Well, we are home from two weeks of vacation. It was GLORIOUS! (as you can see from Lucy's expression above) Well, not all of it, but I now firmly believe that 2 weeks of vacation should be mandatory for everyone. I don't care if you just go to the motel 6 that is 25 miles down the road-GO!
Our little trek started off not so great. We woke ready to go and guess who had a fever? I know you are shocked that our little Lucy was ill, right? We decided to go ahead and go to Florida to Mimi and Papa's house. There weren't any doctors open here on a Sunday anyway. We would shoot her up with some ibuprofen and hope for the best.
The halfway point between here and there is Birmingham, which is where Bryan and I went to school (Samford). We decided to stop there and let Lucy run and play and stretch. Good call, as she was nuts after 4 hours in the car AND being sick. We stopped and had a little picnic at the campus. It was nice to be back there. We have some amazing memories of when we met and the years we spent there with some of the best friends/experiences of our lives. Lucy and her daddy took a walk down the same uneven sidewalks that he and I used to walk down. PRECIOUS!
We took some pictures and managed to get a semi-good family photo. It was so hot (we'd forgotten about THAT humidity.) After our little mini-break, we got back in the car and trudged onward. Thanks to Clifford, Lucy was able to nap a bit, but let's face it, a car is no place to nap comfortably.
When we were about 45 minutes from Mimi and Papa's house, Lucy sort of lost her mind, but I can't blame her. 9 hours is a LOOOOOONG time to be in a car. How many times can you tell a two-year old, "We're almost there!" before she stops believing you? It is approximately 27.
We were so very glad to be in Florida. Lucy had a fever, STILL, but we haven't seen Mimi and Papa near enough. We did however, have to find a doctor for Lucy. One walk in clinic later, she was on antibiotics for a red, irritated throat. She hadn't eaten well in several days, which made sense when we found out she had the sore throat. So there we were, fingers crossed that within 24 hours, we'd have a girl who felt better. Not so. Although, she wasn't so sick she couldn't dress up. Check out Tinkerbell doing the sprinkler.
Well, a couple of days passed, and Lucy still wasn't better. Fever still present, meds were being given every 3 hours, and Lucy had moments of perkiness. She is obsessed with airplanes and helicopters, which is perfect since her Papa works on them. During a moment of perkiness, we took her to the base where Papa works. He got to show her off, and show her some flying machines. She even got her picture taken with a REAL pilot!
The next morning, still riddled with fever, we took Lucy (drugged up) to the train depot. She loves trains (I guess all things transportation related) and she really liked the red caboose. She drove it and everything!
Still a bit worried about her fever, we took Lucy to a local pediatrician. I mean, she'd been on antibiotics for 4 days, and still had 103ish fever ALL THE TIME. I was really starting to worry. The pediatrician was really nice, and said her throat was still very red. He didn't want to do bloodwork since she was on antibiotics. He said that even if it were viral, she needed to stay on the meds. So, we left and hoped for the best. I would like to let you know that although Lu was quite perky at times, she was attached to my neck when she wasn't. Carrying a 27 pound kid (without a handy dandy kangaroo pouch) is not easy. In fact, I didn't pee all week without her. It was so lovely.
Lucy had been sick for 4 days now, no relief, still not eating, and still worrying me. We were having to wake up every 3-4 hours each night to give her meds, and we were exhausted. If you will remember, we had not been sleeping for the several weeks BEFORE vacation due to her lack of interest in sleeping in her bed. UGH. Lucky for us that day her fever broke! She woke from nap cool as a cucumber!!!!
Later that night Lucy got take her first boat ride!!!! We went to visit some great family friends who live on the water. They had a great paddleboat, and Lucy was primed and ready to go-Dora lifejacket and all!
She was a bit stiff in the lifejacket at first, but was able to manage a smile and wave! She did NOT want the little ride to end either. It was cute!
The next day, we decided to amp it up a bit. We went to the Navy boatdocks and rented a little motorboat and took Lucy on a ride down the Blackwater river. She was more comfortable in her little lifejacket this time, and had a blast (until she voiced, "I'm all done with the boat" about an hour into the trip). Oh well. We trudged on to Grandma's pool after the boatride. I think Lucy was afraid I was going to make her do "swimming lessons" so she wasn't too thrilled to be there. She did love to wear all the gear though! We also got her in an itsy-bitsy teeny- weeny, red polka-dot bikini. This bikini has been worn by generations of Moore women. It is so cute! I think part of her problem that day was that by the time we got back home, her fever was back. SUPER!
