Welcome to the Burns Blog: Catch up blog

Okay, we haven't blogged in almost two weeks, so here is a catch up blog entry.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks adjusting to my parents being gone. That means we do what every parent does, but we aren't that used to it yet - get kids ready in the mornings, take turns taking them and picking them up from school, plan all the meals, shop and cook, do 4-5 loads of laundry a week, while keeping the kids from destroying the house and killing each other. And I had two trips to California for work in two consecutive weeks. I normally travel once or twice a quarter, but try to avoid it when my parents are not here to help, but I couldn't avoid these last minute trips this time.

Finally Bill and I had both scheduled vacation days for Monday and Tuesday. Bill has to use up all his vacation every year, as it doesn't roll forward. My company just decided to get rid of tracking vacations for directors levels and above, which will save them millions (that was not part of the memo). Instead, they tried to put lipstick on a pig and positioned as "you can work out a flexible vacation schedule with your supervisor", which they know that for directors and VPs means you will take less vacation and they don't have to allocate money for your unused vacation. So, we decided to use up our vacation!

It was supposed to be time for us to relax, go to a movie, maybe get a massage and catch up on some house projects (the tulips needed to be planted). But Audrey was up on our plans, so after a week of coughing and congestion, she came down with a fever Monday morning (perfect timing). It was not high (99-100), so we gave her tylenol and sent her to school (yes, we are not winning the best parents award). We did our house chores, planted the tulips, went for a nice lunch, and saw Red (great movie!). After we got home around 4 PM we got a call from school saying that Audrey was running a 101 fever and wasn't feeling very good.

Our Tuesday turned into a sick day for Bill and a work day for me after a visit to Dr. Steitz (ears, nose, lungs were clear, it is a virus). I knew we would need to take turns staying home until she felt better, and I had work I need to get done this week, so choose to work Tuesday so I could take a sick day Wed. It's been 4 days of high fevers (103-104) and constant Ibuprofen and Tylenol (sometimes together), and a lot of sleep and liquids. The fever finally broke Friday morning, but she was still very tired and cranky, so we kept her home.

First hint of normalcy came Friday night. She had her first meal of the week. She walked excited to the dining table and ate chicken, rice, broccoli, and was back to her happy self. We couldn't be happier!! Mason has been very good all week (there has been candy bribery somewhere in there). He is also happy to see Audrey feeling better, because as Daddy said "Happy Audrey = Happy Mommy = Happy Daddy = Happy Mason"

Before the sickness chaos, we had gone to the zoo one of the past weekends (taking advantage of our membership).

Audrey wanted to walk, and didn't want to hold our hand, but was happy to take Mason's hand.

The pride - It was a perfect time of the year to go to the zoo. The weather was just perfect (not too hot or cold), and it was not as crowded in the afternoon.