Buh-dee, Buh-dee, Buh-dee...

That's All Folks.

As in, that's all I've got. Just this one picture (and I recognize it's not a great one). I can't think of anything to tell you aside from all the family woes. We've got illness galore around here. We're about at the end of a collective bout with the common cold. Lambchop #3 and I were the last to have it. She wasn't a happy girl (which is way different than her usual character) for days. She's still not quite herself, but things are looking up. But, you know how they say that famous people die in threes? Who knows if there's any validity to this thought whatsoever, but it's an interesting idea. And, what's even more interesting is that the concept seems to apply to illness in our family, as well.

We get sick in threes. It's not good enough for us to have one person sick at a time. So, for example, Daddy and the first two kids had the cold together. Then, it was my turn with Lambchop #3. But, that only makes two people sick, so someone else naturally has to chime in with their own disorder or bodily malfunction of some kind. That's when Lambchop #1 volunteered. And, what did she bring to the party? Why something extremely contagious that she could share with the other kids, of course - the chicken pox. I've actually mistakenly thought she was coming down with it twice before, but that's only because I've never seen it in real life. Now that I have, there's no way I could mistake it for anything else. She, apparently, has quite an impressive case, too. Got to hand it to her. She goes all out. She's quite the perfectionist. Her letters have to be written just so, and she'll spend hours trying to draw the perfect heart or star. It's the same with the chicken pox, I guess. A few little bumps here and there aren't enough for her. She has to come out with a case of the itchy-scratchies that even an epidemiologist would stop to gauk at.

She even went so far as to develop as many of the classic symptoms as possible. It all started with the headache. That was most likely caused by the fever I didn't know she had. And, in checking her forehead for a high temperature, I stumbled across a few pox. She matter-of-factly told me that those were her bumps, but there was nothing matter-of-fact about them. See, there are two kinds of pox-bumpy-things you can have. There are the little red spots and there are the blisters. Apparently, most people have more of the red spots than the blisters. For her, it was the other way around. Unfortunately, it's the blisters that take longer to heal. And, there are blisters, and there are BLISTERS. She's got quite a few large ones, and this can't make them itch any less. Although she's clearly still contagious at the moment, we seem to be winding down, and now she's even stopped itching all day. Unfortunately though, she has developed a chicken-pox-related sore throat. Yeah, I didn't even know that could be one of the symptoms. Basically, she's had all of them that tend to be associated with this disease except for back pain (that's our silver lining, in case you're wondering). So, my guess is that if our sickness-in-threes theory holds out, we'll be nursing two more cases of the chicken pox before Lambchop #1 is fully healed. Let's just hope I'm wrong and Lambchop #3 will have immunity from my breastmilk.

Why am I telling you all this - aside from the obvious need to complain about my life? Well, it's to excuse myself from the obligation of the knitting pictures I recently promised. She was going to be my hat model, after all. And, even a five-year-old can see she's not too beautiful with all the blisters and scabs. I'm pretty sure she'd refuse if I tried to take pictures, and I wouldn't be so cruel as to try. Besides, who has the time to pick up a camera when they spend their days doling out rations of anti-itch cream and fever/pain meds while holding a whiny baby and scolding an ornery, jealous three-year-old (poor Lambchop #2 feels neglected and is expressing his dismay by kicking his older sister every chance he gets)? So, if I don't get around to writing another post in the next few weeks, you'll at least know why - I've drowned in a sea of ointments, creams, disinfectants, syrupy meds and my own tears.