Turning into Cows and Fireworks

Well many of you may have seen from facebook that we got sick a few weeks ago.  As many people were really confused about what we had and had never heard of it before and a sweet grandma of mine told my sister something about cows...we thought we'd share the story here and enlighten everyone on this crazy secret sickness we had.

It all started when, on the last Tuesday in June, Evelyn woke up around midnight crying.  Will went in there and noticed she had thrown up.  She didn't have a fever, so I mothered her and gave her love and tried to get her to drink and stuff while Will did the dirty work and cleaned up her room.  I thought maybe it was food poisoning because the milk she was drinking was close to expiring and I had left some of it in her sippy cup unrefrigerated for awhile as I was trying to get her to drink it.  (She has been refusing to drink milk from sippy cups.)  

Anyway, the next day I started to feel weird.  I drank some baking soda and sprite for upset stomach, and took a nap thinking maybe I had gotten food poising too.  I started to wonder if it was food related though as it was a few hours after Evelyn had thrown up and if we both had food poising it would have happened at the same time.  I went to Mutual that night (I was just called in to the YW presidency!!!!) because I wanted to get to know the YW better, but I ended up throwing up.  I felt better, but Evelyn had still been acting weird that day.  She didn't eat much at all...which isn't normal for her.  Usually she eats amazingly!  The next day I still felt weird and had a little bit of a sore throat, but we both stayed home and relaxed.  Ev still didn't eat much, but I thought maybe throwing up scared her or something.  Friday about the same thing.  Neither of us had fevers at all. Saturday we took her to the duck pond to feed the ducks.  We had a great time, but as we were putting her in the car we noticed she started getting a rash on her legs.  We're horrible parents, but we didn't connect anything and still thought maybe something at the park caused it.  We decided we would take her to the doctor on Monday first thing.  Anyway, my sore throat was getting better, and Evelyn was eating much better and acting like herself so we thought it would be ok to go to church.  Again thinking it was a normal skin rash like heat rash or whatever.  However Will was starting to get a sore throat.  Sunday after church he complained that his whole body hurt and he felt like maybe he was getting the flu.  He took a nap on Sunday. Then the next day his throat started to get worse.  Tuesday his feet started to feel weird and it actually hurt to walk on them.  (The sharp needle feeling after your leg falls asleep is kind of how he described it.)  Because his throat was hurting so much I thought maybe it was strep.  He decided to google it and since his feet were hurting he googled sore feet and sore throat and the first thing that came up was Hand, Foot, & Mouth Disease (which is NOT to be confused with Hoof and Mouth disease).  Hand, Foot & Mouth only affects humans and Hoof & Mouth only affects cows.  

Here's the run down.  It's just a virus similar to the flu, but there is no vaccine for it and there is really nothing you can take for it.  It is actually pretty common and occurs most often in children under 10, and it's normal to have a few outbreaks each year.  The symptoms are mouth sores and a rash with small blisters on feet and hands that hurt when touched, fever, headache, loss of appetite.  

I have no clue if this is what Evelyn and I had as the only symptom Evelyn had was a rash and a possible sore throat as maybe that is why she wasn't eating.  I had a very small sore throat and no other symptoms.  It's weird that Will had it as bad as he did.  Especially since he's the healthiest one in our family. :)

So no we aren't turning into cows or anything weird like that.  Actually we are all back to normal now. I was heartbroken on Tuesday night when Will found out what he had.  Independence Day is my favorite holiday. I studied history in college and my favorite thing to study and learn about is American History.  So, I was almost ready to cry when we talked about canceling our plans.  We decided that if we kept our distance from everyone we could still celebrate.  So we canceled meeting up with my great Aunt in Edmond and swimming in their pool and visiting my second cousins, but we did go up there anyway and watch the parade.  Then we got some food and I took Evelyn swimming at our pool.  We were the only ones there.  It was awesome!  Then our two neighbor friends who I usually watch at the pool came to join us.  They love Evelyn.  Then we grilled some burgers and ate yummy potatoes and watermelon and lemon ice and then took Evelyn and the same two neighbor kids to the park where there was a big celebration in town.  They had blow up slides and obstacle courses and a bounce house all for free to use.  They also had pony rides and some music shows.  So we walked around there for awhile and then found a spot to watch the fireworks.  Some good friends from town were brave and joined us.  So it ended up being a great day despite Will feeling weird.  

Evelyn loved the fireworks.  We showed her videos of fireworks in the weeks leading up to the fourth, trying to get her ready and she loved to watch them.  She started to ask for fire videos.  I was worried about keeping her up so late, but she was great the whole night.  They didn't start until 9:50 and before they started people in the distance were lighting some off and she would ask for more.  We kept saying...oh..you'll get more.  And when they started she got so excited. It was fun.  Especially since last year she slept through them. :)

Here is a video that kind of shows how cute she was...well kind of...

Anyway, we're all great again.  Evelyn is eating great and being silly as ever.  I'm going to Girls Camp in a week and am TORN!  I'm so excited to have fun with the YW! I loved Girls Camp growing up and am excited to spend some time with the youth and some awesome leaders as well.  However I HAVE NEVER BEEN AWAY FROM Evelyn for more than a few HOURS and Will for more than a few days.  I'm going to go insane!  Sometimes at night after she's been sleeping for awhile I still want to go in and hold her.  I don't know how I'll survive.  Any suggestions?