We attempted Easter portraits of the kids this afternoon, since we didn't get the chance last weekend. We tried. Really we did. Cora cooperated, and Jay got some cute shots of her. James, on the other hand, was dressed just as cute, but really wanted nothing to do with the photo shoot. And we were inclined to let him be, considering how sensitive he is these days as he's recovering from the Kawasaki (the least little thing sets him off, and it's not pretty). Maybe Jay will get his editing done tomorrow and I'll post the few good ones though. For now, here is a sneak peek at Cora's dress:
Every egg he found, he wanted us to "Open it!" so he could eat the treat. He was completely uninterested in putting the eggs in his bucket (even after they were emptied). He ate a bit of chocolate this afternoon (as did Jay and I, since we were "hiding away" every other piece...)
Once Cora determined that the grass wasn't too icky for her princess toes, she had fun gathering eggs from the patch we created for her. She even dumped a couple in her bucket.
Hooray! Eggs ARE fun!
Well, we may have had to do it a bit late, but we finally got around to coloring Easter eggs tonight. And James had a blast!
The poor boy is still awfully wobbly from all his bedrest, and he fell down a bunch of times. In the driveway, up in the "orchard", in the grass. He never let go of those colors though...
But then we found blackberries growing under the mailbox (we had recommenced coloring up on the "new" pavement at the end of our culdesac, where the asphalt is a nice, smooth, dark black)...
So he got some fresh berries to go along with his fresh air. And he didn't want to share with me...
And I didn't make him. He cleaned off the whole tiny bush. Even the red ones...
(Yeah, we know she's cute. So does she!) 
If I haven't mentioned yet, James has lost his most precious comfort item. His thumb. We noticed on Tuesday that it was peeling and cracked. Since we were worried it would get infected (since he had been diagnosed with strep the day before), we disinfected it and bandaged it up, and told him we were "fixing" it. He cried about it Tuesday night, but by Wednesday he was on board with leaving it alone. It "huht", and every time he forgot and tried to suck it, he'd feel the bandage and pull it out, showing it to us and saying "Fix it!" He's a fast learner, this kid. And a darn good sport. We got lots of laughs out of him this afternoon.
The doc visited. Since he'd been free of fever and his bloodwork still looked good, we were likely to be going home tomorrow. Then things took a turn for the worse. James got fussy, and we thought maybe it was because he was tired (since he wasn't able to take his normal 2-hour nap, what with the usual hospital interruptions). I tried rocking him, reading to him, turning on a movie. Nothing. Then we noticed that he was feeling warm... Temp of 101.1, the highest he'd had throughout this whole sickness. He got some aspirin. Half an hour later, it was up to 101.3. Another half hour later it was down to 100.3, but we already knew we wouldn't be going home tomorrow. They ordered another round of bloodwork (and it turns out that yesterday's cultures had turned positive, which is not a good thing), as well as some Tylenol and Mylicon (he was having a very upset tummy, maybe due to an allergic reaction to something, or maybe due to all the chocolate he ate earlier in the day). Speaking of that potential allergy, his lips got really swollen. Between his red lips (newly bleeding, due to the swelling) and hot, pink cheeks, he looked a wreck. And he felt it. And we were getting scared.
After a ridiculously long wait for his meds (1.5 hours to get doses of Tylenol and Mylicon, what the HECK pharmacy department?!), he finally got dosed. Plus his usual application of hydrocortisone on the weird spot on his leg, and A&D ointment for his lips (thank you Stephen for that amazing tip, it really is working wonders!) I refused to leave until James had his meds, so Cora was up well past her bedtime. Luckily, by the time we left (she, of course, needed to eat again) James was feeling a little better. He ended up eating 3.5 packs of Saltine crackers, drank almost a full cup of juice, and watched Dinosaur Train on his Daddy's laptop until he fell asleep.
Here's hoping that he does well tonight, and that his new blood cultures remain clear. And praying that he starts to feel better very soon. It is so hard to see him in pain and discomfort. That is almost worse than the stress of wondering what is wrong with him...
The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. We watched Wizard of Oz, played (one-handed, due to the IV) with James' new wooden stacking toy train (a little bravery award from us), and fed him M&Ms. He had fun naming the colors. And counting them. (He's getting better at that, by the way. He can go all the way to 8 now. Then he starts repeating 7, 8, 7, 8... Maybe his favorite number will be 7, just like his mama?) His temp finally dropped back to normal. And he ate a full dinner of mac-n-cheese and applesauce. He thought his security anklet was particularly interesting.
By the time I left at 7pm, he had accepted the blood pressure cuff. Now he simply grimaces, then reports "All done!" when the pressure lets up. His bloodwork is clear so far. His urinalysis was clean (hooray for not having to get a catheter!). His x-ray showed that same small spot of pneumonia. His liver function is slightly elevated, but his white cell counts are still normal. The IV antibiotics should finish up around 1am, then he'll get his 2nd dose of oral antibiotics (for the pneumonia/strep). Jay texted me that James finally fell asleep at 9:25pm, and the bp checks will only be every 2 hours through the night. Hopefully my boys can get some sleep. Us ladies came home to wash bedsheets and Lysol the house... 
