Mr. Ambassador

I know, I know, I have totally been slacking lately in the updates department. But Pete is finally back after his 10 day adventure, and boy are we glad he is back! I promise to catch everyone up on the last week's happenings.

However, this post is dedicated to the second of my wonderful, bright, brilliant children - Jackson Frederick Karl. We received word yesterday that Jack was nominated by the 5 kindergarten teachers to serve as 1 of 2 kindergarten ambassadors at the school. This was based on leadership skills, exemplary behavior, excellent communication skills with both peers and adults, and the ability to make friends easily. He will be serving on a school committee of ambassadors from each grade level, and will be called upon to assist when new students enroll, when there are assemblies, and to participate in leadership activities during special school weeks, like Red Ribbon Week, etc. We are so proud of his ability to stand out in the crowd at a school of 500 students and be recognized by his teachers! As predicted by Ms. Cindy, his preschool teacher - "Jack is going into Public Relations, or he will be a Diplomat!" And as Gracie complimented him, "only the smart, outgoing kids get picked for that." So proud of our little man!

Gracie and Jack have a new baby cousin!

Meet Hunter Frederick Karl! Born today, 9 pounds 9 ounces, 21 inches long. Congratulations to Fred, Brie, and newly-appointed Big Sister Eme. Uncle Pete will be there tomorrow!

Life is Good...

All players on the Team Karl roster are back to bringin' their A game! G and J were back to school on Tuesday. Although Jack got very used to staying home and being pampered by mama and refused to get out of the car in the dropoff lane. Through his tears, I walked him in, and luckily we found Mrs. Thone near the office making copies. She ran over, gave him a hug, and told him she was going to take good care of him that day. Why is it that Kindergarten teachers always know just what to say?!

The week flew by with two softball games, 1 win 1 loss. Gray is pitching well. I would call her a relief pitcher at this point. What she lacks in speed she makes up for in accuracy and unexpectedness. It is hilarious - she gets up there and throws it right down the middle with a bit of an arc, and the batters are totally thrown off. They are used to flat and fast and it throws them off of their hitting routine. She has pitched 6 strikeouts on pitches the last two games she pitched. Now if we could just get her to remember to cover home when a runner is on third. I am going to write it in Sharpie on her arm for our games tomorrow. COVER HOME

School is good, although Gracie's $35.00 zipper binder, required by school, came up lame with a broken zipper last night. The binder is all they are allowed to carry, so this is MAJOR. Must be Staples' evil plot to get us to spend more money. Tests, quizzes, and homework are going well. She finished her first reading project on "My Sister's Keeper." She wrote a paper on it and received a 100. Jack's favorite thing so far is math, math, math!

D

G is well, J is still fighting...

Update...thank God that Gracie seems to be all better and is planning to head back to school tomorrow! She has been fever-free for 2 days, just continues to have a nagging little dry cough. Jack's big fever finally broke early this morning of nearly two full days of 104. He was up and around today, but fell asleep about 2 hours ago and has a low 100 fever, so he will stay home tomorrow. Thanks for ALL of your prayers and concerns! Still not sure what Pete and I are supposed to do about going to work, having been exposed. The internet is full of conflicting advice...D

News from Westin Park Memorial Hospital

For those family and friends who have been calling and leaving goodies on our front doorstep, ringing the bell, and running, WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Let me catch you up...Saturday morning, Gracie woke up with Day 3 of constant fever over 102, so off to the Pediatrician we went and were quickly accepted. They made her wear a mask, of which she said she looked like a dork, and they immediately swabbed her nose, which they should have done on Thursday. Of course it came back positive for Swine Flu in about 2 minutes. She was their first positive in two days. Dr. Sutherland stood in the doorway to tell us the news. She is too late (outside of 48 hours of first symptoms) for Tamaflu, so just continue to treat at home. While we were at Sonic getting a well-deserved treat ( the swabbing is a HUGE qtip up both of your nose holes), Pete called that Jack was running 101.3. So we spent yesterday with our barrage of meds - Tylenol/Motrin alternation, vitamin c, B-12, Nyquil for coughing, etc. We watched every movie on TV, 4 hours straight of Disney Channel (for those of you who don't know, I despise Disney Channel...I know, kind of suprising, but Ido), and we decided to buy the Razorbacks first game on Conway Corp pay per view. Pete and I were all set to cheer them on. We saw the first play of the game - Rbacks ran back the kickoff for a 91 yard touchdown. The crowd was going wild, our screen went blue with words that said WE ARE NOT ABLE TO PROCESS YOUR PURCHASE. Really?!?! Pete spent 20 minutes on hold with Conway Corp, the game never came back on. They ended up winning something like 42-10. We watched some documentary on orphans in Iran. What a drag.

Back to the kids as of this morning...Gracie is holding steady at a low 99 since last night with no meds, hopefully she is getting over the hump. Jack, however, woke up about 5:00 am this morning, crying hysterically cuz he couldn’t find me and I was sleeping right next to him. That kid was on fire. His temp was 104.7. Since we already know what is wrong with him, we stripped him down, threw him in a cold shower (not popular), laid him on our concrete floor in the bathroom, and packed him in zip loc baggies full of ice and wet washcloths all over his head. Of course, Pete chose that moment to remind us that this is what he will be doing to field dress the elk he is planning on killing later in the month. You can fill in the blank on the inappropriate words I threw at him at that moment. His fever came down enough for him to fall back asleep and we JUST now woke up. Jack also a very croupy, whoopy cough with his, Gracie's cough is just persistent. Get the vaccine if you can, this is not fun.

G on the mend, J in progress....please continue to pray....Nurse D and Dr. P

Frustrated with the Flu

Gracie has the flu. She felt it coming on last night after swimming and woke up this morning with 101.8, chills, coughing, runny nose, etc. I called the pediatrician and they said she is exhibiting all of the symptoms of the swine flu, but they did not want her in the office. They are short on swabs, and every other kid they swabbed in the last 2 weeks came up negative for the swine flu, so it is a different virus that exhibits the same as swine. So since they did not want to confirm one way or another, can I get a script for Tamaflu to be safe? Well no, they are also short on Tamaflu, and that is being saved for high-risk patients. I am supposed to treat at home with tylenol/motrin alternation, fluids, yadayada. We are pumping her up on Vitamin C, but I just took her temp a few minutes ago and she is back up to 102. So she is still contagious.

Not sure about the weekend in Missouri (sniff sniff). I just told her we might not get to go and she ran to her room crying, saying something about "my nana!"....pray for quick recovery. D