The Kiddos, Part 2

Simon has one month left of his first year of preschool. On the whole, it has been a good year, and he has enjoyed going to school. After much deliberation, we made the difficult choice to not reutrn to the same preschool next year. The beloved 4-year old teacher is leaving after so many years at the school, and she was really the incentive behind my willingness to stick it out for another year (it's a bit of a drive). We toured a Christian preschool closer to home that some of our friends' children attend and have decided to make the switch. Simon seems to accept this decision without any complaint. Although he likes preschool, he has not made any "best" friends there and does not seem particularly attached to the school. I am sad to say goodbye forever to the school becasue Jamie did have such a great experience at this school, yet at the same time, I am not sad to say goodbye to the drive and the craziness it adds to our schedule. I am all about simplicity (especially with a new baby on the way!).

Violet has had a rough six weeks with illness. We were all sick with a cold at the end of February. However, Simon, Violet, and I could not shake the cough and congestion. Both Simon and Violet ended up with ear infections, and I came down with bronchitis. By the time I brought Violet in, her ears were so infected (as in pus bubbles ready to pop! ewwww... gross!), that the goop was coming out of her eyes because there was nowhere else to go. So the doctor started Violet on a course of augmentum before things got worse. Unfortunately, we now know that Violet shares her dad's and older brother's amoxicillin allergy. She ended up in hives from head to toe. As soon as I saw them, I knew instantly what they were from (having dealt with the same thing with Jamie when he was two). Since Violet was on day eight of the antibiotic when she broke out in hives, the doctor felt it was okay to not prescribe a different antibiotic, but absolutely stop the augmentum. Two days later, Violet's hives became worse, her breathing was slightly labored, and her face was starting to swell, so it was off to ER. She still had a double ear infection, so after some monitoring and oral steroids in the ER, we were sent home with prescriptions for more steroids, bendaryl, pepcid (apparently an antihistamine as well) and zithromax (another antibiotic). A week later, we followed up with the pediatrician again. Violet STILL had a double ear infection. And she still had the horrible rash from the allergic reaction. I think she was more miserable from the rash than the ear infection. She needed benadryl at night to go to sleep because she was scratching herself until she bled. Not to mention that antibiotics cause diarrhea, so now I was pumping her full of probiotics as well, and we had to add a medicated diaper cream to the mix. So now Violet was put on omnicef, a third antibiotic. Unfortunately for Violet once again, there is some cross-sensitivity and 10% of people allergic to amoxicillin/penicillin are also allergic to the class of drugs that omnicef is in. Violet's reaction was not as severe to the omnicef, but her rash worsened. She completed her course of medication, suffered through the rash, slept on lots of benadryl, and I think we're in the clear now! Everyone has been healthy for a couple weeks now. (Oh, I better not have just ruined anything!)

We are all looking forward to spring, Easter, Simon's birthday, and Jamie's First Communion!