Brenna has been sick for the last three weeks. First we had a round of strep throat. Mix that up with a little reaction to her antibiotics and she missed four days of school the first week. Then last Friday they tried to reach me because she was running 103F fever.
Though I was in the office, I was actually out of the office attending Convocation. So no one could reach me and they couldn't reach Bryan, and next on the list was my sister, who called Bryan, who tried to call me (who was out of the office and not carrying a cell phone into campus meetings.)
Bryan got her into the dr's office where a assistant said, "Virus" and sent him on his way. She ran the fever all weekend, developed nasal congestion and then her asthmatic cough settled in her chest. "Virus" they said again on Monday via telephone. But she was still running fever and coughing on Wed. so I was able to get her an appointment.
My mom has generously spent some time every day this week helping out, even though it's a 45 minute drive each way for her. She actually took Brenna to the dr. appt, because I could only get the appt in the afternoon and had to make an appearance in the office. They gave Brenna a nebulizer breathing treatment and then the pediatrician (whom I adore) diagnosed her with a mycoplasma infection. (Walking Pneumonia, which everytime I say it in my mind comes out to the tune of "Waltzing Matilda" from those children's songs CDs we used to play when Cameron was two.)
Mom came back today to sit with Brenna, so I could get back in the office to answer the reference questions starting to stack up, attend an Emergency Response committee meeting, and (more importantly) start working on my Powerpoint presentation for Tuesday morning. All I could think about was Brenna. When I'm at work, I'm worrying about not being with her. When I'm at home with her, I can't keep my mind off of work.
Even though she had a good day at home with Nana, and today is day two of a strong antibiotic, her fever spiked to 102 this evening and she became clingy and whiny.
I got the Working Mom Blues. (Now I just need to rewrite this post with rhyme and meter for a blues song.)
This is as creative as it gets at 7:30 a.m. No fancy store pictures of the girls, no cutesy photos either. It turned bitter cold this morning (37F with a stiff wind) and so I dressed them, had them stand together for a photo, and stuffed them into coats to run them off to school. 
This is a common sight in our house at the end of each day. They were both so cute sitting on their beds reading that I grabbed the camera for a quick snap. Brenna is "reading" a book we picked up at the library. She is at that in-between stage where she probably CAN read more than a few words, but sure as heck doesn't want to. I know she can read the words BANK and FIRE because both are in the book. What happens is usually that I'll read one or two picture books to her, and then she'll sit in the bed "reading" them to herself - basically retelling the same story I just read.
Brenna has been sick for the last three weeks. First we had a round of strep throat. Mix that up with a little reaction to her antibiotics and she missed four days of school the first week. Then last Friday they tried to reach me because she was running 103F fever.