in·flu·en·za

ˌinfləˈwenzə/

noun

noun: influenza

1. a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory passages causing fever, severe aching, and catarrh, and often occurring in epidemics.

   
   

   Post sickness clean-up and return to normal is a bit overwhelming. Ten days, my friends. Not all of us were sick at the same time. I was unfortunate in that my virus became sinusitis and required prednisone and antibiotics. And, of course, by that point, my children were ecstatic to be alive and thriving, which means many questionable things took place. Upon inspecting the damage, I just decided to take pictures of it all for posterity.

   
   

   The arsenal of medicine. Highest temperature goes to Paxton, a whopping 103.9. I was getting nervous and was planning my next steps for doctor intervention when the Tylenol took it down quickly. Paxton's actually quite funny when he's sick. He lays all over me or his sisters and just says "I love you" all the time.

   
   

   

   
   

   The pile of dishes. Ah, yes....... pizza sounded horrid to me, but the kids, again, were quite well by that point.  

   

   
   

   
   

   And then the random assortment of thermometer and corn dog sticks. It was a matter of eat the frozen food and eat all the apples, oranges, carrots, and yogurt to make me feel better about myself as a mother.

   

   
   

   
   

   And I'm not sure exactly what happened. The girls said Paxton was eating crackers on the couch while removing the stuffing from a pillow. Seems he ate his orange and yogurt on the couch, too. I'm not questioning it. Just pondering the sights.

   

   
   

   
   

   And it came to pass that the boy was back to fine health, leaving his sisters and mother still very much under the weather. What happens in Paxton's room, stays in Paxton's room. Other than the above picture, we managed to keep his boyish vibrance contained to his room. The word 'contained' is up for conjecture.
   

   
   

   
   

   We did try. There is evidence.

   
   
   Fun fact: You can order a case of chicken noodle soup as well as basic drugs off Amazon and get them in two days.
   
   
   And the beauty of homeschooling is lesson planning and lessons continued, although in limited ways. It may have been in reading or documentaries, but something was learned and we didn't lose six days entirely.
   
   
   And I had flowers to keep up the spirits... until they got all wonky. Tulips are weird. I love them, but they certainly don't go out quietly.