My poor baby

Little Rose is sick... and has been on and off for the entire month of March. She started getting really sick late last week. My mama alarms were going off like crazy, and I was about to take her to the ER when I decided to call the doctor instead, who gave us some great advice and told us to take her to the ER right away if she got worse. She didn't get worse, so we scheduled an appointment for the next morning. She took a throat culture and it came back positive. She was on amoxicilin from Friday afternoon onward. She refused to take it, (even trying to force it down the back of her mouth didn't work-- she managed to spit some out every single time! Plus it was traumatic, for both Rose and me) so finally we got it into some Tang and she'd drink it up that way.

Sunday, Dave and I played tag team at church, with me going to Sacrament Meeting and Dave going to Sunday School and Priesthood Meeting. After church, we noticed Rose would not turn her head. I started to get very nervous and ended up calling the on-call pediatrician, who said it didn't sound like meningitis because she was still up and playing around.

We took her in to the doctor's again this morning, and the pediatrician pointed out a HUGE lump on her neck that I hadn't noticed before. She apparently has a swollen gland, and is at risk for an abscess. The pediatrician put her on a stronger antibiotic (and one for Lacy, too, since Lacy's been coughing all month long and has been exposed to the strep throat anyway) and told us to draw around the lump to make sure it doesn't grow. The ONLY reason we aren't in the hospital now is because she is so happy and chipper today, so it's obvious she's improving at this point. She's been playing and having fun, with only minor reminders that she is sick.

I took some pictures of the girls outside on the swing yesterday when some friends stopped by and didn't notice Rose's huge bulging neck. How the heck could I miss that? Probably because she wouldn't let me near it. She also slept weird last night-- almost on her face with two fluffy pillows so she could be elevated. There were not many positions that were comfortable for her last night.

So yesterday's photo:

Seriously, how could I miss that?

Playing in the house (please don't judge me because my house is messy... I've been trying unsuccessfully this month to stay on top of things, but with so many illnesses in our family, I'm just happy to have clean clothes and dishes!). This is the way she held her head all afternoon and evening. She did not move her head at all.

We circled around the swelling today. Look at the inner lines. Dave accidentally drew too far out and revised his borders later on. It looks like a sideways A now.

Finally, we noticed today that Lacy has bangs. She did not get bangs in her haircut earlier in the year. We have no idea when she cut her bangs. I know she trimmed her hair a couple weeks ago at my sister's house, but that was just an inch or two. This is more than an inch or two.

We are really mad at her for this, but at the same time, it actually looks pretty cute. Her new bangs are usually brushed to the side, so they blended in with the rest of her hair. She must have cut them sometime recently because she's been obsessed with scissors lately. She cut the ribbons short on my scriptures (just to the ends of the pages, not super short, thankfully!) and has been cutting whatever she can find lately.

She has had her scissor privileges revoked for the time being. Now I have to go through the house and FIND them all so she won't have access!