Almost 12-11-11

It was going to be a surprise, but some people nagged me into doing my 12-11 blog early. It's been noted that I haven't posted anything new since 11-11-11. Well, didja ever think maybe I was going to wait until 12-11 and just do a monthly update from now on? Huh, huh, didja?!

Well, actually that wasn't the plan but it seems like a good excuse now. And here's the latest and greatest:

Indy and Taryn came home for Thanksgiving. We had a GREAT week with everyone back in the house. The girls decided to do Black Friday and we were an amazing team of shoppers. Even after sleeping in, we were able to got everything in one day, the mall wasn't THAT busy, and when we filled Indy's bug with shopping bags, we looked at each other in wonderment and awe of our prowess. Then we thought to wonder: who's giving what to whom? Smiles all around, and the obvious solution: dump it all on my bed, call dibs, and make piles for people. Once we did that, it didn't seem productive to put it all back in bags so we all voted to wrap now! As we were wrapping, Indy said we had to set up the tree too, so the presents could go under it. After what seemed like a couple hours of wrapping we were done, and laughed at how we knew almost every present in every box and the only ones who didn't know was Gib and Mike. I'd like to point out, that Gib was offered a chance to see what "he" bought and wrap his gifts to his sisters himself, but he's decided it will be more fun if I wrap the gifts from him to his sisters. After all, (Gibbie quote) "Somebody's gotta be surprised on Christmas". My next favorite quote was when Indy and I, in exhaustion, crashed on the couch, admiring out tree, the beautiful presents under it and Indy goes, "now you have to stare at them for an entire month!".

Taryn and I went the next day on a jaunt to get her gifts for Tim. While we were out in the next county over, we spied a store called Delia's that I really wanted to check out. We got into a little more trouble there. A couple of people (Taryn and Mariah) got a couple more gifts. And Taryn got exactly what she wanted for Tim so she was happy and I loved spending time with her. The day before Thanksgiving we went out for lunch together too. I realize that with this girl, I have to accumulate time when she's here, because once she is back on campus, I won't hear from her. Except when she nags me to blog.

Gib got sick just before Thanksgiving break with what appeared at first to be a bad migraine. But then he suddenly developed a high fever. The next morning it wasn't gone. He started feeling really bad so I figured it would be a good idea to get a flu test since Mike and the dude never got theirs. For shame! I took him to the minute clinic and poor Gib was getting sicker by the minute. He developed symptoms of meningitis. The clinic kicked us out. I called his regular dr and they could see us in an hour, they are within walking distance of the house, and so I figured it was better to do that than to go to the Vanderbilt clinic that the minute clinic said to go to. Gib had his meningitis vaccine so I figured no way, but turns out it only protects against a couple strains not all viral meningitis that's out there. In the next hour Gib declined rapidly. I had to help him out of bed, he was beside himself with pain, and he started showing signs of mental confusion. I was starting to show signs of freaking out. He had textbook symptoms of meningitis. In the minute drive to the dr, I debated going to the ER instead. I got him in to see the dr immediately when I got there. She thought due to his ability to move his neck, although it was painful, it probably wasn't but he had to go to the ER for tests and pain relief they couldn't provide. So we got kicked out of the pediatricians and went to the hospital. The only benefit I could see was that they called ahead and we got straight in when we got there. Getting there was a nightmare. Gib couldn't walk by then so he was wheeled out in an office chair (wheelchair missing) and it was super rainy, and the nurse almost lost control of Gib's chair in the parking lot on a slight slope. I almost laughed but I was about to cry for my kid. Mike had just pulled into the lot and so he followed us to the hospital. Gib was fevered for hours while we were there at 103. Nothing brought it down. Flu and strep came back negative so we had to go with the spinal tap. Weird thing was that the second the dr took out spinal fluid, Gib was better! It could have been the extra drugs he had then but it sure seemed like he just needed some pressure taken out. The fluid was clear, tests came back negative for meningitis too. In another hour he dropped to a 101. We were discharged soon after that. Gib slept for the next 18 hours and felt fine from then on.

As a matter of fact, he made it to the Model UN convention the next day after that. I was kinda nervous to send him off for 3 days but he seemed fine. All went well, and Gib had alot of prayers over him that worked wonders. We'll never know exactly what happened with him. Funky Virus is the unofficial diagnosis.

Today Mariah has a big performance with her school chorus. I helped set up for it this afternoon. We are about to leave now to get her back for dress rehearsal. We will enjoy a Madrigals Christmas dinner performance soon. She has been working really hard on it and is excited for us to go.

Mariah also just started allergy shots. She had her 3rd one this week after school today. I want to hit it fast and furious 3x a week and hope to get her well on the way by the time spring hits full force.