Fireworks

I haven't quite graduated to Sleep Deprivation Stage 5, or Hallucination Stage, yet. Child Six has improved greatly. Either the teeth aren't quite ready to come in or he wasn't teething at all.
On the other hand, Oldest Child seems to have Strep Throat again (I'm not diagnosing, but that's what it looks like). That would be the second time in three months. She has some seriously big tonsils, so if this keeps up she might need them removed. Poor thing.

Saturday was fun, despite the illnesses. We went yard sale-ing in the morning, avoiding all the necessary cleanup in the house, and then went swimming at the neighborhood pool in the evening. That was my first time to the pool this summer. It was great, even carrying Child Six, who was much less terrified of the water than I thought he would be. He screams when I put him in the bath, but he loved kicking the water with his feet in the kid's pool. Child Four, whose injuries and leg brace prevent swimming, got a dollar to spend at the snack bar. She was happy.

After the pool closed it was time to put together a picnic for the fireworks. Our city was having a celebration and we'd rather attend those fireworks than the big July 4th fireworks. It's less crowded, we can get home within minutes rather than sitting for hours in a parking lot or on congested city streets, and the fireworks are still really big. Oldest Child was feeling really ill by that point, though, and Six was just so tired he was on the verge of melting down. We decided I would stay home with Oldest and Six, and Husband took the rest of the kids to the park for the fireworks and picnic.

After they left I put Six down for bed and Oldest went to watch a movie in her room. I spent a glorious two hours alone watching a British period drama and eating what I could find out of the fridge for dinner. It's so rare that I have time like that with no interruptions, no pressing responsibilites (because even if I slack off and don't do what I need to I still have all the pressing responsibilites, like dinner, laundry, etc., that just can't be ignored). The kids were being fed at the park and would just go to bed when they got home. It was nice.

Husband, on the other hand, lugged the cooler full of dinner and all the kids to the park, found a spot, and then missed half the fireworks because the show started minutes after they sat down. He was trying to dole out sandwiches and chips so the kids would have something to eat before they went to bed. Child Five, who had fallen asleep on the way to the park, was cranky and obstinate. Husband bribed him with a light saber, which helped restore Five's good will and happiness. Then, after the show, he lugged them all back to the car and found a less-crowded street to travel. They got home at 11:30, the kids asleep. He carried Five in and we took off his shoes and put him in his bed. The girls crawled gratefully into bed and were asleep in seconds. Then Husband put all the food in the cooler away and we went to bed.

In the night, Child Three woke with a terribly sore throat. I opened my eyes long enough to measure some medicine for her, then sent her to the couch to read because she couldn't sleep. She slept there until 10 this morning. I just kept everyone home from church because I didn't know who was sick and who wasn't, but Child Two decided to go after the first hour. I'm really proud of her. I just wish she'd remembered to brush her hair before she took off.
I've got no funny in me. I'm just too tired. I'm signing off.

Today's Six Word Memoir: Happy smiling baby makes me grateful.