Dana Daily

Sarah was diagnosed with strep throat this evening. She was complaining of a sore throat, headache, and mild stomachache over the weekend and her dad chose not to take her to the doctor. Now she's out of school tomorrow. I am so over this month.

My mom sent me this random picture she took from in our Bluegreen Hotel room in Hershey. I think it's hilarious.

What is going on this month?!? Sal called me about 5:15 yesterday and told me that he was on his way to the hospital. Since he never goes to to the doctor, let alone the hospital, without a lot of prompting from me, this announcement was more than a little concerning. He wasn't sure what was wrong, he just knew it was his kidneys. Sal has PKD, poly-cystic kidney disease. You can find information online about it, but it's serious and there is currently no cure. As it turns out he has a kidney stone. He spent a few hours in the ER and then I booked him a room at the Best Western in Steubenville because neither one of us thought it was a good idea for him to try to drive the hour home. He wasn't happy when I woke him up at 9:51am since he had his alarm set for 10 and I robbed him of nine minutes of sleep. However, he did make an appointment with his PCP, and was going to get prescriptions filled at Walgreens in Steubenville. I encouraged him to drink lots of water to p...

Everyone had a good night last night. I felt so much better, well-rested and refreshed. This year the girls are spending Easter with their dad and he showed up promptly at 9am to take them for the day. Seth was beside himself when they left, but he recovered quickly. Given Seth's issues over the last couple of days, I didn't want to take him around my sister's kids and possibly infect them with something so we changed plans and stayed home. Sal's uncle came over and Seth slept the day away, probably recovering from vacation and the virus. The weather was gorgeous so I took Seth on a long walk later in the day to burn off some energy. He loves this lawnmower he got from the Easter Bunny. Finally, 7:30 rolled around and I needed to leave to get the girls. Seth wanted to come with me so I loaded him into the car, backed out of the driveway, and right into the side of Uncle Ernie's car. Happy Easter. Neither Sal's uncle nor I needed to deal with this right...

I don't think I've ever been so glad to be going home after vacation. I'm exhausted after having slept about 6 hours total in the past two days. Seth still isn't 100%, of course, although he slept well overnight. We stopped at CVS, a pharmacy we don't usually use, and there was an issue with our prescription card. We needed to pick up some Zofran and Augmentine. That got sorted out, but it took some time. I promised the girls on Tuesday that we'd return to Chocolate World for souvenirs on Friday, and I didn't feel I could back out of that commitment. Sal took them on the ride through the factory again while Seth and I hung out in the gift shop. I had been hoping we could get in and out in 30 minutes, but it was jam packed and took an hour to ride the ride and pick out souvenirs, even though everyone knew ahead of time what they wanted. Finally we were on the road. By the time we stopped for lunch on the turnpike, I could tell Seth was ready for anoth...

We took it easy this morning and got moving slowly. The only thing we had planned for today was seeing Jonah  at the Sight and Sound Theatre in Lancaster. I've been wanting to see a show at this theater for awhile because I've heard they're massive, detailed productions. That is true. Jonah  was an amazing show, and I highly recommend it. However, I think any show would be good there. We had a couple of experiences though that I could have done without.  Toward the end of the Act One, Sarah nudged me and showed me that her tooth had fallen out. Furthermore, it didn't just fall out, there was blood gushing from her mouth. Since we had left Seth back at the hotel with my dad, I didn't have a diaper bag and therefore, no tissues, on me. My mom didn't either. That's just unheard of, but people around us figured out we needed some and I ended up with a pocket size package of tissues and some wipes. That did the trick and we were able to get her clean...

We decided to try out the Turkey Hill Experience this morning. It was expensive, although my dad paid so that was a nice surprise, and I just didn't feel it was worth it. We did enjoy the free samples of ice cream and tea though, of course. Someone commented that it was more crowded than usual so maybe that contributed to our overall experience.  Seth enjoyed playing on the old-fashioned milk delivery truck. The girls did try out some of the exhibits, and I mostly just tried to keep an eye on everyone. We spent a couple hours, but nobody was sad to leave. From there we headed to Lititz , Pennsylvania to tour the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery . This was something my dad had wanted to do, and it ended up being a worthwhile experience.  The girls learned how to shape pretzel dough into pretzels, saw the ovens where the pretzels were baked, and received samples of the finished product. We also bought soft pretzels to try. The pretzels were somehow lighter or airier than p...

This was our busiest, and most scheduled, day of vacation. We had an 11am tour scheduled at the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland to learn about the Sisters of Charity work during the Civil War. Admittedly this was not the most exciting or interesting presentation. The guide, while knowledgeable, didn't seem to engage our small group and spoke at us rather than to us. Immediately following was another tour which included more of the grounds and Elizabeth's work in Emmitsburg. We toured The Stone House , the original home of the Sisters, as well as The White House , their second dwelling/school. The others on our tour departed and Emmy started asking our guide a ton of questions. As a result we got a more in depth tour of The White House as well as the cemetery. Mother Seton was originally buried in the cemetery, and then was moved to a mausoleum her son built for her. Eventually they moved her to what is likely her final resting place, ...

My parents invited us to their timeshare in Hershey for Spring Break. Tonight however, we have to stay in a hotel as there was no availability there. We headed out of Pittsburgh around 10:30am. We stopped for lunch at a turnpike service plaza and arrived at the hotel just minutes after my parents.  The girls pretty much fought and picked back and forth for the entire 3.5 hour drive. At one point Sal pulled over and made them switch places in the backseat. That gets them every time. We got settled into the hotel, and decided to hit Hershey's Chocolate World for the tour. I put off getting souvenirs because I didn't want the chocolate to melt in the car. This was a decision I would come to regret. Anyway, we did the tour, a little bit of shopping, and then went to Friendly's for dinner. That was an adventure. Seth was a wild man, I mean, a typical 2 year old. It was a bit like torture actually. After we got back to the hotel we went swimming, although Seth refu...

Emmy. ugh. She threw up in gym class. I don't know what genius schedules a mile run after the kids eat lunch. She got sent home, but at least it was only a one-time event.

My parents have been anxious to get Seth's twin size bed out of their house and into ours. I finally conceded that he was probably ready to transition out of the crib. Sal and I broke down his crib on Saturday morning, and that night he slept on his crib mattress.  Sort of.  He ended up half on and half on by morning. My parents did bring his new bed down to us today. Seth seems to like it, but it's also new and different. It took some doing to get him settled. I put a mattress on the floor for each of the girls, and when they were ready, put a frame under it. Seth's bed is high and there's really no space in his bedroom to separate the box springs from the mattress, so I bought a bed rail to keep him contained. Next up, potty training.