Currently / 12.29.17

We are desperately trying to emerge from the flu-induced haze in which we’ve spent the last week, but the germs keep pulling us back in.

I was the last to catch it, which actually turned out well for me as I became the only one able to get Tamiflu in time to make a difference. I was pretty sick on Tuesday, but felt basically normal again by Wednesday evening. Emma got it first but also got over it quickest, in a single day. Jose is over it except for some lingering congestion and sinus issues. Having had the flu shot did seem to help make it a bit milder — it averaged a couple days for each of us instead of 4-5 days or more.

Charlotte got hit the hardest, and has woken up with a low fever each morning this week. Because of that, she never went to daycare and got to hang out at home with us instead — and watch a LOT of Daniel Tiger, her new obsession. Yesterday she seemed in high spirits, so the three of us headed to Barnes and Noble while Emma was still at the daycare. Charlotte had a grand old time…and then immediately went downhill as we drove to pick up Emma and headed home.

Within an hour, she had a 102.5 fever and since it was already 5:00 and we are traveling tomorrow, it was back to the urgent care where I took Emma only 6 days ago. She now has brocholitis on TOP of the tail end of the flu. They gave her a breathing treatment, which she hated, but it worked.

Sigh. It has been a rough week for all of us, but especially for Charlotte.

I had been really looking forward to having a few days this week for Jose and I to hang out, and obviously that wasn’t in the cards. I’m very, very ready to salvage what we can of our holiday break — for me and for the whole family.

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I’m planning to take down our outdoor Christmas decorations this morning. It’s not much — a couple inflatable penguins and a few net lights on the bushes — so it should only take about 20 minutes.

I am totally leaving our indoor decorations up into the new year though! I clipped all the cards we received to a couple ribbons running up the stairs, and it’s one of my favorite things to see every day. And fake or not, I like having the Christmas tree in the living room. Somehow it makes things feel super cozy. So I declare those things all get to stay up until we go back to work and school!

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I’ve made zero progress on making hanging sleeves for my QuiltCon entries. It was one of many items on my list for this week that didn’t get done thanks to the stupid flu. We’re headed out of town, so I won’t be able to work on them for the next week either. The receiving deadline is January 24 and I want to have both quilts in the mail no later than January 15. That leaves me with about 10 days to get it done. Fortunately I’ve got a flex Friday in there, so on January 12 you will very likely find me finishing up those sleeves!!

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Here’s a rundown of Christmas gifts in our family this year!

For Jose: Airpods and a CCD imager for him to use with his astrophotography.

For Emma: a ridiculously large dollhouse and two Barbies to go with it, a set of Magnaformers, a box of Legos, Snap Circuits, a color-by-number set, and a set of E.B. White books for us to read together.

For Charlotte: a basketball hoop, a set of Magnaformers, a box of Duplos, Amazing Machines books, a collection of Daniel Tiger stories, a Water Wow book, and a toy truck.

And for me: an Ottlite, the Constellations quilting book by Fancy Tiger Crafts, this cool Women in Science book, an ISS Nanoblocks set that I have already put together, and a gift card to the local nail salon.

Everyone seemed quite happy with their gifts — although the best gift of all would have been NO EVIL GERMS!!

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p.s. I’m doing a 31 day blog writing challenge!