WHAT MY KID TAUGHT ME ABOUT THANKSGIVING

This past Tuesday, Chloe woke up with a bit of a runny nose. This didn't really concern me because just like her mom, we think she has allergies. I called the doc and she said to give her some Claritin befor bed. Our day went on as normal but around 6pm I noticed she looked like she really didn't feel to hot. I gave her a bath (because that is probably her favorite thing in the world) and tried to give her some dinner. She just kind of layed around. Finally, we decided to give her the Claritin and put her to bed. She really fought us when trying to put her down but finally gave up around 10 (and so did I).
About 11, through the monitor, I hear Chloe begin SCREAMING! Both Miker and I run in and find her just crying and shaking. He picks her up but she is just hysterical. I take her and decide her and I will sleep in the guest room. Well, as the night goes on (she's not sleeping fyi) I notice that she is breathing really hard and she begins to cough. Now when say cough it's like the most horrible sound ever. The doctor describes it as a "goose honk". She rolls over and lays on top of me and falls asleep. Now at this point her breathing is very labored and I can tell she has a fever. When she wakes up Wednesday morning I immediately call the doctor and when I discribe her symptoms they tell us to bring her over right away.

At the doctor's office they check her oxygen level, take her temp (which was 103.6 YIKES) and listen to her chest. It was awful. They gave her a breathing treatment which was torture and 2 steroid shots. Apparently she had cought a virus whch was causing her wind pipe to swell making it hard to breath. With this particular virus, it also causes "bronchitis like" symptoms. Just bad, bad, bad! Thye said she was contagious and we should keep her energy level down if possible.

We had planned on heading to my Aunt's house the next day for a Thanksgiving feast. Well, of course, I had to call and cancel. I was super bummed because I had been dreaming of swimming in mashed potatoes and stuffing and ham and....you get the point.

So, for the rest of the holiday weekend we were pretty much held up in the house with a really unhappy toddler. As for me, well, I was beginnig to feel increasingly more jelous of everyone elses Thanksgiving. I heard stories of turkey and pie and kids running around and funny relativess and AHHHHHHHH!!!

Then Saturday morning I was up around 6am with Chloe (after being up about once and hour the night before). She was lying on the floor watching a movie and I was folding laundry. Out of nowhere she turns and looks at me and in her little horse voice she says "cheeeeeese". I look at her and say "what?" She again says "cheeeeeeese" and points to the table. I look over at the table and notice my camera. I ask her "do you want me to take your picture?' She just smiled, never lifting her head from the floor, and says again - "cheeeeeeeese". I snapped a few shots and then she went back to watching her movie.




At that point i realized how silly I had been. What is Thanksgiving really? Why was I so bummed about not being able to go stuff my face and watch football. I think a lot of us have really forgotten what Thanksgiving is all about. We shouldn't specifically save our thanks for the last Thursday of November but count our blessings EVERYDAY. I am so thankful that we got Chloe to the doctor when we did and that she was able to avoid the emergency room. I am also thankful that MIker was around all weekend to help out and give Chloe the extra attention she needed. I am just all around thankful.




SO, really, who needs turkey when you've got cheeeeeeese?




PS Chloe seems to be feeling much better today. YAY!