The Spencer Girls

I am posting right now because I don't know what else to do with myself. Kari has taken Rylee to the ER with a 105 degree fever and I am holding down the fort. Just waiting and not being able to do anything else is kind of tough for me. So once again I am just typing in my own form of self therapy.

I know that 105 is pretty high and I am concerned, but I really have no idea how bad that is and wonder if I am under or over concerned. I mean, is 105 life threatening? Does the brain cook itself at 106? Or is that just a high fever and it will go away and not much to really worry about? At any rate I think we made the right decision to take her in. I say "we" but it was Kari telling me "Rylee has a 105 fever and I am taking her to the ER." I didn't argue.

We had decided just 15 minutes before that we would take Rylee and Madison in to the doctor tomorrow. Every one has been sick, but Madi and Ry are the worst. All four girls have had fevers over the last several days, but never over 103.5. And they have all responded well to Tylenol and Motrin, till now.

I thought that they were all on the mend until today. Rylee has been a wreck all day. And Madison sounds like a baby harp seal. Nothing sounds more pitiful than your baby crying when she has lost her voice. The sobs only being interrupted by coughing fits. No fun at all. Rylee spent the day shivering and napping on the couch. I suspect that they have some form of the flu, but I am not exactly sure. Madison had a 103 fever this morning and was dry heaving so hard that I thought she would spit up the Motrin that I just got down her throat. Reagan and Jordan seem to be weathering this the best. They slow down and get quite, which is a big red flag that something isn't right, we take their temps, give them some Tylenol and 20 minutes later they are back to normal.

Today wasn't all bad. Reagan and the twins played outside for a good long time. That is always fun to watch. The twins have spent so much of their lives indoors that they just have a field day any time they are released. And now that it is getting warmer they really enjoy playing with the water table and the hose.

Reagan especially likes to play with water. It is great that you can turn the hose on and she will amuse her self for an hour or more, but there are some draw backs to that.

First, she insists on removing every stitch of clothing. That isn't so bad except that she will come in, dry off, put on more clothes, then decide to go back out, dump the fresh clothes on the wet ground, play for a few, come in, dry off, get new clothes, go back out, repeat again and again and again.

Second, you have to kind of keep an eye on where she is spraying the hose. I don't really have the time to sit out back and watch one kid for hours at a time. So today I trusted her alone with the hose while I went in to do some laundry. I had taken the dry cloths out of the dryer and was starting to put the wet cloths in when I heard the rush of running water. I heard it clearly, as if it was in the same room. It seemed like my mind took minutes to deduct the source of that sound, but it was probably only seconds.
"Reagan? Reagan has the hose! She shoved the hose in the dryer vent!" The though jumped into my head. I dropped the laundry, whirled about, sprinted through the kitchen, flung open the back door, slipped on the wet pavement, possibly pulled something in my groin area, shoved a patio chair out of my way, and moved quickly to where Reagan was happily filling the dogs water bowl.
"Hmmm, maybe I was wrong." I thought to myself. So I peered in the dryer vent. It was hard to tell. So I stuck my hand in the vent. Yep, there was A LOT of water in there.
"Reagan!" I snapped. She looked up. She was still smiling, but not as big as when I burst out the door and slipped.
"Reagan, do not EVER put water in here. That is a NO NO!" Now her smile was gone. At least now I had her attention. She frowned a little more and then with an impish little smile, turned the hose on the back of the house and into the weep holes in the brick. She glanced back up at me for approval.
"No. In fact I don't want you to spray water on the house at all. You are getting water in the house!" I said, just a little exasperated.
"Sawee Daddeeeee." She said, the frown returning. She is really too cute for her own good. She is going to get away with many many things that she shouldn't in this life with just that look and just that smile.
"Ok, no more water on the house, right?"
"OoooooKaaaay." She replied. The smile was back and all was right with the world.


Note the hole in the wall for the dryer vent. The cover for the vent mysteriously became dislodged at some point.