What! No ear infection?.. and other news

Rylan and Caroline started runny noses right before Easter. What started as clear turned green and yellow (sorry to gross you out.) We went through another entire box of kleenexes. I thought they were near the end of it this week, but Caroline continued to run a fever and was acting crankier and not eating as well. She also broke out in a weird red rash on Tuesday morning. All the signs were pointing towards an ear infection and since it was Friday I decided not to wait any longer and take her to the doctor. I so love being able to call first thing in the morning and get her in the same day.
We saw a different doctor and his assistant, I assume a young doctor in training. She tried to show Caroline how she would listen to me first with the stethescope and then listen to Caroline. Rylan, watching the whole demonstration, came unglued. "Don't you do that to my mom! That's my mom, you can't listen to her." We were all a little shocked by his outburst. I tried to explain that it was okay, that it didn't hurt, that mommy gave the doctor permission to listen to her, but Rylan wouldn't relax until she stopped. I had seen this protective behavior a few times before, but this time even the doctor was amazed. After Caroline's exam was over the young doctor had a chat with Rylan and he warmed back up to her, stating, "I want to be a doctor when I grow up." Then later he told me he wanted to be a doctor or a "nurser" who takes care of babies. I won't have any problem encouraging him there!
So with all that drama, here were the high points: First, Caroline's ears were perfectly healthy. What a shocker! Even the doctor said with her history of ear infections, he would have lost the bet on this one. I guess this is one of the few times I was happy to pay for a doctor's visit that ended up being nothing but a virus. It was also encouraging to me to see that she could get a pretty nasty cold that didn't turn into an ear infection. Hopefully she is outgrowing that tendency and we won't have to worry about tubes.
Even Caroline's skin rash was related to the virus. Of course after being undressed, she went to scratching away, adding some lovely new slash marks to her back and neck. Poor kid. Her new word this week is "ii-ee", which means "itchy."
Second: Caroline weighed 26 lbs, a gain of 2 lbs. in just under 2 months. I was right about all that catch-up growth and her voracious appetite! It will be interesting to see the numbers again for her 18 month check-up in May.
The kids took great naps today and I had time to sew Caroline's baptism dress. It is a simple pillowcase design made with white eyelet fabric and lined also with white fabric. I made a mistake and didn't buy quite enough eyelet so the dress is a little more fitted than I originally planned. It still turned out very pretty, simple, and sweet. I don't know yet when our church has scheduled the next baptisms, hopefully soon so Caroline won't grow out of her dress before she has to wear it.
Charlton told me he was bringing home a special dinner tonight so I wouldn't have to cook,(another reason I had more time to sew). He surprised me with a dozen beautiful roses and my favorite pizza from Old Chicago's. What a treat! I was so ready to relax after a busy day with the kids when work called me at 7:15pm. All you nurses know that is never a good sign. Turns out there was a mistake (I'm 99% sure it wasn't mine) and I was on the schedule to work Friday night. I had written down Saturday and Sunday nights on my calendar and would never, ever have scheduled myself for three nights in a row. They were already one nurse short, so I had to stop everything, grab my stuff and rush off to work. So much for my relaxing evening...