get reinfected, and see the end of toy sanitization. I think our house will smell of Lysol for months to come.

After 48 hours of not eating even though he was hungry Owen rips into a box of cereal bars and opens the wrapper himself for the first time. Unfortunately it didn't go down as well as he had hoped and was quickly met with his "back, back, back."

By the end of the week we had to get them out of the house as we were all going stir crazy. This was after Owen started to perk up a bit. So once again we headed to Lewis Ginter. There was no water play and we didn't let them interact with anyone else, but they burned some energy and we all felt better walking around.

We got a few treats at the gift shop since we had such a bad week. We bought butterflies since our current favorite book is the Very Hungry Caterpillar.