Emily woke up from a nap flushed and feverish. Poor pooky,

Emily and Ana (and now me) are sick with a horrendous cold which I was sure was the flu, but I went to the doctor today and apparently it’s a virus that’s not the flu. How does he know it’s not the flu? Because (according to him) if it was the flu I would’ve been so miserable that I wouldn’t have driven myself to the doctor. I don’t know, I’m feeling pretty miserable…

This plague started last week when Emily threw up at my sister-in-law’s house while Jim was holding her. Apparently she’d been cranky all night (I stayed home for once) and he’d had to hold her, so she fell asleep on his shoulder then woke up and pulled an exorcist-like spew. So he took her home and naturally our attention was on Emily, but Ana was complaining of leg pain which gave me pause since she said it was in both legs (usually growing pains are in one leg).

So anyway, fast forward to the next day, both of them woke up with a fever! And not just a little fever, mind you. Ana’s was 102 and Emily’s was 100.9, and they both went up from there. That night Ana spiked a temperature of 105 and I dubbed it the flu, and the entire week has been a series of fevers, mucous and tears. Oh my! Then my legs started hurting a couple of days ago and voila! Instant sick.

Help me….

Here’s a shot of Emily with her “new” Leapster, which is actually Ana’s old Leapster that Emily inherited because Ana got a Nintendo DS for Christmas. Don’t you love her 80′s rockstar haircut? Her new thing is to run screaming from me whenever I try to brush her hair.

I haven’t had much time to update the blog this winter. It’s not that I’m insanely busy or anything. Well, no more than usual, it’s just that I haven’t taken a lot of pictures and it’s really easy to procrastinate. Plus there’s not much cleft-related stuff going on. Emily’s speech is excellent in the sense that we can understand about 100% of what she says, although I do worry when I hear other kids her age speak and their speech seems different – somehow more mature. Her speech makes her sound younger, plus she’s very petite (er, short) and people tend to think she’s younger than she is.

Emily has her annual cleft team appointment in April, or possibly May – I still have to schedule it. I’m eager to hear what Dr. Cutting (her surgeon) and Grayson (her orthodontist) have to say about her progress. I’m also worried about this next phase of Emily’s journey (drumroll….) major orthodontia. There’s nothing like convincing a 4-year-old that it’s necessary to wear headgear every night in order to pull her upper jaw forward. Woo freaking hoo.

I have high hopes that Emily will comply. She’s very reasonable for a crazy 3-year-old. She also seems kind of worried about her teeth. She keeps asking me why she has missing teeth and where her teeth are. I don’t know if this is because her cousins both have missing teeth and Ana is practically obsessed with getting a loose tooth (so far no luck on that front), or if she’s finally noticed that she’s a little different.

Playing the Leapster is serious business.

I think I need better lighting. Oh well, at least you can hear the cuteness.