Sure, we were ready for those photos. We had our nice clothes ready, and our bags were packed for a trip to Atlanta to visit family. We had planned to have my mom and Aunt over Saturday for a casual Thanksgiving/watching-the-game festivities. And on Sunday, we had lunch plans with my dad. To kick things off, Skip and I spent ALL DAY Wednesday packing our entire house for our two-day Atlanta excursion. Suitcases were packed, the cars were cleaned (inside and out), and all the items we could think of to help restrain George (the high chair, pack and play, gates, etc.) were ready to be loaded.
Then we realized George had a fever, and we administered Motrin. Three hours later, when he seemed even warmer, we gave him Tylenol. When his temp reached 103, we called his doctor, and then headed to the emergency room. When they took his vitals, they confirmed his fever was 104.2. He was diagnosed with acute croup, given a steroid and sent back home. We finally got back home and settled into bed at 2:00am on Thanksgiving Day.
We quickly ruled out our scheduled travel for Thanksgiving day, but thought we might could travel Friday, for an abbreviated trip, if he improved. Our little monkey did not improve. He slept and slept, but, when he was awake, he was pitiful. He never got the anticipated burst of energy from the steroid, and his appetite never increased, as they told us it would. We canceled all plans, and we ended up taking George to our pediatrician's office Saturday morning, where he was diagnosed with a virus and bilateral ear infections. He is still working on feeling better.
We were initially bummed about our canceled plans -- especially the girls. We explained to them that they were on Thanksgiving break, and that we needed to make the most of it, even if we did need to stay home to take care of George. The holiday took on a sitcom quality when we started making our Thanksgiving meal. Since had not planned to be home for our meal, we did not have a turkey or a ham, for that matter. In fact, we had not shopped for any groceries. We went with baked chicken (still in the poultry family, right?), scalloped potatoes, snap peas and corn. I found four lonely Sister Schubert rolls in the freezer. Dessert was tricky because I did not have any eggs. Ultimately, we went with Hershey and lemon pies -- quick and easy. While George took long naps, the girls rode bikes with Skip in the cul-de-sac, and they played in the basement for hours. They watched the Kit Kittredge movie many, many times, and I could hear them concoct their own Kit Kittredge and Caroline Abbott scenarios. When we needed to run an errand to the pharmacy, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights, and we found our Elf on the Shelf on our front porch when we got back home. Our Elf has been keeping us amused, as we never know what he is going to get into next.
After George's appointment Saturday morning (Skip would like credit for taking George for his recheck :-) and when cabin fever was beginning to settle in, Skip took the girls to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and some serious time in the indoor play area. He gets triple points for this activity because a) it was hours before the Iron Bowl (when he could have been watching all of the pre-game shows) and b) because it was a crowded, crazy, mad house at CFA.
Our holiday was not the Thanksgiving we had planned, and I am sure this week resembled nothing like what Skip had in mind for his vacation. We definitely missed all of our family, and we will try to regroup and see everyone soon. The girls were especially disappointed, but we tried to have a great week and holiday anyway. While we certainly wish George had felt better, we were able to enjoy ourselves because he was able to rest peacefully. We got to spend so much time with Gracie and Lauren which is a real treat because our time with them has seemed scarce since school started. We got to see their imaginations run wild with their Kit and Caroline stories, and we got to see their wonderment over our tiny Elfin guest. They watch him for minutes on end and then SWEAR they detect some movement!
How was your Thanksgiving? Did you have a traditional holiday, or did you celebrate in an unusual way? Or, like us, did something derail your plans altogether?
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