One present down, a bazillion to go
Last night I gave my mother her Christmas present -- two tickets to a live Mannheim Steam Roller Christmas concert in Philadelphia. The concert is on November 14th, which is why I had to give her the tickets now. When I handed it to her last night I told her it was a time-sensitive Christmas present, which is why it wouldn't be under the tree for her on Christmas day. She was thrilled to get the tickets! She has almost all of the Mannheim Steam Roller Christmas CDs in her CD collection, and she's talked about loving their music for as long as I can remember. When I saw the commercial advertised between Judge Judy episodes, I knew it would be a perfect Christmas gift for her.
Poor Alyssa. The kid that never gets sick, and if she does manages to shake it within 1-3 days, is sick, and has been for almost two weeks. For the first week or so it was just the sniffles, a somewhat runny nose, some coughing. A few days ago it escalated to major coughing, a constantly runny nose, a sore throat, and a wet, raspy cough accompanied with nasal and chest congestion (she looks and sounds so bad that I haven't sent her to preschool this week). Since she wasn't getting any better, despite plenty of rest, fluids and childrens' cold medicine to ease her symptoms, I made an appointment with the doctor. They diagnosed her with a bacterial infection and sent her and Dan on their way with instructions for plenty of rest, fluids and OTC medications for treating her symptoms. Grr. I mean, I know they don't want to just start handing out medication like it's candy, because too much medicine can cause bacteria to become resistant to it. But at the same time, she's been sick for two weeks. If they diagnosed a bacterial infection, why couldn't they give her a little something for it?
I was out while Dan had Alyssa at the doctor, and when he called to let me know what the doctor said, I stopped in Target for a humidifier, some Vicks VapoSteam, and some more medicine. She sounds a lot better this morning, so I think the humidifier helped to loosen her up a bit. She's in the living room right now, but I think I'm going to put her back in her bedroom with the humidifier. She's also become a fan of "toasted" blankets, ever since she saw me tossing blankets in the dryer to warm them up on chilly evenings. ;)
Amazingly, I am not sick. I say amazingly because Dan is also sick. He isn't as bad as she is, but he has something. Considering we kiss and sleep together, you'd think I would be half-dead by now, since I'm getting an overload of germs from him and Alyssa. Normally they bring germs to me and get me sick, while they stay healthy. Not this time! *knocks on wood* Maybe it's the decent sleeping routine + vitamins?