Swine Flu and Stitches

Kelsie came home from school on Friday not feeling very well. By Saturday morning, she had a fever of 102.5 and she pretty much stayed in bed all day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday with a fever, body aches, cough, runny nose, sore throat, etc. I kept hearing all the information on the news about Swine Flu and so I called her doctor to see what I should be watching for since we had been in Mexico a week before she started feeling sick. I didn't really think she had Swine Flu and besides, is Ensenada REALLY Mexico? But, I thought I'd be a responsible parent and check with the doctor after three days.

By the time I got around to calling the doctor at about 3:30 in the afternoon, the doctor said "She has the flu and she was in Mexico??? We're booked this afternoon but you must get her to Urgent Care at once" and she gave me a phone number of the Urgent Care place. I really wasn't too concerned about it really being Swine Flu, because Trevor had a really high fever type flu about three weeks earlier, so I just ignored taking her to Urgent Care. I had too many other things to do and I figured she was more likely to get Swine Flu by going to Urgent Care than she was on our little stop in Ensenada on our cruise.

Then...I get a phone call from Trevor at about 4:30. He split his chin open at volleyball practice and needs stitches. I figured as long as I had to take Trevor to Urgent Care to get stitches, I might as well take Kelsie for Swine Flu. I called the Urgent Care place to see how long of a wait it was, since I had never been there before, and I told them what I was bringing the kids in for. They said to let them know when I got there and they would open the side door for me and get me right into a room.

I was pretty excited about that. I figured this Swine Flu thing might get me faster service. They greeted us with masks and gloves. They whisked us into an unused room and everyone that came in had masks and gloves. Trevor, Kelsie, and I had to put on masks, too. The prompt service ended there, while we had to wait for the doctor. Trevor kept us entertained using the "Magic 8 Ball" application on his Ipod and asking questions like "Is Kelsie going to die from Swine Flu?" He'd shake the Magic 8 Ball and he kept getting answers like "Ask Again Later," and "It's Possible." We were having so much fun I grabbed my cell phone for a picture.
After the doctor came in and asked questions about Kelsie's illness I started to get a little worried. All of her comments of "that fits the symptoms..." and "very interesting..." and "that just adds to the list..." started to stress me out a little. I began to worry that Kelsie really did have Swine Flu and we were going to start our own little pandemic in Simi Valley. The doctor worried about cross-contamination with Trevor's stitches and the Swine Flu girl.

The good news...Kelsie doesn't have swine flu. The bad news...Trevor needed three stitches.
Too much fun for a Monday afternoon.

My Baby is 12!

Branden's birthday was Tuesday, March 31st. He is now a twelve year old. I had forgotten what an important birthday 12 is. There are a lot of 12 year old milestones. Of course, he graduates from primary and becomes a deacon. He gets to go to "big boy" scouts. Movie theaters and sporting events now charge an adult price for him, and yet he's not really even a teenager.

To celebrate Branden's 12th birthday I thought I would list my 12 favorite things about Branden:
1. He has a sweet tooth that's even worse than mine. This is great because I can always count on his vote when it comes to getting dessert.
2. He loves to read. I love this! He has even developed my childhood habit of spending hours in his room reading in order to get out of work. You know, out of sight out of mind. Yesterday he was reading in the living room for a couple of hours and I was so jealous I got a book and sat on the couch by him and started reading. It was great.
3. I love his nose. Check it out sometime. It has a great shape to it.
4. He has a great vocabulary...incomparable to all of us.
5. He is competitve...don't know where he gets that from but at least he's fun to play games with.
6. He has a great sense of humor. He tells very intelligent jokes and makes intelligent comments that are way beyond his years.
7. He doesn't bite his fingernails. A great trait for a 12 year old boy.
8. He is an early riser. I am not. I greatly admire and respect this quality in him.
9. He is very intense. Sometimes this is good, sometimes this is bad. But, if he really wants something he will give 200% and wont stop until he has it.
10. He shares. This is great especially when put with #1 above. He will always share skittles, gum, candy, ice cream etc. when I ask him to AND he doesn't complain very much about it.
11. He is very independent. I am often gone all afternoon running other kids around and I know that he will get all his homework done and anything else he needs to get done without me reminding him.
12. He is tall. Come on, admit it. Everyone wants their son to be tall.
Happy birthday, Branden! I love you!