No more cabin fever (for me)

After being holed-up in the apartment since Friday, working from home both Friday and Monday, I finally got to the office this afternoon for a partial day of work. Early on in the ordeal, Darby's morale was down and she said she didn't want to be at home, sick and alone. So I stayed with her pretty much continuously until today (exceptions being short trips to the grocery store for supplies). She's doing much better about things in general (though she is still contagious), and was okay with me going back to work some today. Going to try for a little more tomorrow, and hopefully she'll not be contagious much more beyond that, because SHE is having some serious cabin fever her at this point.

Birth month party

Nevermind the fact that she turned ten three weeks ago. Tonight we finally held Shelby's birthday party, and it went fairly well all things considered. We had to make arrangements for Darby, of course, but the turnout was otherwise good, and there were surprisingly few incidents considering it was held at a chocolate shop, where the kids get to dip items into a chocolate fountain and make chocolate truffles. There was definitely some potential for more chaos than actually occurred, which was a relief considering the events of the last couple days. I think it's fair to say that Shelby had a blast, as did her guests, and I've got 164 pictures to prove it (hopefully at least a few of those will be posted soon).

We STILL need to have Shelby's family birthday gathering, which was originally slated for Sunday, but that we're going to have to postpone because of Darby's condition. Could be October before we get that one on the books, and so more than a month after her actual birthday.

Varivax, you further disappoint me

So, it is confirmed. Darby has the chicken pox. And not just a mild, vaccine-weakened version of the disease, but a full-on outbreak coupled with a secondary infection. As such, they put her on an anti-viral, an anti-biotic, and an anti-itch medication. I bet you're jealous about now.

The best part? Starting next year, twelve year-olds will be required to get that booster shot of the vaccine. So, had she not been exposed when she did, she'd be getting another shot here in a few months anyway.

For good measure, we had Shelby receive her second shot early. I thought she'd take that news poorly, but she did well getting that shot (not typical for her). We're still keeping her separated from her sister, also for good measure. I'm not exactly impressed with varivax at the moment.

Darby is going to be contagious until at least mid-next week, which will throw several things out of whack (school, softball, work, etc). Definitely not looking forward to it.

Vaccine my A..., um, butt

Darby had a low-grade fever and a few hives on her skin last night. I thought she was having an allergic reaction to something.

This morning, there were still hives, but no fever. So I sent her to school. She called me when she got home, complaining that the hives had increased and were very itchy. A couple calls to the doctor yielded instructions to take Benadryl every six hours for a week, and to visit the office if the reaction didn't subside by then.

It wasn't until about 4:40, when I met up with her mom at Shelby's viola lesson that things started to come together. Her mom gets hives on occasion, and she pointed out that what Darby had was NOT hives. And that they might, in fact, be CHICKEN POX.

Ugh. How could this be? She was vaccinated in 1997, shouldn't she be immune?

A third call to the doctor's office got us an appointment for the morning and some seeds of doubt with regard to the effectiveness of the so-called vaccine. Apparently, as of this year, kindergarten-aged children are being required to take a second shot, telling me the shot is not as effective as I had assumed.

Darby is miserable. Her condition is deteriorating and we've separated the kids (Shelby went home with mom) until we know for sure what's going on. The fact that her mom has never had the chicken pox further complicates things. I can already tell we've got an unpleasant weekend ahead of us.

Did I mention that Shelby's birthday party is tomorrow?

RCIA

I started an RCIA class tonight for reasons which I'll not explain here. I thought it was only an hour, but it's TWO hours long. Ugh. I'm going to try to stick with it through March, but I can already tell it's going to take some endurance.

Back to (middle) school

Tonight was "open house" at Darby's middle school. Parents had to follow their kid's schedule (though with 10 minute classes instead of 90 minute classes), with dismissal bells and five minutes between classes and all. It was pretty crazy, but mostly worth doing. Though I didn't like that we were at school from 5pm (for a picnic) until 8:30. So there went our entire evening.

Whoa, did we bring a jacket?

Summer is definitely waning. Today was the first time in quite some time that I took a step outside and though "dang, I wish I brought a jacket". It was a whopping 66 degrees at softball practice tonight, making me feel like a bad parent for not having a jacket for Darby. I swear, it was MUCH warmer when I left work.

Softball season begins

Tonight was the first game of the season, and we begin the season with a victory. We've got several very good pitchers, which made the difference I think. Darby had a couple walks and a run scored, and she did a good job in the field at short stop, in particular with her backup of second without being told to do so. Looking like a decent season ahead.

Back to reality

Just a few hours home from our weekend away, and it's already back to the grind with a couple hours of softball practice. Darby is taking pretty well to her new team, and I look forward to the season to see how it goes.

Nice weekend away

We had an excellent holiday weekend away in the Tulsa area that began with a birthday party and ended with a couple disconnected lazy days watching movies. It wouldn't have been a difficult decision to stay longer, but it's only a three day weekend!

Get Bourne

A chaotic late afternoon turned into a pleasant evening, starting with a tasty meal (though with poor service) among friends, followed by a viewing of the Bourne Ultimatum. Quite the good, engaging movie. Just glad I FINALLY got to see it. It has been out for nearly a month now, and many movies these days don't last even that long in the theaters. In fact, Last Legion, which we were going to see, was literally here yesterday, gone today. We couldn't see it due to a complete lack of availability.