Where does a 102 fever come from in the summer?!?!

A lot happened this weekend (flat tire, got to see Kirsten and Ellie), but what I really want to vent about is having a sick child.

Kyle had a fever of 101.5 last night when I put him to bed. He woke up at 4 a.m., after the Motrin had worn off, with a fever of 101.5. After getting him cooled down again, he went back to sleep until 6. I called the doctor at 8 a.m. and we saw his pediatrician at 9:45. She said it's a virus, will probably last 3-4 days, and he's contagious until the fever breaks or he gets a rash all over his body. Neato.

And so, poor little guy, barely eats or drinks and is soo lethargic. I rented the movie Cars for him and baked a pizza (which he did eat 1 piece of, yea!), and I've got the last of Kevin's otter pops in the freezer (sorry honey!).

This evening he desperately wanted to go for a walk, as did I, so we headed to the mall. Well, on our way out of the mall he literally collapsed when I stood him up after a diaper change. It was clear he wouldn't be going back in the stroller for our walk home. Today I had the bright idea of walking around with a purse instead of his backpack, so I only had necessities, which meant I didn't have a sling with me. This was going to be a long walk home, as we hadn't even gotten to the store where I needed to exit and my arm was killing me.

So I thought, just this weekend I had looked up ways to make a sling out of a simple piece of cloth, because I thought I had left our sling at home in Tucson. Turns out I had the sling in PHX, but the info came in handy tonight. I found an oblong tablecloth on clearance for $7. The cashier let me pull it out of the package and "try it on" before buying it to make sure it would be long enough (and it was). I tied a knot using two of the diagonal corners, then moved that knot up by my shoulder so the wide part of my "sling" would be by my hip, where I wanted Kyle to be sitting. I popped him in, then tied one of the remaining corners with the end of the first knot to snug him up. The remaining corner turned out to be incredibly useful as a hood, to shade his face from the sun going down. I felt almost magical walking him home down Oracle Rd, in a tablecloth; like I had accessed some kind of mom genius from the depths. He actually fell asleep before we hit the first intersection we had to cross. And, I was able to carry my sick baby home, sleeping peacefully, while pushing the stroller with my purse in it.

I gave him Motrin again when we got home, as it was well past time and he was heating up. Then we took a lukewarm bath with baking soda mixed in; this really seemed to bring his body temp down. Now, he is sleeping peacefully; which is where I plan to be shortly. Pray for our little guy, that he'll feel better soon and for my strength: it's hard work taking care of a sick child all by yourself!