Sometimes the Perceived Sparkle is Just Gunk in Your Eye...

Hello and welcome to the end of Day 4 of Being Trapped Alive.

Really, it's Day 5 but since the kids escaped for a little while Tuesday and we did make it to the gym yesterday, I'm subtracting those two afternoons to equal a full four days.

You're welcome for my authentic transparency.

And you're also welcome for the use of "authentic" and "transparency" in the same sentence.  It's like I'm a politician.  Only the opposite.  Since I have negative 126% interest in politics.

On Sunday, it's started raining.  Crazy amounts of rain.  Being the brilliant parents we are, we entered the church building with nae a hat nor umbrella between us.

Likely because what we did bring wasn't at all contributing to our competency as parents.  Or humans, really.

Chris brought his nasty cold and exhaustion from working 80 hours each of the past three weeks.  I brought my own lingering cold (which, yes, I gave to Chris but totally not on purpose) and exhaustion from being a single parent for the past three weeks.  So when we left worship service and discovered the monsoon coming down outside, we did what our meager functional brains could come up with...

We ran for it.

All four of us got soaked to the bone.  Thus we have been cold ever since.

The rain turned to sleet that afternoon.  Which froze overnight and left us officially iced in.  The ice melted SOME on Monday afternoon and then froze again that night.  Leaving us iced in again on Tuesday.  Chris braved the roads and took the kids out for lunch and haircuts while I slept off my "cabin fever."  Which Chris was kind enough to tell Aubrey Kate I had.

She's been asking me if I still have a fever ever since.

I escaped for a little while to gather up a house warming basket for one of Chris' colleagues.  They just bought their first house.  I think that's kinda a big deal.

Besides the fact gift-giving is my love language.

Yesterday, Rhys and I got Aubrey Kate off to school before the snow started falling.  It was super pretty.  For about an hour.  Then it turned to rain.  Rhys and I stayed indoors regardless.

(Please see previous post on my children's aversion to wearing coats.)

After quiet time yesterday, we loaded up and headed to the Kids' Park and gym.

When we got in the car, Rhys had a "sleepy" in his eye.  I didn't think much of it.  And during the seven minute drive, he did complain about a boo-boo in his eye.  Kept asking me to take it out.

Listen, in true 2.5 year old behavior, he frequently has boo-boos I need to kiss away.  99 out 100 times, I kiss them and he runs off perfectly fine.

This was, apparently, was the one time my kiss did not cure a single thing.

But my mind was completely focused on burning off at least two of the ENTIRE PAN OF BROWNIES I'd consumed during the days of Being Trapped Alive.

When I went to pick him up, he came running straight towards me at full speed screaming MOMMA like normal.  But even from across the room, I could see he was sportin' one super red eye.

Once he got closer, I saw the yellow goop oozing out of said red eye.

Yeah, so that repulsion you just felt reading that sentence doesn't even touch what my stomach did when I actually saw it.

I called Chris and the doctor.

This morning, he woke up...at both 2 am and 6 am...with goopy eye.  

He was a little off this morning.  We went through FIVE pairs of pants.  Because each pair he put on he said, "They're hurting my sparkle!"  While rubbing his knee.

Chris said, why are you trying to squelch his sparkle?

Because I'm pretty confident what he's actually seeing is yellow goop in his eye and not true sparkle.

I'd never squelch true sparkle.

Although, that's not true.  There's nothing about me that says "sparkle" so it's possible I might not recognize real sparkle when I see it.  But I do recognize true eye goop.

The doctor thinks he's got VIRAL pink eye.  Viral.  So he called in a prescription for some drops but said to give it 24 hours before we picked it up.  It could clear up on its own.

But tonight, the other eye is doing the yummy goopy thing.  In mass quantities.  So no idea what tomorrow will look like.

Other than it will be from within the walls of this house.

Day 5 of Being Trapped Alive.

Hopefully, there will be less goop and thus, less perceived sparkle.  One can hope.