Illness hit and pictures were not taken during the high fever day. Then Natalie and I were up all night with the sick kids who were crying and moaning and with the other kid who was waking up and needing help the couple of times when the sick ones were actually sleeping. It was a very looooong night for everyone.
I could have bopped the recovering surgery patient when he emerged from the basement all freshly showered and declared he'd been up since 4 a.m., when he couldn't sleep, and had already gotten a lot of work done.
Even though I was happy to see he'd showered and shaved (something he'd been doing every other day or so since he'd had surgery), Natalie and I wished he had heard the commotion going on up on the second level of the house and had offered to at least have Emma move to the couch and moan down there to remove at least one person that was keeping Natalie awake all night long.
Emma and Logan's fevers were gone the second sick day, but they still weren't totally back to their normal selves. Logan climbed on a chair and crawled into the high chair by himself acting really hungry, but most of the foods he'd been enjoying didn't really appeal to him that day.
Emma hadn't eaten anything on fever day, so she was anxious to eat a grilled cheese sandwich with Luke.
Midway through the day, Logan all of a sudden quit whining "Mommy" nonstop at me. I noticed he'd become more happy and he started playing really good by himself once again. Look how cute he is playing with the pans.
He was busy and happy and I was glad to see he was on the road to recovery...except for the red, polka-dotted rash he had developed all around his mouth and on his hands.
Natalie had been such a big helper the whole time we were there and especially during the night trying to minister to all the kids and help them be happy.
A thoughtful thing she did was when she heard Luke come into my bedroom at 5:40 a.m., she followed him in there and said very matter-of-factly that he was
not going to wake Grandma up that early (too late--I was already awake).
She explained to him it was still the middle of the night and she took him back out with her and when the alarm woke me up at 7:30 a.m. (unheard of to not be awakened by one of the kids way before then), I found all the children sound asleep.
She had gotten Luke to go back to sleep and we all got a little bit of sleep. Hurrah!! Natalie was my hero!!
I felt she deserved a special thank you--a treat at YoZone when I picked her up from school. It was a fun time we had together--just the two of us.
When we were on our way together, she breathed a big sigh of relief and said it was so nice to have a break from the little kids because it's a lot of work helping to take care of them. I breathed my own sigh of relief and told her I felt the same way!!!
We got a few things from the grocery store and I let her pick out a movie to watch when we got back home because it was early-out day and we had a couple of hours left before dinner.
Glen had gotten himself all set up in the basement with his two computers, his calculator and his phone to be able to work from there. He used Laurie's craft table and it worked out great for him. He would come upstairs to help out with the kids when needed.
It was nice to not have to take the little kids with me every time I needed to make a run to the school or to the store. It was especially helpful to not have to take them out on the two days when the wind was howling and the temperature never got above freezing.
It was wonderful to have Glen eat dinner with us each evening and he was super at practicing spelling words with Natalie and Emma.
The kids loved reading books with him at bedtime.
Jacob and Laurie had a weather-related flight cancellation after their cruise when they were trying to get home from Ft. Lauderdale. They scrambled to get another flight home and ended up spending the night in St. Louis and getting home a day later than planned. It's a good thing we had planned to spend a little time with Jacob and Laurie so we were still there to watch their children.
Glen came up that morning to fix a hot breakfast for everyone before the kids went to school.
What a difference a week makes!!!
Not only was the guy cooking, but he was willing to go to the school for lunch with the girls.
It was a relief for Jacob and Laurie to finally get home after all the airport delays. Laurie decided to call the doctor once she saw Logan's spotty face, hands and ankles. The doctor's office confirmed her suspicion of him having hand, foot and mouth disease. Emma was getting the spots on her hands as well. She was told the kids are only contagious when they have a fever and they had been fever-free for a while by then.
So off to Red Robin we went for dinner that evening.
It was a big day at the Thomas house. Not only did the parents finally get back home, but it was also the day the Girl Scout cookies were ready for the girls to start selling.
Logan tested the Thin Mints and found them to be delicious. Natalie got on the phone and called Rebecca, Sarah and Benjamin to see if they wanted to buy some cookies and we could personally deliver the cookies to them.
Our last morning in Omaha began with a French toast breakfast cooked by Jacob.
We got our last hugs and kisses with the kids and posed for a picture.
It had been nice to spend time with that family and those grandchildren that we seldom get to see. Jacob and Laurie appreciated their cruise vacation by themselves. Glen was feeling so much better from his surgery. It was definitely a blessing that we were able to fly there and back rather than do our usual driving.
Things just worked out wonderfully well.
