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- Happy first day of SPRING! The sun is shining – the forecast for the next few days looks AMAZING – we are all so excited!
- And well – that’s where the “exciting” news of the week ends & the “baffling” news begins. Ready for this? Braelynn was diagnosed with chicken pox yesterday! I’m still in a bit of shock – mostly because I can’t figure out where we would have gotten it. She did go with me to the grocery store in the last week & other than that – we’ve just been to church (so, my best guess is: she picked it up from church? but so far, no one at church has claimed responsibility [chicken pox has gone around in the past & parents have always let everyone else know], so I’m wondering if maybe it was a visiting family? who knows..)
REGARDLESS – I took her to see the doctor because I discovered red spots on the back of her neck that then traveled around her neck & onto her chest. She didn’t complain about them being itchy & literally had zero other symptoms – but something about them made my Mom-senses tingle.
After a bunch of Googling – I came down to thinking it had to be either chicken pox or bed bugs. But to be honest: neither of those options quite panned out logically in my head. If it was chicken pox: 1. we had to be exposed somewhere & to this day, I still can’t figure out where we were actually exposed & 2. she didn’t have any of the symptoms that traditionally go along with chicken pox (itchiness, fever, achy-feeling) Which led me to lean toward them being bed bugs – thinking maybe we picked them up when we went to Great Wolf Lodge 6 weeks ago? However – no one else was exhibiting signs of bed bugs & wouldn’t Derrick, Leander, and I also have bites if we had bed bugs? So logically, neither of those options seemed to truly pan out in my head.
Bed bugs honestly seemed the most likely answer though & I literally was sick at that thought. I mean, I’m a very clean person & I keep my house very clean. It’s not spotless (after all, I do have 2 children & a husband) but I work very hard to keep my house orderly & clean. The thought though, that we might have bed bugs, literally made me nauseous. I was honestly terrified of going upstairs & inspecting Braelynn’s bedding & mattress at the possibility of finding bugs. I was so petrified at the thought, that I had to call my sister to help – I just couldn’t do it alone.
Meanwhile, even though I was leaning toward thinking it was bed bugs, I wanted to rule out chicken pox, so I called & scheduled an appointment with her doctor. My sister Amy came over, and we inspected all three bedrooms in our house & we didn’t find anything. I was relieved, but still slightly freaked out at the thought of minuscule bugs invading my house.
So, off Braelynn & I went to the doctor. He took one look at her spots & said, “It’s chicken pox.” I was shocked. He went on to explain how he knew it was chicken pox, gave us a rundown of what to expect in the coming days, an overview of the typical timeline of chicken pox, & told us how long to stay away from other people.
Honestly: as much as I hate the idea of Braelynn (and Leander too, since he’s bound to get it) being sick – I was SO relieved. We don’t have bed bugs! And honestly: the timing is kind of perfect. We don’t have anything going on over the next few weeks – so why not get it done & over with?
We had originally planned to go visit Derrick’s parents this weekend, but obviously those plans got canceled. Those plans are easy to reschedule though (it’s crazy – we had entertained the thought of going to Florida this weekend to get in some roller coaster rides, but ultimately decided to wait a few more weeks – and man am I glad we did!) Braelynn was very upset to have to stay home & miss out on seeing her best friend (her cousin Cameron), but after a good cry & some snuggles, she was okay.
So, 24 hours post-diagnosis – Braelynn is still feeling great. In fact, if you didn’t know she had the chicken pox, you’d never guess she was sick. She has gained a few new spots (from what I read, they tend to come in waves, so we’re just waiting for the next wave to break out) but she still is not itchy, fevered, or lethargic.
I remember having chicken pox – coincidentally at the exact same age & at the same time of year (right around Easter) – but I remember being really itchy & feeling icky for a few days. Derrick remembers having chicken pox & having lots of spots, but otherwise feeling completely normal – so hopefully our kids have his genes in regards to their reaction to the chicken pox virus.
It’s so funny – once upon a time, the thought of “quarantining” for a few weeks while chicken pox works it way thru our house would have been crazy. Not leave our house for weeks? How would we survive? But, after 2020, it seems completely normal. In fact, we are basically replaying this exact same time last year – we pretty much quarantined mid-March thru mid-April last year & here we are, doing it again!
So, anyways, if you need us – we’ll be here, at home, doing our normal thing! - Okay, I do have one more exciting thing to report! I officially FINISHED our 2020 family yearbook & ordered it last night!! Omigoodness, I am SO excited – I cannot wait to receive the printed book in the mail!! Over the last week, I designed the cover, double-checked all of the pages, processed everything, and got it uploaded to the company where I order our family yearbooks. It ended up being about 60 pages bigger than last year’s book (OOPS). But, I am absolutely thrilled with all the memories packed into the big fat photo book & now I just anxiously wait for it to be printed, assembled, and shipped from California to me!!
And what’s crazy: I was thinking that I was a little “behind” from when I created our family yearbook last year – but when I looked at the order history with my book company, I ordered our 2019 family yearbook on March 17, 2020 and ordered our 2020 family yearbook on March 19, 2021! So, I’m right on track. - And now – that that huge project is done – I can officially move on to other fun things!
Another chicken pox possibility, I know a preschooler who got a light case of chicken pox from his Grandma who had had a recent shingles shot.