No more for me thanks, I'm full

After reading my post about illnesses, you may have thought like I did, "wow, things can only get better." Wrong again!

10 days after Alex finished his penicillin, he woke up complaining about a sore throat. A few hours later he had a new rash and a strawberry tongue. We took him on yet another trip to the doctor to find out that he had scarlet fever for a second time. Wondering how that could be possible, I questioned the doctor. Apparently since scarlet fever comes from strep throat, you can get it over and over. This time around the rash was much worse and his skin is peeling. The good news: most people over 15 years old don't get it which means that Pete and I should be fine. Alex has been on antibiotics for 4 days and hopefully we've seen the last of our little red friend.

Little Miss Ruby has not fared much better. After finishing her penicillin, she developed a strep B infection. I didn't really think that was possible at her age but was again informed by the doctor that it is quite common after being on strong antibiotics. The antibiotic apparently kills all the good bacteria making way for the bad to creep in. We had to take a sample in and of course it came back strep B positive and so she is back on antibiotics. Luckily she hasn't seemed to miss a beat and I'm grateful she is such a tough kid.


And then there's Henry. One day when I was in the midst of my sicknesses, I put Henry down for a nap. A few minutes later I heard a loud crash and he started crying pretty hard. Thinking he fell out of his crib I rushed in only to find him lying down in bed. Being a little out of it, I didn't turn on the light or check him or anything. I just patted his back until he stopped crying and then went back to my room to lie down.

An hour later when he woke, I went in to get him and found his bed covered in blood. Apparently he had bonked against the crib/wall and cut his lip pretty badly. I contacted all the medical people in my family only to find out that you can't really sew up the inside of the lip because the sutures don't hold. So for over a week he has had a fat lip with fibrin pushing out of the wound. On top of the drool problems he already suffers from, he has had difficulty eating and swallowing.
I know it looks like a canker but that is actually "lip guts" that have pushed out through the hole.
When I took Alex into the doctor, he checked Henry as well. He had swollen glands and a fever and the doctor decided it would be best to put him on an antibiotic as well - just in case. Now we have 3 kids on antibiotics, lots of upset stomachs, next week there is no school, and I'm hoping we can use the time to rest and recoup.

Are you smarter than a 1st grader?

I'm not.

I was happy to learn that they don't start reading here until first grade. I remember thinking to myself, "Good. This way Alex won't be behind and he can start with the basics." As you can see from the page above, it is not too basic...and this is page 10! The frustrating thing is that we will be sounding out words together and I'm never quite sure if I'M doing it right. What's a mom to do when she can't even help her 1st grader with his homework?

At this point, Alex definitely knows more French and speaks better than I do. He talks to the neighbors, my French tutor...even a repairman that we had one day. There are plenty of times when I am speaking French when he will correct me or tell me what a word is in French.

For example, the other day we were walking to school together. On the way, a boy stopped us (about 10 or so) and asked me, "On est vendredi?" I was confused because translated word for word he said, "One is Friday?"

I thought I must have heard him wrong so I said, "Quoi?" (What?) He repeated the same thing over again. At this point I turned to Alex and said, "Help me! What is he asking?" Alex, shaking his head at me, turned to the boy and said, "Oui, c'est vendredi." (Yes, it's Friday)

As we continued walking he calmly and rationally explained to me that when you ask someone in French what day it is you say, "We are Tuesday?" or "One is Thursday?". Good to know. I'll try to file that away for the next time that I don't have my 1st grade helper.

Keep your pants on!

One day when Alex came home for lunch we had the following conversation:

Me: Hi Alex. How was school this morning?
Alex: Pretty good. My pants got so wet playing in the snow at recess that my teacher had me take them off when I came back inside.
Me: What!?? What did she do with them?
Alex: She hung them on the heater until they were dry and then I put them back on.
Me: What did you do while they were drying?
Alex: I just sat at my desk in my boxers.
Me: Oh. Were you ok with that?
Alex: (looking confused) What do you mean?
Me: I just thought maybe you were embarrassed being the only one in your boxers.
Alex: I wasn't the only one. We were all in our boxers.
Me: All of you?
Alex: Well, all of the boys except for Lucas R. and Primus.
Me: Oh. Ok. Are your pants dry now.
Alex: Yep, they're great. What's for lunch?

Problem: pants are wet
Solution: take them off and dry them
It's good to know that things can be so simple here.

