Tuesday, December 28, 2010: Storm and Sickness

Well sobrinos,
Today I was reading the newspaper and saw an editorial of a 103 year old lady that died yesterday at her home in Amesbury.  She leaves behind many nieces and nephews..nobody else...she survived any siblings and sounds like never had children or grandchildren.  i wondered if she was loved by her nieces and nephews and if she loved them and remained close through the years.  And I of course wondered if I were to live that long, or even close, would you be visiting me or as I joke a lot "feeding me my chocolate pudding in a nursing home."  But I know that there are no guarantees and of us will be alive in fifty years, much less all three of us together at that time.  We enjoy who and what we have in our lives at the time.
    So how was Christmas, 201?  Well, your daddy picked you up at your mom's in the afternoon on Christmas Day and drove you around while you napped, rather than wake you in the middle.  You didn't even notice all the presents next to the fireplace that Uncle Joe and I wrapped carefully with green for Dylan and red for Noah, labeled from Santa.  You are always so happy to see Ruby, jack and Cuddles and this visit we had a n additional guest, Caramel, the Hungarian Viszla who is staring at me right now waiting for me to fee her.  After some Chinese food we had the present opening frenzy and nOah whipped through each page while Dylan lingered a bit taking each one in. You got a giant fire engine, floor puzzle, bouncy balls (you sit on them)  a bowling set, a toy computer, DVDs of Curious George, Looney Tunes , Alvin and the Chipmunks,  Thomas the Tain Early Reader Book, race cars, sponge bullet pellet guns (that Uncle Joe would not let you shoot in the house) and Uncle Joe and I gave you red and blue fleece bathrobes and a tote bag personalized with caricature of the two of you to use as an overnight bag.  You hated the robes and refused to put them on!  I got an F with that gift.  Later, your Grandpa K and Grandpa k come over and we watched TV when you two went to bed await Daddy.  They had stayed over Xmas eve and went to Grandma K's mother's house in Quincy the next morning.
     The next morning i made waffles for the first time in about five years and the came out great!  But Dylan hated them.  "Me no like!"  Dylan is becoming quite the contrarian.  I had to warn him with setting up my time out chair for his use if need be.  We braced for the blizzard prodded later that afternoon and I convinced your dad to stay overnight her again.  Noah seemed even sicker than when he first got here with a consistent cough especially when laying down.  I was worried they'd lose heat in Haverhill and we at least had the chimney ready to go if needed.
    We hunkered down for the night with the winds absolutely howling.  I was  a bit nervous about the giant pine trees next to the house!  Anyway, I managed to fall asleep, pretty deeply until I was woken by the three kings at my bedside around 3am.  Your dad was in a panic because Noah was s"burning up.'  I got a bit cranky with him and told him not to transfer his anxiety onto you both.  He is such a nervous nelly and a drama king!! He wanted me to help him take Noah's temperature which we did after reading on the internet why to do for a fever and when to seek medical help/.  Your dad was ready to walk to the hospital in a raging blizzard!  Anyway, he seems relax a little after i read that medical help sought if you could not bring fever down, show, rapid breath, seizure, rah, dehydration, change in consciousness.  The concern was the fever and the breathing but it was not enough of an issue to warrant walking or driving to the hospital in a dangerous storm.  Especially since Noah ate a popsicle and then wanted to play with the shell game!  Daddy's the one that needed the list to the hospital and I'm not talking the emergency room! ;-) Yikes!    Anyway, the fun part was in between the internet search and the shell game..temperature taking, first orally with a fifty year old thermometer.  After coning to 100 with Dylan's "help" I tried to read the bloody thing and by the time I found the silver line, it probably was less than the actual temp so Daddy wanted to rectal...yikes.  i held Noahs' feet while Daddy stuck the same thermometer up Noah's butt and there was no pleasant moment to be had for anyone in the room.  Fortunately, Uncle Joe slept through the whole ordeal (ear plugs)  We did get a reading of around 102 but again the thing is close to IMPOSSIBLe to read.  And if I forget to throw that out, remind me to never put it my mouth!! Yuck!!  After the popsicle and Noah trying to squirm out of Daddy's arms to play the shell game, he decided to take you both back to bed.  I managed to fall asleep again...halleluah!
    The next morning we continued to watch the storm which was not as bad as predicted as far as snowfall, but certainly as windy.  Noah learned to identify a few birds from the living room couch...chickadee, junco, cardinal (which he was the fist to spot)  Both Noa  and Dlan are still repeating almost everything with a question intonation.  "That's a junco, Noah!" "This a junco?!"   "And here's' a placebo for Caramel."  "placebo for Caramel?' Uncle Joe loves to imitate Noah (not in his presence.)
     Nap time came around noon only it sounded more like a party in there.  Uncle Joe was on the computer and came upstairs and said "I don't think Dylan is ready for a nap."  I just shook my head.  So finally all three emerged and your dad sat in a kitchen chair and put his head in his hands in frustration.  "I give up!"  I asked if he always has a hard time with getting you guys to nap and he said yes, but this time was the worst.  I deliberated saying anything for awhile and finally said "i never have a problem getting them to nap.  They know I mean business."  So he asked me to try and I said I would only if he left the house of pretended to leave house and sat in his car until I got them asleep.  Sure enough, after some mil, Dylan was out in five minutes and Noah coughed, and tossed and turned bud did sleep after maybe fifteen or twenty minutes.   Dylan managed to sleep through the coughing! I didn't like the sound of Noah's breathing tough and was quite glad they were going home to Momma after their nap!  Daddy packed up Dylan in the carseat with his little red cap on and came back in to get more stuff.  Uncle Joe and I went out to the van and Dylan's eyes were filled with tears.  The poor kid! anyway, despite the storm and sickness we had a great time together!  I wished we could have gone out in the snow though.  So did Noah and Dylan! :-)