Family Update

We have been the house of illness and sorrow. When I got to Chicago, on the 6th, I called home and found out that Zed was sick (Zed and Carmac stayed at my parent's house Wed-Fri). Hammy took him to the DR on that Saturday: Zed had the flu. I got home late on Sunday to find Carmac was coming down with it. Within a day, Hammy got it and then, the next day, I got it. We all were on anti-biotics, so we had the accompanying stomach misery.

I think it was the day I started coming down with it that I went to the pharmacy to pick up meds and on the way, took our dogs out but apparently forgot to latch the gate on the fence. Both of the dogs were gone when I returned. Our mutt, Argus, returned a few hours later but our lab, Lucy has not been heard from since. We were feeling too sick to drive around looking for her, or really, truth be told, to care much for several days (we're all very sad now).

The only one of us to avoid getting the flu was Declan. He had his wisdom teeth removed though, on Valentine's day, so he was also out of it. It took almost 3 days for his gums to stop bleeding. They finally stopped just when we were thinking we'd need to take him to the emergency room to have sutures put in.
Yesterday, Declan came home with a bad sore throat. I took him to the DR today and found that he has strep throat. He is now on anti-biotics.

Zed turned 13 on the 17th. We were on the mend but still too out of it to do much to celebrate. I did make a cake but we didn't get to do any of the normal things we do to celebrate a birthday. Next weekend, he's going to invite a friend to do something.

It's still sinking in that I've got two teenagers, now. My sweet Zed has entered that treacherous place known as adolescence. Over the last couple of months, I've noticed that he's increasingly moody and temperamental. He'll be sweet and affectionate one moment and then something will prickle him and he'll get angry or really mouthy. Sigh...

The good news is, although he's still definitely a teenager, Declan seems to be outgrowing the stage of having to rebel all the time against everything I say, do or am. Lately, he's been a lot nicer to his brothers and he and I have actually been having some decent, thoughtful conversations.

Anyway, our family is all better (except Dec, who will be within 24 hours). I've been working on my new work project, which is going well. Yesterday was sunny and in the 50s so I rode my scooter all over town contacting my cases. I had terrible helmet-hair by the end of the day, but a great lotta fun working! I used about 2/3 of a gallon of gas and went 62 miles!