A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I am afraid I might jinx it, but I think we might have turned a weather corner. Today was a beautiful day. High in the 70s.

But before we get to the good, let's talk about the bad. At the beginning of this week, for the first two days, we had nothing but rain. I think someone told me we had a total of 9 inches of rain. There was flooding everywhere.

We did have a small landslide in our yard in two spots.

Our hillsides are just a little over a year old. And the cheapest grass was planted on them because, well, I want to cover them with plants.

So down part of them came. It is neat how they slid in a way. It slid in a large chunk, and actually buckled the ground in front of it.

As of today - Saturday - 3 full days after the last of the rain, we are still getting quite the stream of water running down our hill and down our driveway. It is going to be awhile before our yard is not a squishy mess.

Finley and Cainan did not have school on Wednesday. On Tuesday is was near impossible for Mat to pick them up, so we should have seen that coming. Since it did not quit raining until Wednesday morning, the roads were still covered with water by the time the school should have opened.

So Mat stayed home with them on Wednesday. They had a great time here in the house all day with him.

Wednesday morning - Arlington woke up with hives. Just a few. She has been on an antibiotic for strep throat for 8 days at this point. When I looked up the antibiotic online, I find that it is in the penicillin family, yet not a penicillin itself. Arlington and Finley are allergic to penicillin. My pediatrician knows this. So we can now add cephalosporins to our list of allergies. Poor girl. She was itchy, but okay. We stop the medication and she goes off to school.

Thursday - Arlington wakes up and the hives are worse. Much worse.

She has them on her face, her palms, her soles of her feet, her lips, etc. All over her entire body. She is one giant hive.

She was pretty itchy, but I gave her benadryl and that seemed to help a lot. She is not running a fever, but having the hives on her palms and soles (places that are very rare to get hives) I did call the doctor. We both agreed it was probably the medication, but the doctor wanted to see her before days end.

Finley gets up and she has a mild case of hives at this point as well. So now both girls have hives and neither are getting any more antibiotics that is for sure! (for this case of strep - not forever)

I do send Arlington to school because I am that awesome of a mom. Honestly, if you were me - the last two weeks have been a wash. Between she and Finley Mat and I missed a whole week of work. Wednesday, Mat missed again. We just couldn't keep staying home.

Arlington was fever free, itch free (when I sent her), and the doctor thought she was okay. I sent a note to both girl's teachers and sent them on their way.

A 10am, the nurse from Arlington's school calls me. She is very itchy. And crying. The nurse said she could stay at school, but it was my call. I called Mat and luckily he had a light afternoon, so he went and got her.

Sigh. Stupid antibiotic.

Thursday afternoon, we see the pediatrician and she confirms the case of hives being from the antibiotic. Yeah.....duh. This is a different pediatrician than the one who prescribed the drug, and she was not that happy that the other one had prescribed this particular antibiotic.

Too. Late. Now.

So the girls are getting benadryl every so many hours until the hives are gone. The pediatrician did say having the hives on their hands and feet was rare, but not impossible. No kidding. There they were.

Friday there wasn't school for Arlington or I. Easter Holiday break. Finley and Cainan did have school, so I sent them. Finley had a few more hives Friday, but wasn't that itchy. And her nurse at school was giving her benadryl there, so she did fine.

The girls still have the hives this evening. Finley's we seem to have caught earlier than Arlington's, so hers are very light today. Arlington looks pretty good with her face and hands, but her legs and belly are still covered heavy with hives.

Back to the sunny part of my story. Ah yes - the beautiful weather.

Today started with softball practice with Arlington. She is really loving it and is doing pretty well with it. She got a chance to play catcher today. I wish I would have had my camera. I would have loved to have taken a picture of her with all of that catcher's gear on. It was pretty funny.
At one point she almost fell over because it was so heavy.

Cainan had his next to last swimming lesson today. Mat said he didn't cry, but he still isn't going much but shivering to death in the pool. This is because he refuses to move around.

Arlington had a birthday party this afternoon. It was at the movie theater and we saw "How to Train Your Dragon". I must say - this is one of the best animated films I have seen in awhile. It was really good. Even if you don't have children, you should think about seeing this film. It was very good.

After the movie, we came home to the little ones and Mat playing outside. Arlington changed her clothes and headed outside to be with them. I let them dig in the dirt today. They totally loved that.

The girls got very dirty.

Cainan stayed neat as usual. He dug a little, but mostly he just watched.


Finley cracked me up. At one point I catch her digging with all of her might.

She says "Arlington told me that if I keep digging, I will reach China!!"

And so it begins.

Arlington chuckled when I asked her if she told her sister this. I made Arlington go and stop Finley's frantic dig.

Apparently Arlington has also told Finley that there might be a hand in her underwear drawer.

Finley is not the least bit phased by this information. She told me this information very matter of fact. I look at Arlington and she just shrugs. Finley also told me tonight that she did not "want to turn the wrong way and run into the mean bears and kangaroos". What is that now?

Finley adores her big sister and will believe everything she tells her.

The benefits of being the eldest child.

Cainan wrote his name in chalk outside today in chalk.

He is getting pretty good at it. Finley has been working on her last name, but I didn't get a picture of that. :)

Our Star Magnolia Tree has started to bloom.

Spring blooms are about the best thing to see after a long winter. And a reason to smile on this beautiful day.
Have a wonderful Easter tomorrow with your families! My kids are very excited about the Easter Bunny's visit. We will be going to church and enjoying a relaxing day at home.

See you Tuesday! No Sunday or Monday posts this week.