Sick Again

It was Saturday morning. I was playing with Rebekah and kissed her forehead. Mid kiss I realize she was hot. Very hot. 101.9 hot. What? I mean she was playing like normal! Immediately I thought strep and called the doctor who said unless she is really miserable I could wait until Monday. (By the way, it was two days of preschool and she got sick. Think that's a record, right?)

She spent the weekend between 102 - 103. Monday morning I took her in. Of course her temp was 99 when taken by the nurse. The doctor checked for strep and she was free. Possible virus she said, and to bring her back if her temp was high for 5 days. I got home, tried to feed her lunch, and kissed her forehead again (good thing I am so affectionate) and she was hot. Checked her and her temp registered 102. Seriously!?

We spent the following days inside in PJ's. Rebekah was unhappy about missing preschool. Everyone was making friends without her, she said. Very sad. But it gave us time to do things that needed to get done, like switch our summer clings to fall clings:

We also painted. Lots.

Thursday the temp was down but she had a nasty cough. However, by now we had been inside of the house for 6 days and we needed a change in venue. So we stopped by the local orchard for an apple slushy. This is me, living on the edge.

I wanted to head home at this point but Rebekah said she was feeling up to picking apples. So we ventured.

We also picked up a carmel apple since since Rebekah has never had one. First time for everything, eh?

Don did the honors.

Ironically Rebekah didn't care much for it. (That should have been my first clue for what was coming.) As it was I did call the doctor again. She said as long as the fever was gone to monitor the situation and if she's not better by Monday to call again.

A few days later she had a party that has been in the works for months. A little girl she swims with went into Kindergarten so we don't get to see her much any more. During the last few times they swam together it was decided that Rebekah would be going to her party (a month away). Rebekah didn't seem entirely better but the doctor said as long as there was no fever (99 isn't a fever) that she was good to interact in the real world. So I took her. (The birthday girl is sitting right next to Rebekah.)

Rebekah had so much fun but she had to stop and rest a lot. That should have been my second clue. But I thought it was perhaps because she hadn't done much for about a week. 

She couldn't seem to shake her cough (would have terrible attacks at night) and she was less than her usual energetic self. Her coloring didn't look good and she had dark circles around her eyes. I ended up calling the doctor back on Tuesday and was told to bring her in.

The doctor listened to her breath and told me it didn't sound good. She ordered an X-ray. Skip to the end: Rebekah had pneumonia. The doctor prescribed some medicine (Rebekah asked if it would taste like stinky pillows and the doctor said most likely), gave me a breathing machine, and told me to have her take it easy. Before I left, Dr Tighe informed me that she and I were going to become really good friends while Rebekah is in preschool.

Children's Museum

Another day at the museum. We went Friday after Rebekah's school and the place was very empty. It was wonderful! We played at Doc's for a while and then tried out the new science works. Rebekah loved every minute.

The had a new water table that was very fun. You could create your own dam, work locks (which I found fascinating), and even run electricity to a building using the water. So - cool!

Then we played on tractors, harvested corn, researched tomato plant issues, and, yes my friends, explored caves complete with a head light!

Rebekah attended a class meant for kids 8 and older that was all about caves. We were assigned salamanders. We searched the caves to find some, drew pictures, and discovered attributes about them. I was so impressed how she kept up with the other kids. I think she impressed the class instructors too.

Eventually we stopped for a snack but not for too long for there was a whole galaxy to explore! Meet Space captain Rebekah and brave side-kick mama!

It hits me that our time doing these little outings together are coming to a close. A year from now she will be in kindergarten and I will have to wait until Saturday like every other mom to do these types of things. Oh so hard to let them grow up. I will truly miss these times together.

Birthday

A good friend of mine asked me to come to a concert with her as a birthday present. I was so excited! Night out and music! Yay! I talked to Don and mom and got it all set up so I could be free. The night finally came. We were expecting Neil Diamond's music but in more of a symphony form. What we got was "Super Diamond." 

Apparently Super Diamond is an impersonation group who spends their life trying to be like Mr. Diamond. You have to wonder about people who do that.... Not to mention the thousands of people who spend their hard earned money to go and watch these people do that.

It started out great: we had a great view and the music was good. As the show went on "Surreal Neil" (the lead singer) tried more and more to be like Neil and then he just went over the top. It almost felt like a mockery of his music. But the crowd loved it.

Me? Well, I was just excited to be out and not have to worry about taking care of anyone. And speaking of taking care of someone: around 8:40pm I got the following picture text.

Not that I mind her eating ice cream, even if it is blue, but at 8:40 at night?! She's suppose to be in bed! But she, Don and grammy had a great time. You can just see it on her face.

