Hey. Remember me?

It's not that I don't have anything to say. There's so much going on. It's just a challenge to put together coherent thought. NOT THAT IT'S STOPPED ME BEFORE.

Last week was crazy. Natalie got a little fever Monday night. With ibuprofen it would go away. She was playing. Feeling good. Just warm. Tuesday afternoon. She's fine. Next thing I know, she's all red, can't get up, and the ear thermometer says 106. 106!!! We hightailed it for the doctor. Remember how I live in Lake Wobegon? Yeah. I sang in high school choir with the nurse practitioner we saw. And you know what? She was awesome. She was great with Natalie, she explained the slew of tests and their findings well.

Starting with the strep test. Because her tonsils were swollen & yucky. Certainly it must be strep. Natalie had said it felt like there was a frog in her throat. So NP said she needed to tickle the frog with the big qtip. Natalie thought that was funny. Until she did it. Results: negative.

Then there was the flu test. Do you know what they do for a flu test? They shove giant skinny qtips up your nose. She told Natalie she had to try and get to the frog that way. Again, it was funny until she did it. Then it made Nattie gag. Results: negative.

Next stop, a urinalysis and blood draw. Oh good. It was definitely a challenge to convince her to pee in the cup. And the blood draw was just ugly. Brennan held her down and held her face so she didn't look. I held her arm in place. Lab Girl did the sticking & drawing. Not our happiest family moment. Blood results: not bad. Evidence of infection fighting. Low-ish hemoglobin, we should get her to eat more red meat & leafy greens. No problem on the leafy greens, good luck on the red meat. Urinalysis results: Holy infection, Batman!!! She explained the numbers, but I've since forgotten. All I remember is the number that was supposed to be 0-5 was 50-100.

Poor Natalie had a bladder infection. With apparently no symptoms but a fever. Because she says she hadn't been in any pain at all. After starting around 4:45, it was now 6:30. And because we live in Lake Wobegon, I had to bolt for neighboring Bigger Lake Wobegon to get to the Target pharmacy (everything here was closed by then). We pumped that girl full of ibuprofen, tylenol and amoxicillin, and put her to bed.

Meanwhile, our sweet Ella was at Grandma's, telling Grandma that they should pray for Natalie because she was so sick.

Natalie wasn't down for long. By the next afternoon she was pretty perky again. And by Thursday she was bouncing off the walls and fighting with her sister again. And I kept trying to remind myself how glad I was that she felt better, so I should be happy to hear the fighting.

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In other news, I got my permanent crown today. The dentist was very concerned that the lab had sent a white gold crown instead of yellow gold. I told him I just wanted to chew, and I didn't think anyone would be looking to closely at my back molar. If I had known I should have picked, I would have chosen white gold anyway. It feels weird, but I think after a month I was just used to the temporary crown, and they feel nothing alike. This one feels shiny & costly. (bonus points for that vague song reference)