The Best Souvenirs...

are the ones that last... and last... and last. Well, except in this case. I'd throw this one out the window if it wouldn't take my kids with it. They're still not over their whatever-it-is. And now, they appear to have passed something on to Daddy, who really needs to be spending his time working on the new house - not in bed (you know if he were healthier and I were a little less... ummmm... enormous, I might be all for him spending the day in bed, but that's another story we won't get into.). He was all sore and achey today and spent most of his time in slow motion. Not ideal for this time of year. I suppose it's no worse than him getting shingles a week before harvest last year, but I'd rather not have to take care of two sick kids, a sick husband AND a newborn, and if they don't cut it out soon, I may have to.

At least I haven't gotten sick. How would I be able to deal with them if I were? This morning, we had the unusual fun of hanging out at the lab while a not-so-adept technician poked and prodded my children's arms in an attempt to draw some blood to test. If you've never had the pleasure of watching someone stick a needle in the arm of your not-quite-three-year-old and pushing it deeper and deeper and finally wiggling it around because the blood just won't come out, you're really missing out on quite an experience. And, when the guy says (while your child is crying, I might add), "it doesn't hurt him, though, because we put that numbing patch on earlier," you know he's lost all touch with reality. I mean, it may not be excrutiating, thanks to the patch, but how can it not be at least a bit uncomfortable to have someone wiggling a needle under the skin at your elbow?

They apparently were able to get enough for their tests, though, because I got the results this afternoon. No bacterial infection apparent, which I'm a bit relieved about, since that's often more damaging, even if it is treatable with antibiotics. According to the doctor, it's most likely viral, and the virus stressed their livers, which caused them to have nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. I've never heard of that, but what do I know? The doctor says we'll learn more as soon as the stool sample results come in (yeah, we did that, too, but I'll spare you the details of that exciting experience).

So, no knitting has gotten done around here, and not much of anything else has either. The best I've been able to do is get lots of tomatoes picked yesterday and make some tomato sauce that turned out to be really tasty. Aside from that, I've spent lots of time working on prematurely aging the skin on my hands through frequent washings after wiping other people's rear-ends way more times than I can even count. I don't remember ever having my hands this dry. You'd think I had obsessive compulsive disorder. And with that thought, I bid you good night (because apparently, butt wiping and soothing whiny children is exhausting work, and I must head off to bed).