.........more trick than treat for us.....

Well...Chloe was more than super excited about Halloween this year. I guess since she is a crazy school age kid now, the hype of holidays has an even greater affect on her. She decided several months ago that she wanted to be a cat for Halloween. I was totally up for this, since she already owned half of the outfit. (black dance leotard and tights) Anyway, I found a really cheap cat face mask and tail and she was so anxious to be able to wear the entire outfit. Well, the Friday before Halloween, she was able to wear her costume to school, but they weren't allowed to wear face masks. So I made her cat ears from a black headband that I already owned and then I glued crayon covered card stock ears to the head band. Not the best, but she loved them. I also painted her finger nails and toe nails black...which was AWESOME! (for her anyway)

(Spenser just HAD to be in the picture)

Spenser, Joul, Olivia, and I all went to Chloe's school Friday afternoon to Chloe's school Fall party. She was so excited to see us, even though we only made it to the last twenty minutes of the party. (I have actually found it quite difficult to balance the needs of the two younger kids to the needs of Chloe and parent at school activities)

As we were leaving the party with Chloe she was asked by one of her friends (and the mom) to come over and have a play date. What? My child is not old enough to go over to her school friend's house and play. I almost cried...but this was a huge milestone...it means she is growing up. We, of course, said yes and Chloe spent several hours (without her parents) playing at a friend's house. Weird...very weird.

Anyway, the next day on Saturday we went to her cousin's birthday party and then she went home with Joul's parents, AKA Nana and Pappy. Starting last year, when Chloe was four, Nana wanted to involve Chloe in the charity of Samaritan's Purse. She let Chloe pick out all of the toys to be put in the shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. Anyway, Halloween weekend was the second year Chloe was able to participate with her Nana. When they brought her back to us Sunday afternoon (just in time for our church's fall fest) they told us that she was complaining that her bottom hurt. We asked her about it, and she said it hurt when she went to the bathroom. However, she said she was fine and wanted to go to the Fall Fest and trick or treating.

This is when it becomes more trick than treat for us.....

We ended up leaving the fall fest early because Chloe was freaking out. Every time she had to use the restroom she screamed and cried and I just knew something was wrong. We rushed home and checked her temperature and it was a 103. She was shaking and was totally scared to use the restroom. We almost took her to the ER, but thankfully our pediatrician has an on call service and we were able to get some advice that helped over night until we could bring her into the office on Monday morning. It turns our that she had a severe UTI...when I say severe...I mean the worst case possible. We were relieved to receive a treatable diagnosis and immediately went home to introduce the antibiotics. However, at this point, Chloe was unwilling to take any medicine and whenever she tried...she would throw up EVERYTHING. So, the pediatrician sent in another antibiotic that would possibly taste better and thankfully it did (even though it was the most expensive antibiotic EVER). Although we were able to get Chloe to take the antibiotic, she still needed to take Tylenol to help her fever. This was impossible...she just wouldn't take it. We threatened her, coaxed her, begged her, forced her...and yet, she still refused. Tuesday evening I was at Walmart and I get a frantic phone call from Joul telling me that Chloe was complaining of a headache. He checked her temp and it was a 105.....bad....very very bad! He called the doctor as I rushed home. He threw her into a cold bath (which she HATED) and forced her to take some Tylenol. Thankfully, her temperature slowly began to decline and we avoided, yet again, a trip to the ER. I may have purchased several dollar store toys to entice her to take her medicine...I am not above bribery!

Well...she got better...slowly...but she got better. She was actually able to go back to school today (Thursday). God is amazing and He helped us through this. We had several scary moments, but His presence was always felt. Thankfully, we had many people praying for her recovery and praying for our strength.