A Hectic June

June was quite a month at the Hopkins household. We have just been going nonstop!
It turned out to be a busy month for us. Some of it planned and other parts unexpected. The month started out very well with Lindsay going to Cheer Camp. At the end of that week, the girls and I went to Corinth for a long weekend to go to their cousing Will's first birthday party. We had a lot of fun visiting with all of our family.
We came back and the next day my neices Kate and Sadie came to stay with us for a few days. They are 11 and 9, and Lindsay just adores them! They are so sweet playing with her. Here is a picture of Lindsay...this is pretty much how she looked the entire time they were here. She just watches them in awe. Gracie got in on the dressing up action too.


While they were here, we went to Chuck E. Cheese and swam a LOT! We also took them to the mall where Kate and Sadie insisted on doing the huge bungee trampoline thing that they have there. We tried to get Lindsay to do it, but she was not having it.



My parents picked up Kate and Sadie on Saturday so I got to at least see my dad on the weekend of Father's Day. We got to all go out to eat together.

The next week, my mom was going to come back with Kate and Sadie and keep my girls while I went to Southern Living at Home convention in Nashville. Mind you, this is the first time I have left my family in about a year and a half. Monday night, Gracie woke up in the middle of the night crying for some unknown reason. I went into Lindsay's room to turn her sound machine on, and she woke up wanting a hug. When I hugged her, she was burning up! Her temperature was 103 degrees. We got it down the next day, but by Tuesday night it was up again and Gracie had a fever too. So Wednesday we headed to the doctor's office where Gracie had an ear infection and even though Lindsay was tested for everything she had no infections just a virus they guessed. On the way home, we stopped at Target to get medicine and Chick-fil-a to get lunch. By the time we got home, Lindsay's fever was 105 degrees! Neither of my children have ever had a fever this high so I was slightly freaked out. We ate our Chick-fil-a nuggets with Lindsay soaking in the bathtub, Gracie in the exersaucer beside her, and me sitting on the potty checking Lindsay's temperature every two minutes to see if the Motrin and cool bath had done the trick yet. All during this time, my mom was on her way to Chattanooga so I could go to Nashville the next day (I had already called my brother and told him not to send Kate and Sadie). After naptime, we had to go to Walgreen's to get medicine for Lindsay. Well, Gracie got sick in the car in the drive-through. They really don't give you a lot of space to open the driver's side doors at Walgreens, but somehow I managed to hop out of the car and pull Gracie out. Luckily, by this time, my mom was with us so she could drive us home. It was quite an afternoon. Needless to say, I did not go to Nashville the next day. By Thursday though, they were doing somewhat better so I got up at 4:30 Friday morning and drove to Nashville and came back Saturday night after our Convention Gala. So much for my nice weekend away after a year and a half. Luckily, Gracie did hold off on the walking unitl I got back so I got to see her when she really started getting with it.
We thought that both girls were getting better, but on Wednesday I noticed that Gracie has some little red spots on her legs. We had been to Target (again) and out in the heat so I just thought it was a heat rash. I was helping at VBS everynight that week so I wasn't home when the girls went to bed, but Tanner said that there were a few more spots on Gracie's face now. Well, Wednesday night she woke up at midnight, and Tanner brought her downstairs to our room to drink some milk (this is not a normal occurence, but by this time Tanner and I were so tired we were resorting to giving her milk during the night). He said, "Let's look at her to see if the red spots have gotten worse." He turned on our bathroom light and cracked the door open. When I looked at Gracie's face, I about starting crying. She was so swollen and splotchy. She was obviously having an allergic reaction to her antibiotic. The night nurse finally called us back after almost two hours and told us that she would make it through the night and just take her to the doctor the next day. This is how she looked at midnight and how she looked the next morning. It was so pitiful.


She has finally recovered from that, and I was all set to go to Corinth this morning with the girls. Tanner and I have plans to go to Orange Beach next week for our first trip by ourselves in two years. I was going to stay until tomorrow or Sunday and then leave the girls with my parents for us to go. But Lindsay woke up this morning with a stomach bug! Can you believe it??? Something triggers sickness in my children when they know I am leaving. Hopefully, this will pass quickly and Gracie won't catch it. We haven't cancelled our plans yet, but it's looking like we will probably have to. I guess we'll see how the weekend progresses.
Sorry for such a long post. I suppose I just needed to vent a little bit. Hopefully, next week I will be posting pictures of Tanner and me at the beach!