From Africa to Appalachia: Belated Birthday post and the FLU

So Adi turned 3 almost a month ago and for some reason I haven't been able to upload pictures of her party or write about it. She was so excited this year about her day. For weeks preceding the day I was hoping and dreaming about her actually being healthy for the first time. Her first and second birthday's were filled with pneumonia and hospital stays. It's my fault, I was responsible for her being born during flu season. It looked like we may have actually stayed healthy this year. Then the flu hit. We have never done flu shots, none of us. This year the kids and I got it back to back. Influenza verses the common cold, which may still last over a week, is so so much worse. I didn't understand this until it happened.I literally couldn't sit up in bed for 5 days. 3 weeks of fevers hitting 104.5 and coughs without catching a breath in between. So Adi spent her birthday morning (3 am) outside with me in the cold air trying to calm the cough, her birthday day coughing up a lung and burning hot and her birthday night at the doctors. It was pitiful.

She had requested mac and cheese and broccoli, her favorite meal, and a pink cake with strawberry ice cream. She didn't touch a bite of it.

I couldn't help add a heart explosion mini heart cakes to the top.

She did muster up enough energy to open some presents and go to the toy store to pick our her annual birthday present from mom and dad. Year one she picked out the Elmo sleeper sofa, still used daily, year two was the princess umbrella, broken within a month, and year three was a strawberry short cake doll. Strawberry shortcake must have gotten a make over from when I was a little girl but she still smells like some weird strawberry plastic combo. So far Miss Shortcake is still getting major play time.

Adi and her cousin Padme, born ten days apart, shared a party. We went to this indoor play place with all sorts of stations for arts and crafts, dress up, bakery, post office, store and all sorts of other fun things. It was a huge hit and even though both my kids were hot, snotty, coughing messes, they had fun.