Mumps!

Well, we still aren't sure what Quin came down with. We thought at first it was a bad tooth since the swelling in his cheek didn't go down with medication. That has led us to believe that it is probably mumps. If so then the younger group will probably get it in the next week or two. I guess time will tell.


For the most part Quin has been moving around as normal but by Friday night he was NOT feeling well. Spent Friday and Saturday just lying around. His cheek and eye were swollen. Poor guy.


Sorry about the quality of the pic. I really should have cropped it down first to get rid of the sunlight coming through. This camera phone is great to take quick pics but the quality is just not there. I am going to have to be more diligent to keep good batteries in the digital camera or I am going to be frustrated with how this blog looks.

Pigs in a Blanket... NOPE how bout the front porch

What a night we had last night. I've already posted about the stomach bug, tooth problems, and ear aches. This seems to result in restless kids roaming the house looking for the perfect place to lay down that will take away all sickness. Amanda was up helping me and opened the door about 1am to find our 2 pigs, Wilbur and Charlotte, at the front door. UGH!!! Josiah was quickly rounding them up but couldn't get them into the pen until his big brother Mitchell came to the rescue. They need to go to the butcher soon. Remind me if I ever feel tempted to bring home cute little piggies to remember how much money it costs to feed them as well as the extra challenges they bring. SIGH. It has been good though to see Si faithfully taking care of them, so I guess that was worth it.

So the pigs made it back in the pen but I couldn't take the puppy noise and so sent them out to the mudroom to sleep through what was left of the night. Ahhh... much better, but we were soon awake again at 4am with our wood boiler hissing and spitting. The pressure was too high. David made it out of bed to help Caleb (15yos) get it settled but David can't even move without being sick so he was heaving all the way to the basement and back again. Poor guy.

We're being attacked! HELP!

Ok... sickness has invaded our home on all sides. After New Year's Quin woke up with a swollen eye. We let it go thinking it would resolve itself (maybe not enough sleep). A week later it was still bothering him and now he had a swollen gland in front of his ear. Dr's prognosis... either a bad tooth (which needs a filling) or MUMPS! We are leaning towards the tooth and he is on antibiotics. We are hoping the swelling in his right cheek goes down soon. For now I am calling him "monk" short for chipmunk and also after a show we recently started watching on USA network called Monk.


On top of Quin's tooth we also are dealing with a variety of other illnesses. The worst is the stomach bug.

Poor Si is sporting a beautiful bowl close by. My husband right now has it the worst, but a few of the kids are struggling with it also. It started with Abby and they wondered if it might be her appendix. We were told to keep a close eye on her, but I called the doctor yesterday and said, "they're dropping like flies around here.. I think it is safe to assume it is a stomach bug and not appendicitis". He agreed.



Here is Abby actually feeling much better but still camped out in the living room chair with Amanda's sought after blanket/robe and one of our puppies.



So some have the stomach bug, Quin has the infection from a tooth and little Ella was complaining about her ear. That leaves me, Amanda (13yod), and Caleb (15yos who rarely gets sick) running at full speed.

Cindy