Boy it has been a crazy bunch of days here. It all started two weekends ago when I had all that pain and ended up spending Monday afternoon in the hospital. He put me on modified bed rest until Thursday when I saw him and got the ok to do normal activities but not to overdo it.

So we had Harlem Globetrotters tickets at Madison Square Garden on Friday night. That didn't seem like overdoing it right? So we took the kids. We left the house at 5:09pm and got to the Garden at 8:45 pm. It was awful. Traffic was terrible going to the city. It is normally an hour drive including traffic. When we got to the City Brian let me off at a movie theater to go to the bathroom, I was dying. Normally you can't use bathrooms anywhere in NYC unless you are paying money somehow to that establishment. They took one look at my belly and said no problem.

As we got close to the Garden we let Brian off to go get the tickets. I couldn't make a right to go down 7th to the Garden, Same with 6th and Broadway, finally I could turn down 5th. I did and then turned down 35th to head back down. Of course half way down that they closed the road, so I had to go down Broadway to 37th. All of that was in terrible traffic. I finally found a parking garage and Brian walked over and helped me get the kids out and back to the Garden. The show started at 8pm but as soon as we sat down they had the tip-off. We had only missed demonstrations, not the game. That was pretty cool.

I had to go to the bathroom (8 months pregnant) a million times during the game and there were tons of stairs. The kids, however, did great until about the 4th quarter. Then they weren't really interested in the game anymore. It ended at 10:15 and we headed out. We stopped near the stairs to get the kids jackets on and Jack ran away from me around a corner. I chased him and he had stopped because it was a dead end at the elevator. The elevator lady took one look at me and said I was disabled and let us ride down. That was pretty cool. I told her I felt disabled, because by then with the long trip in, all the bathroom trips, the uncomfortable seats and the kids bouncing on my lap, I did.

When we got home I ached all over. Unfortunately the boys didn't sleep well because they had coughs, so Brian and I took turns rubbing their back and getting them back to sleep. The next morning, Brian watched the kids while I slept in. I ended up spending most of the day resting either in bed or on the sofa.

Saturday night we had tickets to see Brian Stokes Mitchell in concert right around the corner from our house at the performing arts center. Jackie was already planning on babysitting and since it was right here it didn't seem like a big deal. Our tickets were third tier and wouldn't you know they didn't have elevators. There were about 100 steps up and when we got there they were already flashing the lights to go in so there was no resting on each landing, it was walking straight up. Whew. That was fun especially since I couldn't see my feet :). I told Brian I wasn't going down for intermission and luckily there wasn't one :).

The kids were asleep when we got home but again they were really congested. I ended up putting Jack in a warm bath around 3am to let the steam clear him up. He was miserable so I climbed in with him. We had a lot of fun talking about the different states and how many he has been to -- 17.

Sunday I was really achy and tired so I slept in again with Jack this time and then we went grocery shopping because we were out of everything. That night Jack developed pink eye. Three of his classmates had it the week before. Brian took the kids to the doctor on Monday morning and we found out that Tor also had an ear ache, no wonder he had been miserable. I also developed pink eye. Luckily Brian has been spared so far.

Monday night was ok just normal congestion but tonight was something entirely different. Brian was in the city of course to see the Foo Fighters with Walter. As I gave the kids a bath, I noticed Jack had developed a small rash that looked like fine red dots on his chest. He also had a few raised bumps the size of a pencil eraser on his legs. When I got him out, the ones on his legs and spread to his buttocks and up his back. I put lotion on him and decided just to keep an eye on him because he said they didn't hurt or itch. We got in bed by 9pm but both kids refused to go to sleep. Jack started to complain that his legs and butt itched so I turned on the light and the welts were the size of a quarter, raised and angry looking they were also on his face and both his cheeks and his ears were bright red.

I called the doctor and he called me right back and said I was the second mother of a 5 year old to call about raised red welts. He told me it was probably a virus, not a reaction to anything he ate or drank, and to give him benadryl. He also warned me that 1 out of 5 kids has the opposite reaction to benadryl -- instead of making them sleepy it makes them hyperactive. I knew that from my nursing days but didn't realize it was 1 in 5. Wow. Luckily he didn't have that reaction but he didn't want to go back to bed so of course neither did Tor. We ended up watching kids programs on tv until almost midnight. Jack fell right asleep but Tor still refused to go to bed. Ugh.

Tor woke up about an hour ago with a coughing fit so I changed his diaper and also checked on Jack. Jack had a full blown fever going. So Brian got Jack some tylenol and took him to the bathroom because he wanted to be carried and I can't carry him right now because of the baby. He fell back asleep right away but it took Tor a long time to go back to sleep.

Now they are both sleeping, but I am wide awake. Liv is not liking any of this and she is kicking up a storm :). Man it is a lot of work being a mom, but boy I wouldn't change it for anything :). Brian has been a really great dad and husband too. He has a lot going on with work and has been back and forth to NYC many times during all this but he still has really helped me a lot with the kids because of the pregnancy. Well not because of the pregnancy, because he is a great guy, but I have needed a lot more help because of the pregnancy :). So despite all the sickness and aches and pains we are all doing great!