hand foot mouth everywhere

He did not want his picture taken.

 Kent went to Vegas two weeks ago on a "man trip."  (See pictures here.)  

While he was gone, my mom came down to pick us up and take us to her house for the week.

And my children came down with Hand Foot and Mouth.

It's been kind of a busy two weeks.

Nicholas got it first.  He came down with the fever the night before Easter, and the blisters started the very next morning.

So apparently the "hand foot and mouth" idea is more of a guideline than the rule,

because Nicholas had blisters everywhere except on his stomach.

 Ears, face, arms, back, legs, hands, feet, and his diaper area.

His poor little bottom had the worst of it...peeling skin, raw sores, red angry blisters.

No good.

My mom and I were up all night with him a few nights in a row, just trying trying trying to help him, he cried for hours on end. Poor thing. I just felt so bad for him.

The only way I could get him to calm down was to take him for a drive in the car (at 1:00 am).  We drove and drove and I sang softly and I thought he was finally asleep when 

he pops his head up in the backseat and says,

"look Mom-there's the moon!"

 Sigh. 

But when we got him he was in a much improved mood and he scampered back into bed and went right to sleep.

The only picture I could get of the blisters--he moves fast and isn't a big fan of pictures anymore.

During the day, though, other than some scratching he seemed completely normal. 

And I was so glad that we were there at my mom's house where he could play with people (my siblings and our cousins had all be exposed to it already) and things to do.

It was definitely a blessing.

I can't imagine how the week would have been if I were here alone with him trapped in our tiny townhome and unable to go outside and play with his friends.

My little Ellie-girl got a fever just a few nights ago.  The poor girl just cried and cried.

And grunted/growled.  

It's a funny (in a sad way) thing she does when she's upset. She sounds like an elk or something.

So far she only has two blisters, one on each hand, and a faint bumpy rash. 

But I think she must have a sore throat too because she flat out refuses to eat unless she's very sleepy or has a full dose of tylenol in her.

Thank goodness for whoever invented tylenol.

We're home now, though, and Nicholas is just coming out of the contagious stage and he's feeling much much better.  Ellie seemed happier today too, and all is well.