houseofmulhern.com

Last Wednesday August 4th, Early Days called Meghan to let her know that Sydney had broken out in some spots. Oddly, she had one spot on her face and four or five on her right arm. They suspected it was hives due to some kind of allergic reaction to the fruit snack she had in the afternoon. Meghan got Sydney a little early that day, and we spent the evening trying to establish what exactly it was that Sydney had.

The next day we sent Syd back to school and at the end of the day, Meghan noted that Sydney still had the spots. At that point she decided to take Sydney to the doctor to get them checked out. The verdict - inconclusive. "It might be chickenpox but we're not sure."

On Friday, I stayed home with Sydney because you can’t send a kid with chickenpox to school. We did however visit the park and pool. I figured, she was happy so why not? It’s not like she was going to come into contact with any other kids anyway and she didn’t.

On Saturday Sydney get a few more pox on her arm and hand and the existing ones had heads on them. By this point she probably had about 18 pox total with one on her ear, one on her face, one on her shoulder, and the rest on her right arm and right hand. We hit the water park again for good measure.

On Sunday the pox started going down so we figured we were in the clear.

On Monday, we noted that Sydney had a few new pox and was starting to really look like she had the chickenpox.

On Tuesday (today), Sydney looked kind of rough. She’s got one that she dug raw on the side of her face. The one on the other side of her face is receding. Her right arm is covered by both new and fading pox. She’s also got a few other random ones.

It’s kind of sad to watch Sydney point to various marks on her arms, legs, and side and say “Pock?”

Anyway, we’ve survived a week of chickenpox and are hoping we can send her back to school on Monday. Many thanks to Mary for watching Sydney yesterday and today.

It's worth noting that Sydney was vaccinated for chickenpox. ...and that she fell into the 21% that the first dose wasn't effective for. Hopefully the other vaccines she's had are more effective and she won't come home with Measles, Whooping Cough, or Mumps next week.

Tonight I asked Sydney if she had fun with Grandma and she said "Yeah"! I explained that I was going to stay home and play with her tomorrow, and we were going to have fun. Her response was "and Ma?" Then I had to explain that mom was going to work tomorrow and only I was staying home. She was clearly disappointed but ok with that plan.

It's very clear that after our little vacation, Sydney want's both of us to be around at all times and in close proximity. Over the weekend I was working in the basement and Meghan and Sydney came downstairs to visit. When they went back up, Sydney turned to me and said "Kying?" (coming). I explained that I was going to continue working on the basement and asked her if that was ok. She nodded and went upstairs with Meghan.

It's also worth noting that Sydney has become quite the "Daddy's Girl" since I stayed home with her last Friday. Tonight Meghan started getting a bath ready for her, and she specifically requested that "Da" give her a bath.