You never know

 Having worked in healthcare (and with a husband who currently does) I am one of those wait-and-see moms when it comes to illness.  I know that most sicknesses kids get are viral and have to go away on their own.  I'm not in a hurry to pay someone to tell me that.

So when Vander got a low fever one day and then a rash the next, I waited.

And it got worse.  (Click on the pictures to really see.)

 And worse.  It didn't seem to itch or hurt, but man, it looked awful!  I couldn't imagine what it was.  It didn't act like the roseola Annalee had had a few years ago.  And it avoided his feet and hands so I didn't think it was Hand Foot and Mouth.  But he DID have a rash in the roof of his mouth at one point.  And a really bad diaper rash.

Eventually the rash scabbed over.

Then it went away.

Sometimes you never do find out what it was!

Annalee was sick with something else around the same time, plus she got the stomach flu from our visit to my sister Sarah's house.  It was three weeks of no fun.  And then when we got better, every kid we knew was sick with the flu or worse, so we were stuck at home for another week.  The week after that was Christmas, and the kids were going bananas with Cabin Fever!  Annalee kept begging to go play with friends, but I had to explain that everyone was doing family stuff for Christmas.  This week she has a dance class, so YAY for social interaction!