November 20

Oh, today. What a day.

Caleb got up at 6:30, like normal, but when I got up at 7, he was snuggled up under a blanket on the couch and refused to get up. We made a deal that I would let him go back to bed until 8 if he got dressed first. So he put on his clothes and climbed back into bed.

Meanwhile, I put a casserole in the oven for MOPS later this morning, packed Caleb's lunch, fed the girls breakfast, got the girls dressed, and even managed to witness - along with Daisy and Lily - two bucks grazing in our backyard, then briefly struggling for dominance, then chasing after a doe that ran through the yard. It was pretty exciting.

I went to wake Caleb at 8, which meant there was just enough time to stuff some breakfast in his face, throw his coat on, and take him to the bus stop. Only he was sound asleep, and I just couldn't wake him. So I scratched those plans and decided to let him sleep until 8:30, which would leave time to stuff some breakfast in his face, throw him (and the girls) in the car, drive him to school, Daisy to preschool, and get Lily and me to MOPS in the nick of time. If it hadn't been my turn to bring food for MOPS, I totally would have kept Caleb home from school.  While Caleb slept, one of the bucks came back and I snapped his picture:

He was just a scraggly young thing, but the older, bigger buck was intimidated by him. Go figure.

Finally, it was time for me to wake Caleb and begin the morning hustle. He got to school right in time, Daisy was a bit late to preschool, and Lily and I actually made it to MOPS on time. Hooray!

The rest of the day went as usual, and I was resting in bed while the girls napped when the school nurse called. I have to admit; I was kind of waiting for the call. Caleb was just so out of sorts today. The nurse didn't really know what was wrong; she said she couldn't understand him except that he was afraid of getting a bloody nose. (Poor kid has had a few winter nose bleeds the past few days. Apparently he's traumatized.) He did have a low temp, and he wanted me to come get him.

Problem: two napping babies, one of whom was right in the middle of a desperately needed nap. Thank God for good neighbors. I ran the baby monitor across the street, so Mary and Terry could listen to sleeping Lily while Daisy and I made the 15-minute excursion to get Caleb. As expected, Lily stayed asleep, and sweet Caleb was so glad to be home. He told me that his teacher sent him to the nurse because all he wanted to do was sleep.  Poor kid.

When he got home, though, he didn't want to sleep, so Caleb, Daisy and I crawled into my bed and watched Cars while Lily napped. Once Lily woke up, I checked Caleb's temperature and it had spiked to 102.2.

Lily watched 15 minutes of Cars and thought it was hilarious.

The movie was over by 4:30, and Caleb moved to the couch, where he fell fast asleep. While he slept, though, I checked his temp and it was down to 100.4. Better. He slept through dinner, slept through a visit from Grandma so that I could go to the chiropractor while Chris worked late, and slept until 7:30, at which time his temp was 98.6 and he moved to his bed, snuggled with Chris, and went back to sleep. I am so, so thankful for children with healthy immune systems that work so hard to fight off sicknesses. I feel sad that Caleb feels awful, but it is reassuring to me to see his body doing what it is made to do. 

He's definitely staying home from school tomorrow, though.