Invasion of the Flu

We are the the middle of a forced quarantine. Turns out Everett bought home Influenza A last week on Wednesday (January 16th). He was sick and stayed home until Tuesday, I let him sleep in until 10 am then took him to school. Poor kiddo was so tired, his lungs are weak and he catches everything. Wednesday of this past week Amelia came down with a fever over Tuesday night. She stayed home the rest of the week from school. Evelyn also came down with a nasty cold and cough. Towards the end of Wednesday night Josie was acting sick as well. She insisted on lying on the couch doing nothing for over an hour. Amelia and Josie had fevers hovering around 102-103 through Saturday. I finally took them to the clinic on Thursday because Amelia was complaining of a sore throat, she catches strep easily. No strep, just two girls with Influenza A. After a couple doses of tamiflu Josie perked up quite a bit Saturday afternoon. Her fever finally broke Saturday night. Amelia struggled quite a bit with nausea on Friday, she could not even keep down pain killers or her medication. She was not nauseous on Saturday but rather came down with allergic reactions to all the dust I was kicking up in the garage clean up. The Dr said the girls would be contagious for 5-6 days after their symptoms appeared. I had Gabi over on Wednesday, keeping the sick girls away from her. Josie was just acting clingy until her fever appeared. I am praying the baby does not catch the flu from my girls. I felt so bad. 

Monday, 2:30 am
Josie: screaming. Dad! Dad, I NEED you! Where are you?
I walk in, crying stops
I ask what the matter is
Josie: I poop all over my bed?
I don't see any poop, no foul smells, etc.
Me: I don't see any poop.
I check her diaper, no leaks
However, the bottom of her bed is wet
Me: Josie, did you barf?
Josie: No? I poop out my mouth?!
Me totally confused, I guess she leaked pee from the side of her diaper.

Justin worked on Monday. We drove up to Scottsdale to jump at AirTime and have lunch with Justin. The trampoline park was permanently closed so we went and bothered Justin at his office for an hour. Evelyn was delighted to try out all of the office supplies in Justin's desk. All the kids quite enjoyed their visit. Justin was the only person in the office so we did not feel bad making lots of noise, racing down the cubicle aisles, etc. Looking back I really hope we did not spread an Influenza A epidemic in his office.

Come Follow Me this week was so amazing. Sunday evening we are taking time to put our journal/notebooks together while having the initial first lesson. The little girls enjoy coloring, cutting, and gluing to their hearts content. We are ironing out the kinks, the boys are not too serious about our family lessons. Phillip especially goofs off at the wrong times making the spirit leave. I don't want to send him to his room but he is so loud and distracting sometimes. We need to think of a better way to help him focus. Wednesday the spirit was quite strong as we discussed the Plan of Salvation. Amelia really light up when we talked about how doing baptisms for the dead allows those who accept the covenant on the other side to enter through the gate to spirit paradise. I am finding so many amazing podcasts and tools to study the lessons. I love that we can gather as a family and learn. Why didn't we start this sooner?

Since we were at home for days on end I decided to tackle the massive garage project. I made mess after mess as I opened each and every tote, box, and bag and sorted into donate, trash, or keep. I roped Justin into going through the camping gear with me and his personal items. He had over 15 pairs of gloves! Ha ha! I can't talk considering the enormous pile of photo props. I did cut out 3 totes of out-dated props. As I sorted I moved stuff around. My photo supplies are now all in one place. The camping stuff is together, the hunting gear, all the totes labeled. Saturday it took Justin and I all afternoon to sort through tools and such. Somehow all our efforts coincided with the large trash pickup coming on Monday. I was worried how to get rid of the ever expanding trash pile. I was a gritty, sweaty mess after 4 days of garage work. My goal was to tackle the garage before warmer weather comes, I can check that off my list. Josie was not happy I ignored her rather often than not as I worked. I should've stopped and cuddled her more. Amelia was soooooooo bored by Saturday. She was so bored she agreed to make chocolate chip cookies. She figured it out all by herself and made three batches of delicious cookies! We are making lemon bars next. Yum.

Evelyn went with me to help with weekly food shopping at Walmart. She loved singing her songs while we shopped! The checkout line was 6 carts deep so I opted for the self-checkout lanes with the conveyor belt. Evelyn stepped up to the plate and totally emptied the cart almost by herself while I scanned everything. The worker monitoring the area was impressed she accomplished so much! Me too!

Phillip and Justin worked hard to get his Pinewood derby car finished this year. They tried to make one out of the block of wood. After a failed attempt the boys went to Hobby Lobby and came home with a pre-finished body. They worked to customize it, decorate it, and get it up to specs! Phillip loved every moment. Justin took the boys and Evelyn to the derby on Saturday. Phillip was ecstatic to win a place each race this year. He did not make it to the finals but did vastly better this year. Last year he came in dead last. He came home beaming! Yay! 

Justin is seriously disenchanted with work. He comes home stressed and worried every evening, late well after 8 pm. We hope a new job pops up soon. He had a couple of really good interviews lately. The wait game is not fun.