Having a Pre-teen, Sick in the Summer & Life

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic around here.  Our niece has been visiting for the last three weeks, she goes home today, and having an 11 year old around here has been quite an adjustment.  I'm pretty used to having a 6 and 2 year old, and all the ages in between, but throwing a pre-teen into the mix has been an adventure to say the least.  I realized that my patience for the littles far exceeds my patience for pre-teens.  I learned that it is way uncool to sing songs to myself, especially in the grocery store.  And I learned that caring for a sick older kid is still hard, just different.

Unfortunately there is a bad stomach flu going around right now and it was our turn to catch it. A few weeks ago Lily Claire came home from art camp with a stomach ache.  She started throwing up in the middle of the night and by the next day seemed much better.  Of course I got sick the next day and it hit me much harder.  It made its way to the other two kids in our house hold, and they seemed to get better within a day as well.  Well, I was not so lucky.  For about a week I would feel better for a day and then get hit with a fever and be sick all over again.  For those of you who are moms, you know how hard it is to take care of your kids when you feel like death.  I finally went to the doctor on Tuesday and was prescribed some anti-nausea medication, which was great, because I couldn't even keep a glass of water down.  Now that I am feeling better, I promise to get back to writing and cooking!

Lily Claire celebrated her 6th birthday yesterday night, we had to postpone the original party due to flu.  It was a lovely, hot evening!  The kids had a blast playing with water toys and doing the hula! {It was a Luau theme.}  I am usually much better at organization, decor, planning in general... But, this year, we kind of just played and let the kids do what they wanted.  It worked out fine!

Well, that's what we've been up to for the last few weeks!  I hope everyone out there is enjoying their summer!