Rash info UPDATED!

OK so we went to the Dr's and Malachy was diagnosed with Hand, foot, and mouth disease. However I am seriously starting to doubt the diagnosis because from what I read the rash is the last stage and only last 1-2 days and we are already on day 3. Also the rash usually is in your mouth, the bottoms of your feet and the palms of your hands (sometimes on your butt). Malachys rash is not on the bottom of his feet at all. It is all over his legs, his tummy, and his back! It is in his mouth and on the palms of his hands. The rash doesn't seem to bother Malachy at all which is good and pretty much rules out chicken pox and measles. Will see what happens. Hand foot and mouth disease is contagious through saliva, diaper changing, and blister juices...hmmm! (his bumps have not blistered at all!)


The Dr. has no idea what I have! Yea! It could be an adult form of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. Usually rashes are more itchy for adults. However my rash looks nothing like Malachy and it is not on the palms of my hands, feet, or mouth! Also it's more of a childrens illness and it is unlikely for adults to get it. It could be an allergic reaction to the medicine I started taking however it has been 5 days now and usually your body adapts buy now. Also it could be hives from stress, we really don't know. Neither Mark or Kim have it so it is very unlikely to be contagious. The Dr did put me on a kick butt dose of Prednisone, a steroid, for the next 5 days to see if that clears it up! The side effects are being anxious and overly emotional! Yea, just what I needed! =) Also it weakens your immune system so I have to stay away from sick people. I don't know what that means in terms of Malachy she didn't really explain that one to me! My rash is pretty stinking itchy so it makes me sad. =(


Also a prayer request of much greater importance is that Emily has been admitted to the hospital. This is good news. The more that gets done the sooner Emily will be on the road to recovery! I think today will mark day 3! Which means Emily will be home soon! Continue to pray all goes well and for Crystal to have comfort!

Side note: in re-reading this e-mail in replace of the word could I put good... twice. Because they sound the same in my head. Isn't that crazy. This sort of thing happens to me all the time! I'm either extremely dislexic or I have a brain tumor!

Break

Life has gotten to be a little too stressfull for me as of late so I have decided to take a break from all things. I won't be blogging or e-mailing for a week or two. I have taken the week of work and as much as possible, if it is optional, I'm not gonna do it. If appear to be a bit reclusive or avoident that is why. See ya all in a couple weeks!

Steph

The Arts Conference EDITED!

Hmmm...well it was fun! I don't really have the energy to write about it right now but it was a good time! Thanks to Mom, Kim, LoLo, and CRYSTAL!!! for making it possible for us to all go and for giving Malachy an equally GREAT week! I didn't get many pictures because I hate feeling like a tourist at my own church or job...whatever. But here are a few I really liked. I wish I had some of the Delerious concert because it was great!

Happy Birthday Noah

(ok so I know this picture has Noah flicking us all off... but...he would like that and Malachy seems to be amused)
Noahs Birthday was yesterday! We all really miss him. There has been so much going on lately that has got me thinking about Noah. Last week we went to a baseball game with work and at the end they had a big fireworks show done to 3 patriotic songs. As cliche as it all was, I was in tears thinking about Noah. I was so grateful for the sacrifice that he and so many others make so I can live in freedom. Then Kim and I went to a Delerious concert this week at the Arts Conf. We went to the same concert around this time last year. That week last year Noah was having a particularly hard week and they played a song called,"every little thing is going to be alright" I loved the song so much I made a copy and sent it to Noah and think of him every time I hear it. Of course yesterday was Noah's birthday and I wished we could be celebrating with him. I hope he got his Zombie movies! Today at Church there was a "car show" and some Army guys were there with Army trucks and a swanky air conditioned tent! So of course we were thinking of Noah. We took some pictures of Malachy with the trucks. (the coolest one was a truck that had a full blown editing system, live recording equipment, and the satellite possibility to send it anywhere in the world STUFFED inside! It was 1 of only 6 in the Army! Sweet!)Anyways the point is we have all been thinking of Noah a ton and missing him! We love you Noah!

Malachy is making his "oohhhh thats cool" face!

Hmmmm...

