Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Fat Tuesday

Today was supposed to be perfect. Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast...


...followed by some cute little Mardi Gras mask crafts before lunch.






Well. As you can see, Dylan and Meghan had a great time with theirs. Unfortunately, this is pretty much how Caitlyn spent the remainder of her day:


My kids have all been battling a bad case of the flu, beginning with Meghan, progressing to Dylan, and now finally on to Caitlyn. She, in particular, has been having a very rough go of it (crying even in her sleep) and today I was unable to keep her temperature below 102 degrees despite repeated doses of Tylenol and a bath. She woke up from her nap only to fall asleep again on the living room sofa, and, despite the high volume of Dylan and Meghan's boisterous play, she slept until just a few minutes before Darren's return home from work tonight. Happily, she was feeling a little better, well enough even for a little dinner, and she was able to enjoy a serving of the traditional King Cake I made today. (Here you can also see the mask she made earlier, the blue one on the left, that I was never able to photograph her with.) Despite having slept most of the day, she went to sleep easily again tonight (as did Dylan and Meghan, who never did have naps today), and I can only pray that she is doing much better tomorrow.


I can't believe that Ash Wednesday is already upon us. I struggle to ready my heart for the coming days of Lent; my selfish tendencies are a beast to tame. Perhaps it's be a blessing that my children have all fallen ill right now, when I am most seeking to expand myself? I would, after all, serve them--as I should Him--with my very life. "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."

4 comments:

Blair said...

I hope Caitlyn is feeling better today! We've been battling the flu over here too. Now the 7 wk old has it :(

That king cake looks really yummy!

Jen said...

That king cake looks awesome! Can you post the recipe? My husband is from Baton Rouge, and I never know how to make king cakes (they don't sell very good ones here up north). He loves them. Reminds him of growing up. I hope everyone feels better. It can be hard to prepare yourself for the season when the little ones are ill (and you're pregnant too). Christmas found three out of my four kids (including the baby) throwing up. It started Christmas Eve, we had a small break on Christmas Day, then it started up again. Then after the flu, Maia and the baby got a wicked cold with a double ear infection, and required breathing treatments for two weeks. I was so upset because I too had the selfish tendencies. Mine were to celebrate the season the way I wanted. Alas, His plans are better than ours, right? My prayers are with you today. God Bless!

Sherri said...

I had one with the flu..Patrick. We caught it within the first 24 hours of the fever and got Tamiflu for him. That stuff is amazing..cuts down on the severity and length of it. I also took it as a preventive measure and didn't get it. We were able to keep Patrick isolated enough to prevent the other two from getting it as well.
I hope everyone is well there soon...the flu is so hard!!
I loved the masks!!!

Jessica Gordon said...

Hi Melissa! I really enjoyed this post! (I found it while looking for a King Cake recipe to share on Catholic Cuisine.) Thank you for the inspiration! Would you mind if I added the photo of your cake in the recipe post, linking to you of course?!