Our first week back in MN

Well, as many of you know, we are back in MN, which is MUCH colder than Florida, despite the "warm" 30+ degree days that we have had a couple of times. But, in all seriousness, we are thankful to have escaped what was hopefully the last sub-zero temps of the season, the week we were in Florida!

Our week back has been interesting to say the least. While in Florida, Luke caught a cold, and two days before we left FL to come home, Isabel caught it . The plane ride home was interesting, with her coughing a TON and just generally uncomfortable..she did sleep an hour and 15 minutes which was AMAZING, but even while sleeping she was coughing some, so I felt bad for the people around us. However, there was such a SWEET lady who sat next to us. She was 86 years old and traveling all on her own to see her daughter in Minneapolis. She just delighted in Isabel and was not bothered by her coughing or crankiness at all. She was talking to her a lot and commenting on how beautiful she was. She kept saying how she wished she had a great-grandbaby but that none of her grandchildren had any children of their own yet, and she wished they would hurry up! She was a true blessing to have as a seatmate on a VERY full flight. Isn't God neat how He gets in the details like that sometimes?

So, Tuesday night Isabel's cold seemed to take a turn for the worse, and she was moaning a lot in the middle of the night like she might be in pain. I suspected it might have turned into an ear infection, so I took her in Wednesday morning and it turned out to be RSV , which is a respiratory virus that is basically a bad cold in older children and adults, but can hit children under 2 pretty hard. So, I sent Jenna home right away of course because we don't want Camille to catch it, and I stayed home with Isabel the remainder of last week and today. I caught the virus from her on Friday morning, and Daddy took care of both of his girls all weekend! The both of us are on the mend, getting better by the day, but I will be home with her again most days this week, to help Jenna keep the girls separated as much as possible but still be able to work mostly full days. Some people have said that RSV is no longer contagious 24 hours after the fever breaks, but Isabel never really had a fever, so that is hard to judge in her case. The biggest blessing of all of this is that she is not having any trouble breathing, she just has the cough and congestion that are typical of this virus. We feel very blessed by this, because I have heard of many other cases where the child is barely able to breathe and is sometimes even hospitalized to receive oxygen. She seems to be holding her own kicking this virus! Please continue to keep her in your prayers, as well as pray a hedge of protection over Camille and Jenna who will be rejoining our household tomorrow. We do not want either of them to catch it!