alert! alert! mama down...

TLC=The Mama That's Down. She got sick. Again. Possibly a relapse from her illness of nearly a month ago. It’s not exactly fun to be her—at this point.

I was to go see My Three Girls this past Thursday. Spend one night. Come home late Friday afternoon. To check on my patient here. My Sweet Hubby (MSH). Nurse ELC to the Constant Rescue. Sheesh.

TLC began to get ill on Wednesday. Same basic symptoms as her previous illness. Flu-like-ish. But we knew it was probably a yucky old cold and/or sinus infection. By Thursday morn, she was miserable.

I picked up some soup from Market Street and arrived at her casa by 11:00 a.m. I took over Baby Elle’s care until I had to pick Little Leighton (aka LL aka Biscuit) up from school. (She had a “great” day, thank you very much!)

Once we got home and Baby Elle woke from a nap, the three of us sat outside in the pretty Fall weather. Biscuit adores running around their yard—blowing bubbles—chasing butterflies. Dancing. Singing. She was out in the middle of the grass when she made a MAD DASH over to me and Baby Elle. She screamed: “Grammy, there’s something yucky in Henry’s poop out there!” She asked me to come look. I did. I won’t go into any details. Suffice it to say he’d eaten something he shouldn’t have. Since she can now open any door she wants, she went running into the house to tell TLC: “Alert! Henry ate something he shouldn’t have and it’s in his poop, Mama!” TLC assured her there was nothing she could really do about that, but thanked her for the information.

TLC then did her best to get an easy dinner together (pizza!) for all of us—with a simple, but delicious—salad.  She bathed Baby Elle. Put her to bed. Her Hubby (HH) washed dishes—did what TLC needed him to do—helped with LL. I put LL to bed. We all retired for the night.

Said night—from 10:00 p.m. until 6:30 a.m.—was HORRIBLE for TLC. Semi-awful for HH. Not too bad for moi—as my bedroom/the guest bedroom is upstairs away from all the other bedrooms. I was fairly clueless until about 6:00 a.m.

Friday morn, TLC went back to the CareNow near her home. This visit, she got another woman doctor she liked a lot (She was hoping she might have the woman she’d seen a few weeks ago—but this new one was GREAT, too.). She was given a couple of scripts—including a 10-day supply of a second antibiotic. She drug herself home. Got into bed. Grammy Nanny ELC raced to the pharmacy to pick up her scripts and some tissues with lotion and aloe for TLC’s Rudolph nose. Then I took over My Two Little Girls for the next four hours.

By 4:00ish, TLC was beginning to feel human. LL, Baby Elle and I went back outside for a bit. The weather was, once again, FABULOUS. As we talked and sang and soaked in the loveliness, Henry the Dog attacked one of their three (new-ish) magnolia trees. He literally yanked off a branch with his teeth and went running around the yard. Since I was holding Baby Elle—and couldn’t really do much of anything anyway (Henry is quite the defiant dog who really doesn’t respond well to the word “NO!” Unless HH or TLC is the person saying it and even then there's little guarantee he'll mind.), I asked Biscuit to go in and tell her Mom what he’d done. So TLC could attempt to get him back in the house.

LL: Okay, Grammy!

(Runs inside. I can hear her then say…)

LL: Mama! Alert! Alert! Henry is eating one of the magnolia trees! Grammy can’t stop him!

At this point, Henry had run over and pulled another branch off the targeted tree. TLC, in her weakness, did her best to make him stop. He just looked at her and went back to chewing up the doomed branches and leaves. She lured him into the house with the promise of some turkey. (I could then hear her tell him how much trouble he was going to be in with HH. He spent the next fifteen minutes looking at us through the back door glass—with his sad eyes. And with clear frustration about his predicament.)

TLC, HH and I later laughed and laughed at LL’s new “Alert System.” We have no idea where she’s gotten that word. We’re confident there are mucho more ALERTS in all of our futures.

I stayed Friday night—so I could help out Saturday morn while HH went to the grocery store. Sadly, Baby Elle started showing signs of a cold (Her first.) Friday afternoon. By Saturday morning, she was beginning to be clearly distressed. At almost eight months, there’s not much one can do. I kept reminding TLC Baby Elle needed to start building up some immunity. Not surprisingly, my thoughts were of little comfort to My Sick Daughter. Sigh. Sniffy. Sniff.

I headed for home around 11:30 a.m. They had a rough day and another difficult night. I’ve heard from TLC that today hasn’t been as terrible as she expected. Baby Elle has seemed to be a teensy bit better. Has even smiled and laughed some. We’re praying for a better night of ZZZZZZZZs for This Precious Little Family.

Here’s hoping each of Y’all has had a wonderful weekend! This Week: Stay well. Be prepared for any and all ALERTS. Avoid germs! Ready yourself for a Marvelous Monday, okay?

ta-ta for now...