Oh what a week! Mercer's birthday post will come soon. 'Til then, a quick update...

First - here are a bunch of photos of Mercer's school & home made art-work.  We wanted to document these, as we can't keep all of his pieces that are sent home.  (Some of these are valentines, Mercer playing with folding and taping (at home during winter break), and there's even a cute note from a friend.)

Next - the headlining story of "Oh what a week!"

... Mercer had strep throat last month.  And - he got it again this past weekend. 

We've been through the drill.  Go to (urgent care) doctor.  Get a swab.  Get antibiotics.  Get better.  Seemed like we were headed down that road - but the day after he was treated, he woke up in the middle of the night vomiting.  He continued to do so after he woke up.  And there were other "issues" too.   We thought he couldn't tolerate his medicine, so we called the on-call nurse + made another trip to an urgent care children's center on Sunday.   

Once there, they gave him some anti-nausea medicine + his strep antibiotic in a shot and sent him on his way.  He recovered within the day.  

Before we made it to the urgent care, however, Isabella fell and cut her lip on the leg of a piece of furniture... her first "injury."  (I remember Mercer's first.  He cut his lip by face-planting on the floor while crawling.)   






I also remember the first -- and only time 'til this weekend -- that Mercer got sick.  We were on vacation in Edisto.  








Unfortunately that record was shattered this weekend after M got sick 4 times.

Monday, everything seemed good.  Seemed like we were getting back to normal.  





BUT NO!  Late Monday afternoon, Isabella vomited.  A little while later - she did it again.  And again and again and again.  I had to call Todd in from work to come pick Mercer up from the bus stop because I couldn't keep her dressed.  





We called the on-call nurse again + made a 3rd trip to urgent care in 3 days.   After poor sweet Isabella had thrown up about 10 times, she really didn't have anything to give.  By the time she was tested and seen by the doctor, she had thrown up 21 times.  




No joke.  

Apparently there's a bug going around (which was evident at the urgent care center).  

Unfortunately, I was not immune to it.  

During the 3rd hour we were there, I got sick!  The nurses had to come into the room 3 or 4 times and come get Isabella from me because I couldn't hold her.  

They were awesome and took care of both of us and were so sweet about my embarrassing situation.  The same nurse who saw Mercer on Sunday took care of us Monday night too.  






Once Isabella got some anti-nausea medicine, she was able to have a popsicle - her first.   The nurse said she's never seen a child grip a popcicle so hard (like we were going to take it away from her).  She enjoyed it immensely.  

Todd had to come pick us up from the urgent care center because I was not stable enough to drive us home.  Happy to say that after I took some anti-nausea medicine & I was on the mend too.  

I was pretty knocked out the following day.  Isabella is taking a bit longer to recover.  Two days later, she's still weak but her appetite is coming back.    

Let's hope this is over with!  

The next post will detail Mercer's 6th birthday party + some other things that he and Isabella have been up to.  It will be posted soon... we just got a little side-tracked over the past few days!!