Morella has been battling a fever all day. So far the highest has been 104.7 taken this evening at 8:00. Of course we called the doctor -- twice. First I did this afternoon when the two hours after a dose of tylenol her temperature went up almost two degrees and made an appointment for tomorrow morning at 10. Plenty of time to see if anything changes between then and now. The second time was tonight when Tim called. We got all the same information - give motrin and make sure it goes down. Weather through it. Kids get high fevers and it's normal. They also consider a fever of 104.7 to be only moderately high.

It's going to be a long night. Instead of foolishly going to bed at 12 like I did last night and waking at 2, 4, and then 5 for the day, I am going to go bed by 10. I am finally starting to feel the tiredness now. There is something about having a sick kid that gives you energy.

I think having a sick kid is one of the hottest fires imaginable in the tempering of parenthood. Sure there are the sleepless nights and exhaustion and uncontrollable and sometimes embarrassing tantrums, vomiting, spit up, poop and pee accidents. However, the most frustrating aspect to parenthood for me so far is when they get sick. Then you have all of the above plus a distinct feeling of helplessness. You just want to make it better but can't.

I got Morella some dvd's from the library to help cheer her up when she is feeling like watching some TV -- two Melmo (Elmo) dvd's and a story book type thing with Goodnight Moon. We just watched it a little while ago and it made me sleepy. One of the stories was How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight. I gotta say, this kid is pretty good natures because both Tim and I thought it was a creepy, scary story!

I also got her some subway cold cut trio meat, a snickerdoodle and ginger ale. She has a full cup of crushed ice with enough soda to fill in the spaces in her extra special Boppa (grandma) sippy cup with a straw. Now if only we can keep the Doctor (she renamed Arkham the cat) and Meyo (Migo) out of her room and off her bed. Especially that darn Meyo.

I hope she feels better tomorrow. What a rotten start to a birthday weekend.

PS. The fever did go down after the last Motrin dose at 8:10. It was down to 101.6 at 8:50. we are mostly worried about how high it will be before the next motrin dose.