After such a splendid and relaxing weekend at the beach, it was inevitable that re-entering the real world would be a sluggish transition.  But even with Russ out of town, our week was going great–until Wednesday night when I went in to check on Theo and found him running a 103 degree fever.

I took the other two to school the next morning and headed off to the pediatrician with Theo, knowing full well he had strep. He was duped into enduring the throat culture by a nurse who tickled him to make him laugh and open his mouth.  Poor guy; that was pretty unfair. An hour and a half later, we were checking out of the pediatrician’s office when my phone rang; it was the nurse at Tucker’s school saying she had him in her office.

Round II, here we come. Tucker’s complaint? His ear had hiccups. The doctor confirmed this–his eardrum was covered with little bubbles that were full of fluid and were rupturing.

We left our second pediatrician’s visit of the day with yet another prescription. We now have about a gallon of amoxicillin sitting in our fridge.

It wasn’t the most exciting way to spend my 41st birthday.

But amoxicillin is a wonder drug and everyone perked up in 24 hours, thank goodness.

At one point on Friday morning, I peeked into a suspiciously quiet living room to find Theo decorating the Easter Tree.  My grandmother loved her some holiday decorating, that’s for sure. She also had a thing for bunny-rabbits that rivals Tucker’s; her collection of rabbits–95% of which are made of insanely fragile materials and which are specifically placed around his room–makes Tucker so happy. One of the many [often random and quite funny] decorations I have from her house is an Easter Tree, which has to be the most hilarious thing ever.  Who on earth thought to do a smash-up of Christmas with Easter?

The boys and I hauled up Mama B’s cache of Easter stuff on Ash Wednesday, but I’d left the Easter Tree in its box and was likely going to take it back downstairs…until sweet Theo discovered it.

Theo still believes in his original Christmas decorating mantra of “the more, the merrier” and proceeded to use only one branch for all of the ornaments.  Every. Last. One.

I know somewhere up in heaven, Mama B. is looking down and smiling at the little boy who loves her funny Easter Tree as much as she did.

The rest of Theo’s morning off from school was spent stomping puddles and doing some serious tricycle riding. It was such a relief to see him feeling better.

these great red boots? worth every penny…

So we’re back to good health here (except for Henry, who lost a tooth last night). And we’re back to a full house; Russ returned from a work trip last night, prizes in tow for the little men. It’s a chilly, sunny Saturday in Atlanta, and we get to spend the morning at the ballpark, watching Jack and Tucker practice a sport they love.

And tonight, we’ll finally celebrate my birthday with dinner out with the boys.  It’s going to be worth the wait.