MOMMY, GET THIS PRINCESS FING OUT MY NOSE!

Just the typical week at the Rawlinson House. Mary Catherine has had some kind of virus this week. It has been a nightmare. It all began last Sunday night...she felt a bit warm when we put her to bed but she had been running and playing. I thought, she is just hot from playing. At approximately 2:15 am...I hear the pitter patter of little feet running down the hall. The next thing I know, there is a little booty crossing my head. As every good mother would do at this point, I reach up and check her head for some reason. She is burning up. We wake everyone up to find the ear tempy thing and sure enough her fever is at 102. We find the motrin, give it to her and the fever drops. The next morning by 9am the fever is back at 102. This same process continues until Wednesday night when she throws up all over her bed and then ours.

By Thursday, MC and I have been cooped up in the house for 4 days non-stop. She has not shown any signs of a runny nose, a cough or other symptoms. She only feels bad when the fever is above 101. But we can't go to school with fever---so we are TOGETHER! Around 10am Mary Catherine is full steam ahead and I can see the fever is about to go up. I am worried sick but the doctors office says..."there is nothing to worry about, give motrin and tylenol. If the problem persist longer than 1 week call us back." Well, at approximately 11am, she crawls up in my lap and says "Mommy, I not feel good." I grab the thermometer and sure enough the fever is climbing. I give the motrin but doesn't work. We hit 101, 102, 103, 104. I begin to panic.

My house keeper who is also a nursing assistant was at the house cleaning. I ask her what she thought. She says, you need to get her in a bath and try to stop the temp from climbing before you put her in the car. We put her in the tub...fever still climbing 104.3. I dry her off and put some pj's on her. I decide I am taking her to the hospital. I have to put on clothes.

I take Mary Catherine into the master bed room with me and sit her on the bed with her Cinderella doll. I begin to get myself dressed. Earlier in the day MC wanted to put Cinderella' s WILD hair up. We used one of Mary Catherines hairbows with little blue crystal beads on the end to do this. As I am pulling a clean shirt over my head, I look up and Mary Catherine is standing there on the bed looking me in the eye saying calmly, "Mommy, can you get this princess FING out of my nose?" I look at her and I am thinking I have not heard this right. I say..."What?" She says,"The princess FING is in there." I look carefully and there in her sinus...is a blue crystal bead off of the hair bow which is now gracing Cinderella's head. I TOTALLY FREAK OUT!

I grab Mary Catherine and take her into the bathroom where the house keeper is working. Brenda drops everything and begins to help. I explain that there is a bead in her nose. I find the tweezers and try to get the bead out with them. Doesn't work! Brenda suggest the BLUB from the hospital. I leave Brenda with her while I go to find the bulb. While I am gone, Brenda attempts to teach Mary Catherine to blow her nose. I think......she can't figure that out...I have tried a million times in the last three years to make her blow her nose...she isn't going to blow. I get back with the bulb and we try that. It just isn't strong enough to pull the little bead out. Brenda suggest getting a flash light and trying the tweezers again. Once again, I leave MC with Brenda and begin to search for a flash light. While I am gone, Brenda is once again trying the nose blowing thing. I am thinking...what a waste of time, she is never going to blow her nose! When I finally locate a flashlight and make my way back to the bathroom, Brenda presents me with a small blue crystal bead in a Kleenex. My child has blown her nose!

Needless to say, I didn't let her out of my sight again and we went straight to the doctors office. The whole way there, I am asking..."Why did you put that in your nose?" She never answered. I guess she wanted to see if it would fit. Dr. Weaver Whitehead discussed with Mary Catherine how putting things in our nose can hurt us. He also told her she was lucky that it came out because if he had to get it out we would have had to get a shot or go to the hospital. I don't think she is going to be putting anything else in her nose. Anyway, he then checked her and seems she had a virus. It was like strep throat (but it wasn't strep). There is nothing they can do except continue the Motrin/Tylenol regimen. The next few days were rough, we had awful night sweats. Finally, seven days after this awful virus began it was over.

I learned one thing from this experience.....a FING is a bead!

A 3 YEAR OLD PRINCESS PARTY!

Today we had my 3rd birthday party! It was so much fun! There were a ton of my friends in attendance. Some of those who attended included: Tanner, Ansleigh and Jase Epps, Tucker & Charlie Mac Toman, Clint & Ellie Parks, Robbie & Taylor Jordan, Riley Barfield, Grace Lynch, Gracen Richardson, Tallon Goff, Chapman White, RJ & Margaret Lee, Hampton, John Hudson and Sully Epps, Jayce McLaughlin, Krista Mainard, Lauren Stokes, Jack and Anna Sansbury. Family in attendance were- Gaga, Meme, Mel, PopPop, Aunt Pam, Sissy, WUB, Aunt Carol Anne, Uncle Larry, Cousins Liza & Clint, Cousin Ashley and Christyn. My godparents Aunt Flo and Uncle Jay were there too. My Jen Jen was a big help to Mommy. Emily came to help out also. We held the party down in the Effingham ARP Church Family life Center. It was a great place to let us run WILD! I had been asking Mommy since our trip to Disney a few months ago if I could have a princess party? All I have told Mom that I wanted for my Birthday was a jumpy thing and a pink cake. Mommy and Daddy made sure those things were covered. We had a cake that was in the shape of a castle and it was 100% neon pink. It had lots of princesses on it! We also had a jumpy castle blown up inside the building for my friends and I to play in. (Shusshhh--->Once every one left, Mommy and Aunt Flo got in the jumpy castle and played with me. We had so much fun! teheheheee ! Uncle Jay told Aunt Flo the jumpy castle thing wasn't for Adults! Ha!- We showed him!) I had this misconception that Mommy and Daddy bought this jumpy castle for me to have and keep. I simply could not understand when we had to take it back. Mommy explained that it was like the library books and we were just borrowing. I really do not like the borrow concept! BUMMER! My friends and I really had a ball jumping and playing in the castle. I am going to ask for one of those from Santa next year. Mommy used all of my princess costumes and accessories to decorate the tables. We had balloons, karoke machine, and princess stuff to play with. Mommy called the party totally unstructured play time. She said that this is the best kind of play for little people my age. We all played so hard and had so much fun. RJ Lee (my best buddy) was infatuated with my princess dolls, costumes and shoes. One day, when we are much older and he thinks he is so "cool", I will remind him of of this! My mommy has photos for me to prove it-HEHEHE! There were sooo many presents! My goodness, if it has a princess on it. . . I now own it. I even have a princess harp and bike. Yes, I got a big girl princess bike from my Aunt Pam. I can't wait to try it out! I officially think I have everything there is in princess "STUFF". What a magical 3rd Birthday for me! Thank you to everyone who came and shared this special day with me!