how to survive hand, foot, and mouth disease

In the last 10 days, our entire family contracted Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. It's basically Chicken Pox meets Strep Throat. You get a fever for a day or two, and then you break out in a rash that is particularly bad on your (surprise!) hands, feet, and mouth. But it's the inside of your mouth and your throat, making it nearly impossible to eat or speak.

We are all almost better. And now that I have 10 days' and 5 people's worth of experience on the subject, I thought I should write a short how-to guide for surviving this disease. Partly, I'm hoping this is helpful to other parents who may have Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in their future, because it was hard for me to find real, practical tips for dealing with this. And partly, this is just personal therapy to put the last week behind me.

1. Adults can get this disease.

I was under some strange illusion that adults do not get Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. Not true. When caring for a child with this disease, use caution and possibly surgical gloves and a face mask.

(I'm not kidding. You do not want to catch this sickness.)

2. Foods you can and cannot eat. 

If you contract this disease, this topic may become something of an obsession to you. In general, eating and drinking will feel like swallowing broken glass. But we found that the following general principles worked well:

Principle 1: Eat things made mostly from enriched white flour
Principle 2: Avoid acidic foods like citrus and sugary foods
Principle 3: A foods' softness or crunchiness doesn't always correlate with your ability to eat it

My favorite foods were soft white bread and butter (lots of butter), pita bread, pancakes, white cheddar Cheese-Its, chicken broth, vegetable broth, and smoothies from Jamba Juice. (These actually hurt a bit, but the cold help dull the pain and it was worth it)

3. Mouth sores aren't created equal.

We found high variance in level of discomfort in eating with our children. Xena (2 yrs) was totally unfazed. She spent one day with a fever and refusing any food, and the next day was pretty much better. Genghis (3 yrs) ate only popsicles for a few days (which were too painful for me to eat). And Isis (8 mos) seemed not too fussy about bottles but didn't want anything solid.

4. Warm baths feel great on the rash. 

Really, when is a warm bath not a good idea?

5. Don't try to get anything done while you are sick.

For me, this translated into watching Amazon Prime Instant Videos for hours on end after the kids went to bed. For Abe, this translated into wiring our living room with a web cam and Raspberry Pi to test out an idea he has in the realm of life hacking and quantified self.

To each his own.

For our children, this translated into about 10 feature length films while they were feverish, followed by days and days of boredom while we, the parents, took our turn being sick. I have no advice for how to get through this. Only the encouragement that you will survive. Really. You will. And the kids probably will too.

5 things happening in my life

1. Stumps. 

We picked up a bunch of tree stumps a few weeks ago that were up for grabs in our church's parking lot. Okay, that makes it sound like we just popped the trunk and threw a few logs on our way home one Sunday afternoon.

Not true.

We geared up in old jeans, sturdy shoes, and work gloves, rented a truck on Abe's day off, and caravanned over with the truck and 3 kids in the car. While Abe and I hefted stumps into the pickup, the kids played on devices in their car seats. And by hefted I mean grunted, strained, and turned purple in the face moving these unbelievably dense pieces of wood. About 40 of them.

I have affectionately re-christened our backyard "stump land". We have big plans for play areas, sitting areas, and a wooden path. The only thing standing between us and those big plans is stump treatment and sealing, a circular saw, and some time.

They really are pretty stumps.

2. Crawling. 

Isis is quickly turning into a master crawler. She finally figured out how to go around the kitchen table to get from the living room to the kitchen, instead of just getting stuck under the dining room chairs. Her favorite backyard activity is to escape her blanket and bee line to either the garden mulch or the water hoses. Yum.

3. Little Herbals. 

Also on Isis. Several months ago Genghis started calling her Little Herbals. The name has stuck.

4. Pictures on the wall. 

After over 8 months of living in our new home, we finally hung pictures on the wall. I think I was unknowingly going through artwork withdrawal because I now find myself just sitting on the couch for long periods, staring at our decorated walls and thinking, that looks so good. no, like, so ridiculously good. It doesn't. It's nice, but nothing more.

I guess staring at yellow-neutral walls for 8 months can really get inside a person.

5. No whining policy. 

Hm. I don't really want to write about this because it is frustrating. Let's just say that a certain member of the family has really latched on to whining as a go-to tactic for attention, help, and general life strategy. We are trying to clamp down with a no whining policy. Bracing myself for another day.

I should go look at those pictures again.

traveloguing part 3: chitwan

Last round of photos from our mega-trip over Christmas.

While staying in Nepal, we took a side trip to Chitwan National Park. We stayed in a cozy, rustic lodge. It was the perfect contrast to busy, loud, dusty Kathmandu. Greeted with a warm fire in the commons area, hot lemonade, and damp hand towels for washing up, we felt - perhaps a little too much - like Colonial English enjoying an afternoon tea. We had to embrace the feeling, really, because the place and people were so accommodating. Hand delivered hot water bottles at the foot of the bed each night. Unlimited hot chocolate. Local dancers as evening entertainment. Unlimited hot chocolate. Staff making up Eden's bottle multiple times a day. Oh, and the unlimited hot chocolate.

