Strep Can't Keep a Good Man Downs

Well, the Downs household is getting back to normal after a strep-infected weekend. Not counting the strep throat Margaret suffered two weeks ago, Jack came down with the malady on Friday. He woke up fine but by late morning was running a fever and had joint aches and chills. I kept the kids at bay, hanging out and eating dinner at the food court at the mall. I didn't have jazz class because of the Easter holiday -- Margaret and Patricia officially started their vacation Friday -- so we had Friday night at the mall just hanging out. Baby Brigid LOVES Border's Books. She can run around the children's section like it's a playground. She loves pulling books off the shelves, looking at them for a nanosecond and then dropping them on her way to other, more interesting offerings. They have a whole rack of stuffed animals that she also loves to play by. I just follow behind, picking up anything she drops along the way. She squeals and Ooooooo's all over the place, pointing at posters and signs throughout the store. There is a Peter Rabbit sign hanging over the department and she loves seeing it.

Saturday morning, Jack was worse than before so I insisted he go to the Plattsburgh Health Center for a throat swab. His doctor doesn't have hours on the weekends and the health center is walk-in treatment. I took the girls -- all three of them -- to Burlington for the day to stay out of Daddy's hair. We had a mission to find something suitable for Margaret and Patricia to wear to church on Easter Sunday. We've exhausted the options in Plattsburgh. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, for them to wear here. But alas, we had a similar experience in Burlington. Either it's all hootchie-mama with low-cut fronts and short-short skirts that threaten to expose "down there" or it's something suitable for a five-year-old or it's something suitable for a 50-year-old. But we had fun shopping anyway. We went to Ben Franklin's (an arts and crafts store with other things, kind of like Michael's) and had fun looking around there; went to Friday's for lunch; went to Church Street in Burlington to look around. Ended up at Marshall's where we found skirts and tops for the girls. Brigid's outfit was all set. I found a beautiful dress and hat weeks ago. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. We didn't get home until 9 p.m. having missed the 8:20 ferry back to Plattsburgh. Jack's trip to the health center resulted in a course of antibiotics for strep. The doctor didn't even swab his throat -- he could tell just by saying "ahhhhhh" that it was infected. Easter Sunday with the whole crew didn't look promising.

And it wasn't. Although he tried to give it his best effort, I told Jack to go back to bed when we were all getting ready for church in the morning after Easter eggs were found and baskets retrieved from their hiding places. So it was a girls' morning out. Church was nice -- not too crowded with the C&E folks mingling in with the regulars. Brigid was a sight -- you could hear people oohing and ahhhing as she walked in wearing her cute outfit. These people -- most of them, anyway -- have seen her grow, actually since before she was born, having witnessed my swelling maternity. And, given the fact that she is the pastor's Godchild, she holds a special place in their hearts. Margaret and Patricia looked so grown up in their skirds and tops. They were asked to bring up the offering, and I was very proud. Afterward, I took some pictures of the girls at the flowers on the altar, again, I'll post as soon as I can. We then had a visit with Godfather John before heading off for a girls' only breakfast. I picked up some daffodils to take over to Grandma and Granddad's house, where we would be having dinner later. It was a lazy afternoon after that until it was time to go. Jack managed to go over for dinner, but it was an early evening for us all because he was fading fast. Just as well. It was a long day and an early morning, so we were all tired.

I took Monday off from work and we hung around the house. I helped Patricia with her homework -- she has to make an ecosystem for science. She chose the desert and we researched information and then went to Michael's to pick up some supplies to make the diorama. We went back to Jack's folks' house for dinner to eat up some leftovers and he was feeling a little better, actually ate his first real meal since Friday. Brigid was enjoying walking around the house and has discovered the carpeted stairs, which she has begun to master. She doesn't have access to the stairs in our house, so this is a treat for her. Having had that awful fall last week has made us all a little gun shy about her walking and we've been paying very close attention to her, probably too close for her liking. But that will fade as her bruise goes away.

My friend, Kathleen, is visiting today from California by way of Vermont, so we'll have some catch-up time. She wasn't able to bring her two daughters with her this time -- it marks the year anniversary of her mother's death and she wanted to spend time with her father. She's on her way, having just called my here at my office. We'll go to lunch and then I'll spend the rest of the afternoon with her and the girls. She plans to return to Vermont this evening as opposed to spending the night at our house. Jack plans to go back to work today. I hope he's up to it. Being sick can really take the wind out of your sails. Here's hoping for a gusty, nor'easter to help keep him afloat.