Sick in Arizona

So, a few days before we left Iowa (Sunday afternoon), this is how we found Reilly:



Asleep on OUR bed. Out cold. The kid that hardly ever naps anymore. That should have been our first sign, but we just thought he was really tired... He ended up getting fairly sick that night, and had a low-grade fever for about 3 days or so and was grumpy for at least a week. Traveling with that was a little stressful... It went as well as could be expected, and we made it to the Gila Valley (Pima-Thatcher-Safford) Tuesday night. Reilly was so excited to be able to go outside, even though he didn't feel very good. One day he played in this sandbox for at least an hour by himself:


He is also in love with the trampoline. I'll have to remember to get a picture of that...
Jaina was also excited to be here, and was having a grand old time with all the relatives (though she's always a little shy at first) and toys. Especially any that Reilly's playing with at any given time. Notice her ponytail. It was in rare form that day. :)
Reilly still felt pretty icky off and on and was really grumpy for quite a while. I thought it was just teething at the time. (Both of them have been working on molars...) Here he is cuddling with my dad.
Grandpa trying to get on Reilly's good side by buying him his first ice cream cone. :) He was pretty impressed!
Sadly, that Thursday, Jaina got sick! She had a pretty decent fever all day along with lots of cold symptoms, and felt terrible.
I thought she'd be sick for a while (if she had whatever Reilly had), but the next day she felt better, (at least fever-wise) and we got to spend a lot of time with Jeremy's family Friday and Saturday. They were both pretty grumpy a lot of the time, but we still had a lot of fun.
Church went pretty well, and Reilly enjoyed going to nursery with Grandma. I had to take Jaina home to take a nap, but they both seemed to feel pretty decent Sunday and Monday. Here's Jaina Monday night, reminding us to brush our teeth! Her hair is getting pretty long in front... :)
Reilly has been feeling a LOT better,
but is still a little whiny, because he finds that it works when trying to get everything he wants from grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles...














He wouldn't even know I was here if I didn't remind him of how he's not allowed to throw huge fits, and if I wasn't here to tell him it's time for bed... He's a sweetheart though, and he's getting so old!
Reilly spent Wednesday night through Friday mid-day at Jeremy's parents. They were planning to watch both kids all day Thursday so my brother David and I could go down to Mesa, go to the temple, and see my friend Athena (and her new house!) This didn't work out so well, as Wednesday morning, Jaina started running a fever again. She was pretty sick, and it kept going up above 103º any time we let her go very long without tylenol or advil. We spent a lot of time sitting in a rocking chair with her watching Sesame Street or Baby Einstein (or sleeping) while I read books. Don't mind how I look sicker than her. I haven't actually had anyting yet! (Other than rather interrupted sleep)
It was really nice to have somewhere to send Reilly where he would actually get some attention, and not have to worry about him getting fed and taken care of here. (My parents were gone to Mesa for a few days).
Thursday her fever was up near 104º twice, and yesterday (Friday) I knew I needed to get her checked out to make sure she didn't have strep or some other kind of infection. Of course, being from out of state, the best place to go for insurance acceptance was the ER. David watched Reilly, and Jeremy's dad went in with me, and we took her up yesterday afternoon. The poor thing had to go through so many tests, and she was NOT happy about it. Of course they took her temperature AFTER two nose swabs (for RSV and flu) and a throat swab (strep) and with the room being warm, and all the screaming, her temp had shot even higher, to 104.7º! The RSV came back positive. She had some other tests to rule out any secondary infections, and after about 4 hours, we got to bring her home. She slept pretty well last night, probably because they had worn her out! It's good to know what's going on, and to know what to watch for (if it got any worse - she's doing pretty well, considering), and to know she doesn't have anything else pushing her fever that high. I just hope she feels a lot better before we have to fly home Wednesday!



















So that's our "vacation" story. Jeremy has actually been sick this whole time, as well. Come to think of it, they probably all had/have the same virus... At least he hasn't had to deal with taking care of us, and he's just been able to try to take care of himself, and study, study, study for boards! He's taking some of them today and some tomorrow. We wish him all the luck (and a well-working memory, mostly) in the world!