surviving chicken pox

Oh my poor wee babies! Rebe and Joa have had a serious dose of chicken pox. 

I knew that with Rebe in particular it would not be a pleasant experience. She is so sensitive anyway and her skin is definitely her most important and delicate sense organ. At times over the past few days she has literally been pacing the floors, screaming and shouting and crying. Begging for me to make it stop, saying she will give anything just for 2 minutes of feeling ok. 

The first day was pretty ok, the spots scattered and blistery. 

St Nicholas had been in the night which considerably cheered spirits:

We spent the day at home making Christmas presents:

We thought we'd turn our hand to being sweetie makers this year so we chose 3 recipes from this book:

First we made an army of coconut mice.

Rebe was starting to feel very tired so we popped her bit into the fridge while she went to lie down. The boys and I carried on until we had no mixture left.

 Then while the boys were sleeping in the afternoon Rebe and I made toffee:

and fudge.

The day after that was the half marathon (did I tell you I ran a half marathon? ;-P) and the kids were just too poorly to leave the house so Andy came here to look after them. That night Rebe got about 2 hours sleep, so then next day we were all exhausted. Andy came over again and cheered them a little, then took to boys out for a little walk, which helped a lot.

 In all the desperate itching and sore tummies and temperatures we found a few wee islands of relief:

a package from Germany with love

calamine lotion, lavender and baking soda baths

Books! Oh how we have read, it was, for Rebe, better than any cream or ointment or medicine. All the while we were reading the itching eased so we read both of these lovely books cover to cover (twice) and really enjoyed them...even at 3.45am!

 hoovering helps :-)

 This morning I knew Rebe was feeling so much better, she came running down stairs and sang out 'good morning!' After breakfast she headed off upstairs to do some crafting. If there is ever a sign of feeling good it's the return of creativity!

 So this afternoon we carried on with our Christmas presents:

 wrapping them up in little bundles and tie-ing them with yarn

 These are our finished presents complete with little tags made from last years recycled Christmas cards.

Joa is still really struggling, he has them all in his eyes and in his mouth. I hope though that he has a good sleep and will feel a bit better tomorrow...but for now next week is cancelled :-)