Happy Halloween

Halloween this year didn't happen quite as we planned, but that is how life goes with little ones :). The Thursday before Halloween Isabel spiked a fever of 103 and by Friday was almost up to 104. We knew that the lovely H1N1 was going around, so we called the pediatrician's office and Geoffrey took Isabel in. A course of Tamiflu was prescribed and we were to treat it as the flu, as they have all but stopped doing the H1N1 test because the test can give a negative when indeed the child has the virus. Friday night was rough, her fever went to 104.5 and she was up many times a night just needing some comfort. As a parent, I don't think there is anything worse than seeing your child sick and in pain. My heart goes out to those parents who have to experience this on a regular basis, as we've been super lucky with this being Isabel's first major illness beyond a cold.

Isabel's fever started to break Halloween afternoon, but we knew that trick-or-treating was not in the cards for her. She had no interest in carving the pumpkin and just wanted to be held and cuddled, and we were happy to oblige. She went to bed early Halloween night and woke up without a fever Sunday morning, feeling a little better, but not her happy little self. A bit before lunchtime, she expressed interest in wearing her "bug" as she calls it, and we got her dressed and let her go trick or treating in the house and on the front porch with our leftover candy (although she didn't get to try any, since we only had butterfingers and she isn't supposed to have peanut products until age 2). She had a good time for about 15 minutes or so it and it was so nice to see a smile back on her face.

So what exactly do I do with this pumpkin?



Ohhh, it holds neat stuff. I'm not quite sure what this candy stuff is, but it makes fun noises when I squeeze it.

You mean I get another one? Yay!

I had hoped to get her to pose with the pumpkin I had carved, but she really wasn't into posing and we didn't want to rock the boat with our happy girl.

We asked her if she thought the pumpkin was hungry and she immediately decided he was...

...and apparently he was hungry via his eye.


That's more like it. Pumpkins eat with their mouths too.


During her time of being sick, Isabel had little to no appetite, and on Sunday I was getting a wee bit concerned. I asked her if she wanted some ice cream (the last time she'd had some was in July) and she responded "ICE CREAM!!!" Which Geoffrey and I thought was a good sign. So we let her eat as much ice cream as she wanted (a whopping 2 tablespoons), all while wearing the stocking hat that she insisted on modeling. We think she might have been cold and achy, as she kept repeating "boo boo" about every 5 minutes, but wouldn't point to a specific part of her body. Poor Isabel.



As a final sick day treat, we decided to see if Isabel would enjoy watching the fish from "Finding Nemo". She was interested in watching the first 30 minutes or so and calling out "shish!" each time a fish came on screen. Geoffrey snapped this picture of the excited fish girl after returning from a trip to the mall to buy Isabel a coat.

By Tuesday Isabel had pretty much returned to her old self. She is happy again, laughs a lot and is eating food and drinking her milk and water as she did before. Whether or not it was H1N1, we'll never know, and I'm hoping that enough vaccine will come around that she can get her second dose in 2 weeks (she did receive her first dose 6 days before coming down with her fever) and we won't have to worry about it period.

We hope that everyone had a great Halloween (or post Halloween) and stays healthy!