Not so good...

Annabelle spent Saturday night with us while Mommy and Daddy went out on a 'date night'. They don't get a chance to do much without their little tagalong, but this was planned months in advance when her Mommy had bought tickets for Annabelle's Daddy's father's day surprise for an up-coming event.

During the night I awoke to the sounds coming from the baby monitor at my head. "I need you! I need you!" Those were words I didn't wait to react to. I flew into her room to check on her. She staggered to get up onto her feet and was ready to get out of bed. I picked her up and instantly knew she wasn't feeling well. She was so hot, literally from her head to her little feet. It's not unusual for her to feel hotter than I expect her to, so since she was at this point, wide awake and laughing at different things that had happened, I asked her if she wanted me to sleep in the big bed with her. Of course, she agreed.

It's hard not to carry on a conversation with an almost three year old when you're moving them from one place to the other, so I broke the cardinal rule set by her Mommy, and found myself quite engaged in conversation somewhere between 12:30 and 1:00. I thought we should go back to sleep, but she was wide awake and chattered away for at least an hour. But at least she seemed to be feeling better and not quite so hot.

When I remembered Mommy's rule and fell silent, she finally went back to sleep. By then I was wide awake, feeling of her to make sure she wasn't getting too, too hot again, listening to those sweet little snores she does and has since birth, and even snickered at times when I heard her at one point say to someone unknown to me, "Tank Coo!" as she accepted something from someone in her sleep. She talked in her sleep about other things too, but I don't remember exactly what. That was the funny thing she had said.

Of course, while she slept, I tossed and turned, finally getting up to play on the computer and back again. The last time I saw the clock it was 6:17. Sometime after that I was awakened by "I want Mommy!" I explained to her she would see Mommy later and asked if I could do something for her. Finally she said, "Can we get up now?" This was approximately 7:05! And we did get up. She played for a while and then we went to eat at Granddaddy's favorite place for breakfast...Hardees. She ate a fairly good breakfast and laughed and acted almost normal again.

Since she had so little sleep during the night, Mommy and I decided she needed a nap, so I put her down after the usual stories and songs and a piece of peppermint candy as well as three M & M's to take care of her trips to the potty where she had earned them.

She slept for almost an hour and woke up crying. I could tell she sounded like she was trying to get her breath as in coughing, etc. so I went in and got her up. We didn't make it to the bathroom before she threw up on the floor. I put her down and she flew across the hall to the bathroom. She lifted the toilet seat and leaned her little head over and threw up. It looked like blood. I began to worry because she had been so hot last night. I washed her little face with a wash cloth and told her to hold on, I was calling Mommy. Mommy had planned to work at the office because she and Daddy both have been slammed with work. Mommy immediately said she was on her with. I checked Annabelle's temperature with a thermometer this time and it was 101.8, orally. I called Mommy and told her to bring some Tylenol and since she had been so hot last night and still now, she might need to give her some.

While I was trying to take care of this business on the side (Granddaddy had gone to meet her Daddy at Home Depot to pick up a steel door to put on my laundry room) she was still trying to finish her throwing up episode at the toilet. After standing for a few minutes with her head hung over the toilet, she reaches over for her little step stool she uses to climb up onto the potty. Instead of climbing up onto the potty, she pulled it over and sat down on it in front of the potty. I certainly never suggested it, but she had felt so rotten, and since I was on the phone with Mommy, she figured out what to do all by herself. She was sick. Too sick to stand. Solved problem by
herself. There are somethings that you can see the humor in even when one you love is very sick, if you just look.Even though it was a sad, sad thing it was so cute she had figured out what to do.

As she and I waited for Mommy, I told her that I would take care of her until Mommy got over here for her. She listened as I told her I would care for her and then she said, "Me and Mommy were both sick the last time!" To which I reminded her, Yes, and I had taken care of both of them then. (More her than Mommy. Mommy had to fend for herself that time since Annabelle was my top priority.) This had been many, many months ago since they had been at our house and the two of them were sick at the same time. Her memory is something else.

Mommy came and took Annabelle's temperature the way she takes it and it was 101.9. This was after I had been washing her face and body off with a wet cloth to try to help break the fever. Mommy gave her some Tylenol and she was playing around feeling a little better, but not really up to her old self. She was so very, very pale. Mommy talked her into the two of them going on home.

Work Deadlines or no Work Deadlines, sometimes Mommies and only Mommies are what they need to recover.

Hope you feel better soon, Sweetie. I love you, All the way to the Moon and back!