And the GOOD news is...

It's not pneumonia!

Poor Liv has been down with the flu. She was pretty sick Wednesday through Friday but Saturday seemed to be on the mend (as evidenced by the screams of "You are not DOING it RIGHT Sydney" emanating from the playroom as they played school.

It seemed as if everything was back to normal.

Until Sunday.

She started running a fever again and her cough was ferocious.

So, off to the doctor we went today. The doc promptly ordered a chest x-ray

(Her first X-ray! TOTALLY felt like I was a bad mom for not bringing my camera to document the moment to show to future boyfriends - "And here's Liv when she lost her first tooth. Oh, and here she is getting her very first chest x-ray -isn't she darling?")

They put a STAT read on the film, so by the time we got home the doctor had called to tell us it was neg-a-tivo....

So, just rest, another day off school, and lots of fluids because she was a bit dehydrated.

She needs to go back to school. Soon. For several reasons....

First of all, I have missed TOO MUCH WORK. My boss is a very patient and understanding guy but I think he's probably at his limit at this point.

Our morning greetings have gone from this:

"Well, hel-LOOOOO Deb-or-ah! How are you this fine morning?"

"Well, Good MORNING James! I'm fine and you?"

To this:

"Hey Deb......."(very pregnant pause, waiting for me to speak a word so he can gauge my mood)

"Hey Jim. Well, Liv/Syd is sick and I have to leave early to get her from school/take her to the doctor/go home and relieve whoever is watching her at 12:00/1:00 /NOW"

"You should sell those kids, you know."



So, it's not good. All I can hope is that we are getting ALLLLLLLL of the winter sickie ickies out of the way now.

Secondly, although she's feeling bleh, it's not stopping her - or her sister - from CON-STANT-LY cheering.

At the dinner table, while they are watching tv, in the bathroom....

I mean, it's annoying as hell! I think I say "Can you PUH-LEEEAZE stop cheering for FIVE MINUTES at least!"

To which they respond "No. PREP! One Two! CRADLE! One TWO!"

(Total cheerleader lingo there...)

I love to watch my kids cheer - they're super cute - but, really. Do we need to practice the cheers every second of the ever-loving day?

"Yes. I'm. Proud to be a Lancer. (YES! I! AM!)"

I think every team should have a good "DE-DE-DE-DEFENCE."

And I know that our colors are "RED! RED! BLACK! BLACK! Aaaand a white, white, white, white, white!"

At this point, I'm pretty sure I could be a cheerleader myself. And a damn good one at that.

Except, you know, the uniform might be a little small.