Ever Hear of Fifth Disease? I hadn't either

Apparently Fifth Disease is considered a common childhood illness. It's cousins are measles, chicken pox and the mumps. It's a.k.a is Slapped Cheek Syndrome. From what I have been told, it's very, very common. I had never in my life heard of it. I must be living under a rock.

In early March Princess woke up with bright red Raggedy Ann cheeks. We kept on asking if she felt okay. She kept giving us the thumbs up that she was doing great. A few days into the bright red checks, a lace-like rash started all over her body. Against the wishes of my pediatrician, I went to the resource every mom finds reliable.. the Internet. My 'Mom' diagnosis came up with Fifth Disease. Off to the doctor I took Princess to confirm my ,which was correct. The doctor said that in a few days, Princess' cheeks and rash would clear up. As he was walking out the door, he looked over his shoulder and said that if adults get Fifths they can have chronic joint pain for up to a month. Oh okay,I respond, not thinking about it much.

Flash forward to the middle of May.... Dear Husband and I both got Fifths in the middle of March and I don't wish it on my worst enemy. It was the sickest I have ever been. Apparently it affects adults much worse and differently than kids. And... apparently the joint pain is worse for women. Let me just go on record and state that I can sympathize with every older person that suffers from arthritis. I never understood the pain, I do now. I am now 2 months into the 'joint pain' and it is awful. Though I am told it will eventually go away, I still struggle every day with the pain in my knees and hands.

The moral to this story is... if you too are living under a rock and have never heard of Fifth Disease... stay away from anyone with bright red checks.

Becoming a Backyardigan

I started this blog entry shortly before taking a break from the blog. I had saved it in my 'drafts' and think it is so cute, so here I share it now.....

Today (1/18/10) was raining cats and dogs and we took the kids to Barnes & Nobles this afternoon. They were told on the whole ride to the bookstore that they were not buying anything and only Daddy was buying something. We would "look" at the kids section though. Bad Idea!

I left Dear Husband, Princess, and Pirate in the kid's section while I went to the complete other side of the store to check on a book. The next thing I hear is Pirate screaming. (Only a mother can recognize her own child's primal scream.) I immediately head back to the other side of the store to see what could possibly be causing Pirate to have a fit. My sweet little Pirate LOVES the Backyardigans! I truly mean LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! He found every stuffed Backyardigan and had them all bundled in his arms. (There's 5 in case your not familiar: Pablo, Tasha, Uniqua, Austin, Tyrone). Dear Husband was in the process of telling Pirate that we were not buying any of them which was throwing Pirate into a panic.

Call me a softie for the little creatures (the Backyardigans, not the kids) It is very, very hard to ever find any toys that have the Backyardigans on them. We seemed to be behind the times a bit. The Backyardigans were the HOT thing a few years back. Not now, which is why it is hard to find merchandise with them on it. This was my rational when Pirate headed to the cashier at Barnes & Nobles with his arms overflowing with each Backyardigan (Ya can't just by one, they are a team!) $50.00 later we were in the car with the crew to introduce them to their new home.

Reflections at Forty

Yesterday was my 40th birthday and I had a great day. No complaints. So far, so good. I did reflect a bit on my life in between all the festivities. I decided I am exactly where I want to be in my life, minus a great career that I am passionate about. This is what brings me back to blogging.

I took several months off from blogging for a multitude of reasons. Life can, at times, get away from you. During my time away, I missed blogging but just couldn't justify the time to commit to it. During a conversation with Dear Husband this past weekend and my birthday reflection yesterday, I am going to try to commit to it again. I truly miss the creative writing that blogging allowed me. I love to write and blogging gave me the outlet to write, aside from the 'power letters' I sometimes have to compose to absentee landlords regarding their tenant, our neighbor. Or the letters I have to send to our city government about the lack of 'call to action' when it comes to an abandoned car on our street.

People say "do what you love, the money will follow". I have been thinking about that a lot lately. I want my 40's to be different that my 30's. I know, I can't complain too much. The 30's brought me a new marriage and two great kids. We have a house that we can all our 'home' and though I was laid-off a year ago, we aren't in bad shape like many Americans. (Yes, I did count my blessings yesterday too). I want my 40's to bring me the career that doesn't feel like a career. Something that is an extension of myself, that I love to do. Maybe writing, maybe photography, who knows...but I am on the quest to make my 40's be all they can be.