We kept Lucy chilled out and inside more that day. She seemed to perk up a bit by dinner time. Before we had dinner, she HAD to try to use the massive bubble she got at Toys-R-Us (Did I mention that her Mimi and Papa had taken her on a free for all there?) Anyway, the bubbles were great fun!
The next day, Lucy's fever was sort of ok. Not super high, but still hanging around. We decided that since she was somewhat perky, we'd take her fishing. Mimi had bought her a cute pink Dora fishing pole, and she still had that trendy Dora lifejacket to wear as well. We drove to a place called Bear Lake that was beautiful! We got Lucy all rigged up with her pole and worm, and VIOLA! She caught a fish within seconds of her pole going in the water! It was PERFECT-especially for a 2 year-old with a short attention span! She was so thrilled at her catch. Granted, it was not my dream 6 foot shark, but she did catch the biggest fish of the day!
Our trip to Mimi and Papa's had been full of stress and fun. We got to see many old friends, and meet some new ones as well. Lucy had many "firsts" while she was there, and although she was sick for a lot of the time, she was a trooper.
Our trip to Milton ended with a journey across the bay to the ER. Lucy's fever was still high, it had been a week, and still no changes. I was done. Bryan was done. We were going to a hospital and we were going to get answers. Poor Lucy had blood drawn, her throat swabbed, AND got a catheter since she wouldn't pee in a cup for a urine sample (Um, hello! What 2 year-old does that?). You can imagine how fun this all was. 4 hours later, all tests were clear and good. Lucy just had some type of virus that was hanging on FOREVER according to the doctor. Poor kid had been poked and prodded for NOTHING. At least we had some sort of definitive answer/diagnosis now.
After her little party at the ER, we loaded up the car and drove the 50 mile trek to Destin to meet my parents. It was a nasty, rainy day, but Mommy was ready to see some sand! Seriously, the beach is my most favorite place on earth. Too bad my hubby was raised there and isn't all that impressed with it. Anyway, you can imagine Lucy's mood. NOT a good one. To top it all off, when we were literally 15 miles away from our destination, we got stuck in a horrible traffic jam and it took us an HOUR AND A HALF to go those 15 miles. By this little trip, telling Lucy,"We're almost there" was no longer working. She was just pissed.
We made it eventually, just in time to throw some spaghetti down our throats and put Lucy to bed. Not exactly the wonderful reunion my parents were hoping for, but it was life. Lucy's fever broke AGAIN that night, and our fingers were crossed that she was finally well.
Our week in Destin was not as adventure filled as our week in Milton. Our big plans included parking our butts in the sand and watching the kid have fun.
Things turned out to be pretty good and relaxing last week. Lucy was back to her normal self by about Monday, and we had many good times on the beach. Our kid is definitely a beach bum like her Mommy. We found several more trains for Lucy to ride, and went to the harbor to look at what the local fishermen were catching. We got her a little blow up boat/raft thingy that she seemed so totally interested in when other kids were playing in theirs. However, it wasn't such a huge hit when she got in hers in the ocean. Oh well, $12 down the drain.
Bryan caught a little fish in the pink net for her one day. She was thrilled and watched "Dorothy" as she "took a nap" in her little bucket. Poor Dorothy. She met an untimely end. Lucy stayed pretty busy digging, swimming, throwing sand, talking to the folks on the beach, and eventually crashed on the beach for nap time. She definitely didn't mind getting sandy and some seaweed in her swimsuit. We also got some great family photos on the beach. Lucy was our little "pop" of color!
Lucy was mostly back to normal and eating by the end of the week, but still not SLEEPING. Doesn't she realize I go back to work in TWO WEEKS?!?!? Our ride home was uneventful, unlike last year's. You may recall the "Poop Explosion of 2010." That was not fun. This year, our biggest issue was that I was craving some brownies and there were none to be found. Not too bad I guess!
