It’s been a long week so far.  Henry is really, really sick.  We took him to the doctor a couple days ago to run some more tests because his Malaria test last week concerned them and they wanted a blood culture.  He has been runnning a fever since Monday and throws up pretty much anything he eats or drinks (always on me, of course!) He’s not sleeping well, he has a terrible barking cough and a slew of other cold/flu symptoms.  I am really anxious to hear back from the Clinic about his tests…  Peter has been gone on another install — so I have been trying to juggle a sick baby and a needy, insecure three-year-old.  Poor baby… I feel so terrible for him.  He is just miserable and I am trying everything I can think of to make him more comfortable.  If his fever continues through the night, I will start him on antibiotics tomorrow.

To top it off: the washing machine isn’t working, so I have puked-on clothes piling up in the corner… and our phone line has officially been declared “unfixable” until spring — so I still have no phone… and then a few days ago, our computer crashed!  Completely.  It’s not good… any time the words “corrupt files” are used, it can’t be good.  I am just hoping that the hard drive is okay because all my photos are on there.  (ALL MY PHOTOS!!  DID YOU GET THAT!  AHHHHH!!)  So with Peter in Cda with both the laptop and his cell phone, I’ve been stuck here in radio silence until my mom drove up this afternoon to give me a hand and she lent me her laptop.  I’m sorry if you tried e-mailing (or calling!) earlier this week.  I told Peter, “No one is going to believe me — no phone and no computer?!?”  But I’m really not making it up!  Sometimes rural life is definitely more of an inconvenience than a blessing.  There are days when I would trade the view and the silence and the mountains behind our house for the ability to run out and buy dinner when I don’t feel like cooking and the assurance of consistent electricity in the winter and a bloomin’ phone connection!  Oh well… I guess we can’t have it all. 

I did get to go out Monday night with a few of my closest friends to celebrate my birthday in Canada while Peter watched the kids.  We live close to a quaint little Canadian ski town nestled in the mountains (think Switzerland) with some great shops, coffee joints, bakeries and restaurants.  The ski hill is fantastic too — some of the best back-country powder in Canada!  I am really looking forward to getting knee-deep in the stuff one of these days!  Ahhh… THAT will be a great post!
But anyway, we went out Monday even though my birthday was back in November… We always appreciate a reason for a girl’s night out and since my birthday kind of got lost in the shuffle when we went to Liberia, it was the perfect excuse!  I actually ended my twenty-seventh year on the plane somewhere over the Atlantic (which was a little confusing — did I turn 27 when the time zone we crossed mid-air was at midnight?… or when my watch passed midnight since that is the time zone in which I was born?? Hmmmm…)  At any rate, Peter and I had a great time in Brussels on my actual birthday — AND I had a great time on my honorary b-day Monday.  Thanks, girls!  Since I can’t share a picture due to my current computer situation, you’ll have to check out my best friend’s post for the visual effect.  🙂