Sick sick sick

It all started on Christmas Eve when Dylan puked before heading to bed.  Today, two weeks later, we are still fighting sicknesses, still fighting running noses and still stuck inside the house fighting germs.  This week my calendar was full, I thought we were going to finally get out of the house and play with friends (which Dylan and Will ask to do every single day), head back to school and get back on schedule but our sickness had other ideas.  Dylan started complaining yesterday of his "bones hurting" and pointing at his cheek.  I thought it was nothing until he woke up twice in the middle of the night crying in pain. So this morning, upon noticing swelling, we headed back to the doctor and immediately the doctor insisted he has mumps? WHAT? (I seriously was thinking it was going to be a trip to the doctor for him to tell me he must have hit it on something to make it swell and a waste $150.  I guess I'm glad I went with my gut and took him in even though I definitely questioned it.) Anyway, who gets mumps these days with the MMR vaccination?  And how did we possibly get it considering we haven't been out of the house (besides the grocery store) since Christmas Eve.  Ironically, the MMR is the "scariest" shot in my opinion and I had delayed this one upon fears of many things (autism included) but Dylan was vaccinated last year after turning 3.  Unfortunately, Will has not been vaccinated and Lauren isn't old enough to be vaccinated...so we're waiting for confirmation from blood tests and hoping for the best.  And anyone who knows Dylan, knows he is HIGH drama in anything he does so getting blood drawn from him was quite the experience.  He was crying and screaming before they even started because he started asking 100's of questions (in typical Dylan fashion) and the blood draw lady actually started answering them instead of giving him vague answers like I had been doing.  
Dylan: "Mommy, how are they going to get the blood out of my arm?"   Me: "oh, they will just take it out, it will only hurt for just a second." Blood draw lady, "No, we're going to use this needle (shows it to him), stick it in your arm and pull blood out!"  and then the screaming began... Really? Ugh! He's only 4!   I'm pretty sure the three ladies that had to come in to help either hold him down or hold Lauren for me so I could help with Dylan, definitely felt sorry for me! :) As we wait for the results (24-48 hours), I've had to become creative with activities because if it were up to the boys they would watch tv or play with their pads (Ipad and leap pad) the entire day.  I've nixed that idea and we're staying busy with painting, science experiments, indoor hopscotch, "what's that food" and more games.  I'm quickly running out of ideas though... 
a few activities today: what's this food?  Will refused to be blind folded but Dylan did awesome getting everything correct except strawberries.   

and this little girl loves to watch!  (and eat carrots in between)

 Then we tried a science experiment with eggs.  We are trying to melt the shell off the egg (apparently vinegar does it?).  The egg is sitting overnight and we'll see what we get in the morning. 

 Then it was window painting...this was by far the favorite activity of the afternoon!  They loved it!

 He made a mess, of course!

 their masterpieces

we also played in the sink with water, race cars and super heros!  fun!

 I kept them busy today...we'll see how many more days I have in me.  Hoping for some good news tomorrow with a negative blood test so we can get back to real life. 

On a positive note, in our days at home we have taught Will at least 3 colors (purely from 10-20 games of candyland), Dylan is starting to be able to tell time (thank you IPad app and homemade clock) and we had a color and shape scavenger hunt today so at least I feel like they are learning something from me! :)