Highlights of Chitwan:

1. Elephant safari. We rambled through the jungle, and spotted peacocks, wild boar, many birds, and a rhinoceros. Our elephant took down trees with its trunk. Xena tried to leap from the elephants back only about 10 times. And Isis enjoyed a nice bottle about halfway through the ride. It was a bit bumpy but she managed well.

2. Building sand castles in the dirt walkways. Modest sand castles. This kept Genghis occupied for
much of the down time.

3. Walking through a local village. I was amazed at how clean and tidy the village was, especially coming out of the Kathmandu shock. Humble, but well-cared for home. It was a real reminder of the daily conveniences I take for granted, and the silly problems I worry too much about.

4. Swimming. The pool was unheated, but Abe's brother braved frigid water to the delight of Xena and Genghis. I made it in just past my ankles.

5. Ox cart and canoe ride. Riding on the ox cart through meadows while hearing the distant sounds of cow bells clinking and sheep braying was almost a parody of idyllic. But it was real! Next time I need to imagine a happy place, this will be it.

(note: 3 sleeping children. also idyllic.)

 And a few other random shots.

Xena cannot be contained!

Except with screens.

Too many airports.

Genghis meets the hammock.

Fire in the lodge.

Dining accommodations.

Play fort on the lodge grounds.

Grandma and Xena.

traveloguing pt 2: kathmandu

If going to Hong Kong was a little difficult, going to Kathmandu may be considered downright crazy. We stayed here for about 5 days, sandwiching a 2-day trip to the Chitwan National Forest in Nepal which was a highlight of the trip and a post for another time.

I read before going to Nepal that the best recommendation for Kathmandu is to get out as soon as possible. I can see why. Urban. Crowded. Dusty. But I also found the city captivating, vibrant, and unique - I was glad for a chance to get to know the place a bit.

I'm actually having a hard time finding words to describe our experience there, although I have some vivid memories that I believe are very uniquely Kathmandu. And I'm afraid if I don't get this post out now, it will just never happen. So here are some photos - but for me I wish I had the thousand words instead.

 Driving through the city.

 Eating momos near the market on a night out from the hotel with bros-in-law. Poor Abe sick and on child duty.

Xena vs dragon at the hotel.

 Genghis vs. dragon. We spent a lot of time at the hotel.

I got a night out. Abe got to do an early morning flight over the Himalayas.

At the Pashupatinath Temple. Xena is saying Namaste.

The first two days in Kathmandu were spent doing a mural art project at a local school. The children helped to paint this 2-wall mural designed by Abe's brother.

Complete.

More city pics.

And more. We sadly don't have any photos of the morning that Abe and I together took the 3 children out for a walk to the market. The street looked much like the one above. We were trekking through it, me with Isis on my back, Abe with Xena on his and Genghis riding his shoulders. Once we arrived at the market, which is a known tourist location, we had several shop-keepers ask to take a photo of us. Sadly, we forgot our own camera. Maybe try an image search for "crazy american family in nepal"?

Isis looking great in my scarf. Every Nepali wanted to squeeze her cheeks. I mean, how could you resist?

traveloguing

The real results of our passport photo extravaganza was an amazing trip over Christmas to Hong Kong and Nepal to visit Abe's family. All of the immediate family gathered to celebrate Abe's dad's 60th birthday. It was also our first time to see where his parents have been living for the last few years.

A few travel stats from the trip:

- 13 days

- 8 airplanes

- 65 hours in airports or on airplanes. For our family of 5 that multiplies out to 325 hours or 13 1/2 days.

- Travel by airplane, taxi, train, double-decker bus, ferry, ox cart, canoe, and elephant.

- 16,000 miles traveled, give or take.

And, some photos from Hong Kong. Credit: most of these are courtesy of Abe's dad, who is an excellent photographer!

Streets of Hong Kong.

Building where parents live. Check out the sweet circular picture window at the top! 

Birthday dinner! 

Skyline. 

In the days that followed, we were so grateful for the ipad mini Christmas gift. 

Isis at her adorable best. 

Xena waiting to pounce on prawns. 

 Lots of random sleep time.

 Stanley market.

With kids in tow. 

life, last month

A few moments captured on camera.

Genghis playing with some of his best friends: Xena, Dump Truck, and Excavator.

Xena with pipe cleaners and a strainer. Interestingly, I did this same activity with Genghis when he was Xena's age and posted about it here. By way of comparison, it was clearly more successful with Xena.

Genghis made a train out of toy tubs one morning before preschool.

As a side note, here's our Christmas playlist this year. Feel pretty good about this one.

halloween

Now that the Twix and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are gone from our candy bag, there's not much left of the Halloween spirit here. Anyone want one of our Crunch bars?

And, after looking through our selection of costume photos, I'm determined to hire a professional photographer to follow us around everywhere we go. Life around here moves too fast for stills.

Our costume theme was Children's Books.

Genghis was the Excavator from "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site". Costume chosen by him, designed by Abe. 

 Xena was Max from "Where the Wild Things Are". Costume chosen and designed by me.

Isis was the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Costume revamped from Genghis's 3 years ago. (Sorry, Isis.) The best thing about her costume was when I would carry her in her back carrier and wrap the costume around us both, so I had a caterpillar dangling from my back.