Ups and downs

We went to our petite maison in Quebec for the long weekend. In many ways, it was a great time. Long walks, campfires and roasting marshmallows, an awesome solo bike ride -- my first of any length in years -- and lots of fun family time.

Casting a pall over our time away, however -- besides the smoke from the Quebec forest fires -- was the fact that poor Abby was very sick. She had a stomach bug, and wasn't able to keep anything down from Friday afternoon through Monday evening. She had a slight fever, took three-hour naps both Saturday and Sunday, and suffered the effects of topsy-turvy digestion, dehydration and general malaise.

Earl and I were getting quite concerned on Sunday, so we called her pediatrician's office. We were given a strategy of offering her a sip of water every 1o minutes, and if that stayed down, to try a little bit of a popsicle. If they made her sick, we'd have to take her to the ER to get her some IV fluids.

Luckily, the sips and popsicle helped a lot. She still wasn't perky, but she slowly improved. Upon returning home last night, she was able to eat plain pasta and even a little bit of a meatball, against my better judgment. She went to school today and ate pizza, of all things, so she indeed is on the mend.

I do think that Abby had a true stomach illness, but I also believe that her anxiety about going to Canada, about being pulled out of school on Friday and about all the changes coming up with the close of the school year definitely made things worse. My thoughts aren't fully formulated on this, but I think if she had been home, her recovery would have been quicker.

As if being sick weren't enough for Abby, tragedy struck when we were in Canada. Blueberry, the betta fish, Abby's loyal companion since last July, didn't survive the weekend. Abby was sad, but has recovered, and is looking forward to getting another betta, probably once school is out.

I'm just looking forward to having my sweet daughter healthy for a while.