Ok so I have checked everyones blogs about a million times today! It would appear that I'm really bored with nothing to do. Unfortunately that's not the case. The Art's Conference starts tomorrow. Kim is attending and Mark and I are working/attending. That means we had to assemble a top notch team of Babysitters!! Lauren (LoLo) is taking the first 2 days! (she is very brave!) and Mommo and Crystal are splitting the last 2 days. Mommo in the mornings and Crystal in the afternoon! I feel extremely lucky to have such great people to leave Malachy with! So anyhoo, in an effort to not frighten them off from ever babysitting again I tried to get the house looking decent! This my friends is not an easy task with 3 cats and a baby! So I kept finding myself at the computer hoping one of you would have posted something so amazing that I could justify taking a break from scrubbing cat smells out of things! =) The saddest part was no one had posted anything all day!! Until just now I went to Sara's blog and she bought a house!! Woo Hooo!!

The Little Gym post because Crystal told me to post again!

So this week marks the last week of our Little Gym class! We are going to bring a video camera and tape it for prosperity! I'm not sure if we will sign up again because it's $80 a month and if you have not caught on yet we are experienceing finanial woes of the major variety! If we can figure it out it would be great to keep going because Malachy LOVES it and has learned so much! It has made him super brave! He tries to do somersaults on the pavement! Yikes! We're so proud! =)

Hmmmm....

Malachy went to the Dr. yesterday because I thought he was sick. He had 3 days of fever! The Dr. decided he was well enough for shots that have made him super grumpy! Grrrr! Also Dr. said we need to stop giving him milk bottles at night and get him off his pacifier or he will suffer a lifetime of dental consequences that will be my fault! Hmmmm...this is NOT going to be easy...as you can see Malachy has a strong affection for his "green thing"!

In other news....I have so much to say but I don't really feel like saying anything! I feel extremely vulnurable right now and my feelings are getting hurt pretty easily. It might be best for everyone if I retreat to my bedroom and hide under the covers watching the Firefox DVD's Arnez lent us! I will say I tried on my wedding dress the other day because Kim is painting me a picture! It is actually a reproduction of a portrait we saw in a book and loved. She is going to try to put my likeness into the painting but it won't actually be me. So I put on my dress and she took some photos for reference. It was fun. My dress still fit! Malachy thought it was a fun dress too...he tried to pull off the beads! Good times!

YES! My Kid really is that cute!

I miss my favorite!

I'm currently at work and I just got off the phone with Malachy and had to go outside to cry! I'm a whole mess of emotions right now. I feel sad, fustrated, angry, selfish, guilty, and ungrateful all at once. I feel extremely sad that I can't be with my child right now.

I feel angry at all the people who say that working mothers choose to do so to support extravagant lifestyle choices. Do you know what I have to give up and how much it hurts! Mark and I do NOT live extravagantly. We share 1 car. We have 4 people living in what is technicaly a 1 bedroom home. We go on dates once every other month! I do NOT choose to work so that Mark and I can eat out at restraunts once a week and buy $80 jeans! That is NOT what's happening in my life and YES I do get offended by this topic I take it very personal. I have been hurt by things people have said that are extremely hypocritical and I'm still angry.

I'm sad I can not spend my day at home with my son. I'm sad that people treat me like I couldn't handle being home with him all even if I wanted too. I'm a good Mom! The reality of the situation is when I'm home now my mind is haunting me with the things I have yet to do at work. I'm distracted by the laundry, dishes, cleaning, bill paying that has yet to be done. It's not like I can just come home and devote myself to Malachy there are a hundred other things I have to do while I try and spend time with him. That is why it's so challanging for me. Not because I'm afraid to be with him or I can't handle it. It's overwhelming all the things I have to make sure get done. I'm tired of people judging my parenting and I'm tired of believing them!

I feel guilty that I have these feelings when I know I should just be thankful for the amazing job I have! I love my job, it dosen't even feel like work to me. I have fun doing it everyday and get to work with people I really care about doing something I enjoy. I'm so blessed.

I think this is just going to be an ongoing struggle in my life. Today is just harder then most and I needed to vent. I miss Malachy!