Jumping on the band wagon!

Well, I've been thinking about doing this for a while now...after all everyone else is doing it! I wouldn't jump off a bridge, but starting a blog - yeah, okay. It'll probably be easier to keep everyone up to date than the mass emails I've been doing for a year now!

So, we tried to take a nice vacation up to Wisconsin for 4th of July. Mike was going to be up for the weekend, and Andrew and I were going to stay up for the rest of the week. We were kind of forced into vacation since we didn't have a babysitter for the week anyway! I wasn't too upset about that! On Sunday after Andrew woke up from his morning nap Mike and I noticed some small bumps on the back of his leg. He has dry skin issues anyway, and we keep an eczema cream on him, so I didn't think it was all that big of a deal. We took him swimming at the pool over at the condos and had a great time. He went underwater for the first time - well, we dunked him for the first time. I wouldn't say he liked it, but he didn't cry, so I think all is good! He was starting to get sleepy, and Grandma & Grandpa were over at Shipwreck bar which is close to the condo, so we put the stop on swimming and decided to join them at the bar for a bit before having to go home to put Andrew down for his nap. By the time we got to the bar the little bumps on his legs were getting a little worse - possibly from the chlorine?! So we took him home to put him to bed. When he woke up those pesky little bumps were still there, but sure didn't bother him. We finished out our day with Laurie and Liam playing outside before Mike had to head home. Before bed Andrew got a bath and gooped up with his eczema cream. When he woke up Monday morning the bumps had spread up onto his back and belly. So after spending way too long on the phone with insurance to find out where I could take him, I made the executive decision to take him to a clinic in Mauston (since the doctors insurance told me to call don't exist and were an hour away). I took him to this clinic and they told me he had chicken pox, and that he needed to stay inside out of the sun (sun promotes sweating which encourages itching which spreads the bumps). He seems to have gotten the chicken pox from his 1 year vaccination. He got the shot, then soon after got an ear infection & a viral infection (he spiked a fever of 104 during this!). So, he went on Amoxicillian to fight the ear infection, and the combination of all this left him unable to fight the chicken pox which has a 21 day incubation period. So we got back to the cabin, packed up and hauled home. His outbreak got very bad, and I felt so sorry for him I went and bought him some new toys (like he needs them!). Well, on Tuesday night he got an oatmeal bath and then I loaded him up with calamine lotion and gold bond powder because he was so itchy and uncomfortable. Wednesday morning he woke up and most of his blisters were gone! It is the craziest thing! He still has some spots, but for the most part it's cleared up. It is the oddest thing which I do not for a second understand. The physician we saw in Wisconsin said it was absolutely not a heat rash or an allergy, and said it was more than likely chicken pox. He said it was possibly another virus but it would still have to run its course, and it would be a lot of money in tests to find out exactly what it was. I'm now wishing we ran the tests because I don't believe it was chicken pox!

Well, that's our exciting story! There's not a ton new stuff going on other than that. We are slowly getting grass in our backyard which is great. Holly will love to be able to run back there again! I'll try my best to keep this up to date, so check back!

Here's some pictures of the little man's "chicken pox"