I don’t really have much good news.
I’m at trouble at work because of how much time I have been home with sick children. And you know what? I think I did the right thing staying home with them. So that’s that.
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Flora woke up SCREAMING at 11:30 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. with ear pain. Dan’s taking her back to the doctor this afternoon.
Guess those antibiotics aren’t working.
I had ear infections as a child, and I remember how very much they hurt. As hard as it was to be empathetic at 2 a.m., I think Dan and I did okay with Flora. We were a little crankier — all right, a lot — with each other. Really have to work on that.
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Oh, wait, I do have good news. The plague of insects that has descended on the house in the past few months has been stemmed. Thank goodness for cold weather.
I still see the occasional G-D FRUIT FLY buzzing around the kitchen. I make it my priority to track it through the air and squash the life out of it. We’ve a few Asian lady beetle carcasses laying around, too. It’s amazing that some of those seemingly dead bugs will rediscover their will to live (and their tiny little feet) and crawl out of the pile of crumbs I have swept up.
They aren’t very fast. They get dumped with everything else.
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I have a lot of baking to do in the next 10 to 14 days. This is bad news if you are on the receiving end as I’m not much of a baker. But Flora needs cookies for her class (she’s going to be 5 years old in less than a week) and I am attending the infamous Cookie Swap with Burgh moms on Nov. 14. I have a couple of pretty easy recipes on tap; the trick will be how I deal with the kids while baking.
If I suit them both up in hazmat uniforms, I guess I can let them help.
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Our new back door won’t go in because of wood rot and other problems. Do we just do something half-assed for now (and not use the back door) or do we spend thousands of dollars to do the job right and make the payments? FUDGE.
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Updated to add: Flora has infections in both ears, a temp of 102, a new, stronger Rx, and she threw up in the doctor’s office. This day is just going swimmingly!
Red Pen Mama 
Poor little thing… ear aches are so maddening… like your brain hurts… you can’t rub it, you can’t get away from it…
You and Flora have my sympathies…
I know; I remember how I used to just lay there and cry wishing the pain would stop. I don’t remember all the screaming and writhing — I’ll have to ask my parents.
Thanks for the sympathies. She’ll be okay; it’s just so difficult when a little one is so sick.
Ciao, rpm
Eff work, If they don’t realize that the mommy job is more important, then Eff them. It’s not like they are paying you EXTRA for it, you are using your own time, that you earned to take off.
I hope little Flora feels better soon.
I will say that my supervisor is just toe-ing the line. He knows the situation, and he also knows my feelings about it (that my kids are WAY more important), but he has to do “the thing” to be all official and look in charge. I have no hard feelings, really — it’s just a job. They do understand, but their hands are tied by policy.
And thanks. Flora should be bouncing back soon.
Ciao, rpm
Oh my god–Poor Flora (and family!)
Sometimes, it just never ends.
Thanks. We’re muddling through.
Ciao, rpm
Oh, poor Flora! That sounds just awful. (For everyone, actually.)
I can’t believe how much of a hassle it has been for you to be with your kids when they are sick. It’s terrible that you are now in trouble for missing days…ugh.
I’m not surprised about the hassle — I mean, American businesses don’t give “sick kid time”. I wish unpaid time were an option without needing it to be FMLA. Did you read my post A Modest Proposal? I go into all this. Sorry.
My supervisor did seem reluctant to do it. But he’s a company guy, KWIM? I just have to keep my fingers crossed for about the next 7 weeks!
Thanks for the comment, Ciao, rpm