My mother sent me a card with birthday money - one dollar for every year I've been alive. Can't wait 'till I'm 100! The card she made had several young baby / toddler pictures of me. Proof that I look nothing like Rebekah! 

A few days before my birthday Don told me he was going to the book store to buy me a book. I stopped him and suggested on line was cheaper (sad but true) and you could get free shipping. I suggested this one and he came through. He was going to get me one more but I didn't want to spend the extra money. Ah, the problems with being involved in your own birthday present. 

Labor day Don took me out to eat while mom watched Rebekah. Then on my actual birthday Rebekah started preschool.  

We came home from a great day of learning and Rebekah quickly made me a birthday card. The squiggly lines in the middle say, "happy birthday."

The we all went for a swim.

Rebekah "sleeping" in the water.

Don took us out to eat at my favorite place to get soup. Rebekah saw this photo op:

She was much happier being the boy....

Since I already knew what I wanted, Rebekah and Don pursued the menu.

"She'll have the chicken..."

We had a great lunch and headed home to eat store bought cupcakes Rebekah picked out, but not before I got my song:

Got to love purple frosting.

I always try to have carrot cake on my birthday. Usually Don buys a piece from the store but the ones I've had haven't been great. So I asked around: where do you get a good piece of carrot cake? Turns out a friend of mine took that as an invitation to make me one. 

She got here with the cake right before Rebekah went down for the night. She was more than happy to try some cake and pose for a picture.

Speaking of pictures, I showed my friend the my mother's card with my baby / toddler pictures. She agreed I Rebekah looks nothing like me then. But, she continued, she looks like me now. I am excited to see the girl / woman she will grow into!

All in all a good day.

PreK

How is this possible? The "she's going to PreK" blog already?  Too fast, too fast!

But it happened. Rebekah was remarkably calm about it. She is a people person and wants friends and therefore was highly motivated to make this happen. It also helped that she has a friend going to the same class. 

A couple days before she was getting nervous and worried. I mentioned to her that each year before I started a new school class my daddy would give me a priesthood blessing to help me feel better. Rebekah decided this would be good for her too and asked her daddy to start this tradition. The night before PreK Don got dressed up, even wore the red sparkly tie Rebekah picked out at the store for him, and proceeded with the heart felt blessing. Not before I took a picture of course. 

And yes, I cried the whole way through.

The next day Rebekah woke up and was ready to go! And of course, I was there with the camera set on timer. (Rebekah suggested we all wear our red shirts together.)

We drove to the school together as a family.

So proud of my confident little girl.

We met her friend Grayson who was also ready for the new year.

One final hug for daddy.

...who I think looked rather teary eyed himself... just saying.

Then she was off. Well, almost. She was following her class when ``another class walked in front of her. It confused her and she didn't know which way to go. I quickly tried to find her class but they were gone. The good news was that I knew where her actual classroom was located and I was able to take her and Grayson there.

I found her teacher, who was in the process of welcoming her new class into the room, and said, "so you lost two...." Yes, I was trying to sound annoyed. I mean, this is my daughter and less than 5 minutes into PreK and the teacher lost her?

I couldn't let it go. My over-tired, first time mom, only child brain went into what if mode. I needed to know - beyond any doubt - that would never happen again. Under any circumstances. Don took me into the school and we found the secretary. We told her what happened and she assured me that it they would discuss it and it would not happen again.

That evening I got a phone call (message) from Rebekah's teacher apologizing (to me it sounded more because she got a lecture than because she was sorry about misplacing Rebekah) and assuring that it would never happen again. She and her assistant presented a plan (the same that Don suggested to the secretary) on how to get her students from place to place so she won't loose any child.

So, I will be taking her back. And Rebekah seems happy about that. However, I cannot promise I won't be hanging out outside with spy goggles....

Cleaning the Church

September is our month to clean the church. I've never been excited about this: I can barely keep my own house clean and if my husband and child are going to clean a house, shouldn't it be ours?

Selfish. Yes. I am grateful for a wonderful little girl who looks forward cleaning the church. It's always the little ones who show the way. 

End of Summer

The community pool was closing soon so we took complete advantage of the last few days:

Daddy daughter swim time = love.

These two love staring at each other under water. 

And of course swimming right next to each other.

Rebekah using that side breathe technique she learned at her lessons.

And flippers. Can't forget about the flippers.

Diving for sticks.

Love watching these two.

If you look to the left in the photo you can see the blue stick Rebe just threw.

My all time favorite: daddy rides.

Below is a quick visual of swim time. Also, in case you are wondering what actually happens on a daddy ride, I threw that in too.

I love Rebekah's song she sings while on the ride. I also love at the end when Rebekah fixes daddy's hair. 

Good summer times!