In need of a makeover

One day when I picked up Ruby from school I noticed these on her classroom door:

Each kid in the class had their picture next to a house from around the world they had made.

Ruby with an Arctic igloo

Sophie with a German house

Benjamin (pronounced Bah-zsa-mah) with an Arabic Beduouin tent

Marine (pronounced Mah-rheen) with a Swiss chalet

Basil (pronounced Bah-zeel) with a Parisian apartment building

You may wonder what they used to represent the U.S.
Possibly a New England colonial house? A Southern plantation?
A Rocky Mountain cabin? A California beach house?


NOPE!

Callum next to the trailer home courtesy of the USA

Full of hot air

On the last day of January, the kids convinced me to get my sick body out of bed so that we could go to this really cool balloon festival. It was the 31st International Festival of Balloons and it was about an hour and a half away in Chateau-d'Oex. I will have to admit that it was pretty awesome, but I think I would have appreciated it more on another day. Luckily we ran into our friends Tom and Sarah and their 2 boys. They were smart enough to bring their sleds and generous enough to share them with our kids. Alex and Ruby were in heaven watching the balloons and sledding and wanted to stay until bedtime. However, after less than 2 hours , I was spent and we had to call it a day. Thanks to my friend Penny who was also there that day and took some great pictures of the balloons that I borrowed.

Henry and Pete

Ruby and Alex

all 5 of us

Tom, Sarah, Sam and James

It's gonna be a long, lonely winter

I am a California girl. My mom is from L.A. and my dad is from Phoenix. I did not inherit very many cold weather genes. I am built for temperatures around 70, not 17. When we visited Switzerland in December of 2007 I remember thinking that it wasn't too cold here. I thought I would be able to get by. I have since learned that last winter was VERY mild. Would have been nice to know.

This water bottle was left in my van over night. When we found it in the morning it was frozen solid. After 3 hours in the house it melted....but only a little as you can see.

One thing we have been grateful for is the location of our house. When we first moved here I was a little worried because we live quite a ways up and it was far from the auto route and other major things. Now I realize it is a blessing. If you look at these two pictures you will see a thick layer of clouds. We live above them which means that unlike the people in the city who have been stuck in the gray of winter, we actually get to see blue skies. When it's not raining or snowing, that is.


Fortunately, the kids take more after Pete when it comes to the cold weather. They love it and they love all the activities associated with it. Although I will be happy to return to a more mild climate, I know the kids, especially Alex, will miss the snow.

Having fun with our sleds

Ruby and Henry enjoying the snow

Ruby's first snow angel

Frankly my dear...

I am not a fan of Scarlet. Scarlet fever, that is. One time around, fine. But twice. In one month. Give me a break. You can see from the pictures that Alex had a much rougher time than Ruby. His throat was a lot worse and it took him longer before he was feeling better. I found out that apparently there has been a scarlet fever epidemic going around. Should it make me feel better to know that other people are suffering and it's not just our weak American immune systems?





You may have noticed that I haven't posted much since the year started. It's sort of tough to blog when you feel like the floor of a taxi cab. Since 2009 began, our family has had:

2 cases of strep throat
2 cases of scarlet fever
4 cases of the stomach flu
2 eye infections
3 case of influenza

I was the last one to get the real flu (they don't do flu shots here) and I have struggled to get over it. I honestly can't remember the last time I was this sick. I thought I was getting better only to have it come back stronger. I was left with a bad case of laryngitis and a sinus infection. I haven't had much of a voice for over a week, although thanks to antibiotics I am feeling more like myself. We have had 6 visits to the doctor's office and an equal number of trips to the pharmacy. I am 100% ready for winter to be over. Considering that the forecast this week is snow, snow and more snow, I'm guessing I have a few more fun months ahead.

I do have a few people to thank though. Pete, of course, and my friends Penny and Suzy who helped with my kids when I couldn't get up. Alex also deserves a lot of props for being the man of the house. He walked Ruby to and from school when I was too sick, played with Henry and laid next to me and tickled my back. I don't know how you could ask for more from a 6 year old.

The only one in our family to escape the sickies has been Henry. The poor kid has probably been wondering what in the world has been going on around here. At one point when all of us were down for the count with the stomach flu, he was sort of left in charge of himself. Being the trouble maker that he is, he was thrilled with his new found freedom. When things started to get a little too quiet, I dragged myself out of bed to find him here....

Who knows? Maybe HE was trying to catch up on the blog.