Daddy-Daughter

After evenings such as tonight it is nice to remember times like these:

Greg and Katherine on 9/12/08 and her chocolate sauce imitation of her daddy's goatee.

The evening started out lovely and calm, and it was so cute when Katherine said, "Daddy, you are so handsome!" How darling is that? But then I asked Greg to wash Katherine's hair since 4 of my fingers are wrapped in band-aids and stinging because of bleeding splits in the skin. The calm atmosphere in our home deteriorated rapidly from the moment the shampoo was poured on that poor, pitiful head. Talk about weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and that was from both of them! Katherine's screams of "I want mommy" were followed by Greg's stern direction to "just close your eyes." Call me an optimist, but I really thought the situation would resolve without me having to leave the coziness of my comforter. I was wrong. Greg was completely frustrated and Katherine nearly puked after inhaling sudsy water.

Alas, all was right and lovely again even before her hair was driy. Soon, daddy was performing magic tricks for the gullible little girl and we were laughing hysterically together. A moment of fun was followed by family prayer, hugs and kisses.

Isn't it so cute that they have matching eyebrows?

Praying for Patience

I am going insane! As I explained in a previous post, both Katherine and I had Influenza B which we caught while in Florida. We have been getting over being very sick and it all hit us again.

Monday night Katherine started throwing up and throwing up. We stripped the bed several times in the night, had many changes of pajamas and rocked our sick little girl for hours. Unfortunately Greg had to fly out of town Tuesday morning and I was left alone dealing with the situation. I had a lot of things to do at the office so Mom came to the house to hold Katherine for several hours in the afternoon. She was so lethargic all day and was in and out of sleep.

I took Katherine to her pediatrician this morning to be checked out and to run a few tests. The conclusion is Katherine has Influenza A and this strain causes severe aches in the head and neck accompanied by high fever.

We're also facing dehydration and possibly going to the hospital tomorrow to have more blood tests and IV fluids. Katherine will only take a few sips of water and each time it has to be in a new cup with fresh ice water. This is where I begin to lose my patience. The constant crying is making me tired and Katherine can also be a very mean little sick person: I have been hit a lot and told I have bad breath. I was actually told to chew some gum before I rock her in the chair. What a diva.

"Mommy, could you paint a rainbow on me?"

This afternoon we read one of the books we received from our Scholastic order. A Bad Case of Stripes definitely was Katherine's favorite and she wanted me to read it to her over and over again. At the end of the first reading she said, "Mommy, could you paint a rainbow on me? It is so beautiful." I told her that I like her skin the way it is and she replied: "But why, mommy? I want pretty colors, too." After reading the books I double checked that all of the markers are on the highest shelf. Now with this idea in her mind that being striped is beautiful, it's just a matter of time before she paints her body.