The easter bunny brought my daughter restrictive airway disease in her easter basket this year. She was hospitalized over night from sunday afternoon to monday evening. Monday afternoon, I took Ben to the doctor and he got an anti-biotic for his ear infection. It's been a rough couple of days for the kids.

We finally decided to take May in to the emergency room because she was very listless, had a fever, and was breathing rapidly. It was scary. Jill and May went to the pediatric ER at the Virtua West hospital. I took care of Ben at home.

The height of my anxiety came when Jill lost her cell phone at the hospital. The nurse called me and said, "Are you May's dad?" It was the first thing out of the nurse's mouth and I thought who could be calling me asking a question like that if not a hospital employee after something terrible has happened? Immediately after I had the fright of my life, Jill found her cell phone, so I didn't have to call it after all.

So Monday, I got a ride from the neighbor to the hospital (God bless you Kathy & Dave!). Jill was pretty sore from not nursing Ben, so she got to nurse Ben, and I got to take Ben home, after he nursed. Ben slept for the exact right amount of time to wake up, eat a late lunch, and be chauffeured to his doctor's appointment. After I dropped off his prescription at the drugstore, I went to get my new glasses while they were mixing his medicine. I could tell he was feeling sick because he was willing to run these errands without screaming the whole time through the trip.

More news on Ben: he loves standing up, leaning on a chair, and pushing the chair around the room

Both kids are still sick today, but feeling better.

I look really good in my new, hip, stylish, rectangular framed eyeglasses.

We're studying acid/base homeostasis in school.

First, some anger needs to be vented. (passive voice - would MS Word object?) We drove back from North Carolina yesterday. We left at 2 PM and arrived home at 1 AM. Driving at night is a little less fun, but the kids slept most of the way. Verdict: try to make some of children transporting longer car trips at night.

Anyway, we were coming through DC at about 10 PM last night. I pulled off to take a leak and get some gas. We went to three different gas stations and none would let me use their bathrooms. They said, "sorry, door locked." I said, "please give me the key." They said "no." I said, "I will not buy any gas here. goodbye." They didn't care. Moral of the story: You Cannot Pee in Washington DC.

We were visiting my aunt and uncle, grandparents, and Jill's cousin in North Carolina. The weather was very nice. First we spent a few days in New Bern, NC, and then we went to Kennels Beach to visit Jill's cousin's cottage. Had a great time at both locations. My aunt and uncle live next to a couple who keep bees as a hobby.

I showed May the beehives and she kept wanting to go closer to the beehives. Later that day, we were inside and May wanted to go 'pet the bees.' I was shocked and upset. My aunt, however, had the clever suggestion of calling May's bluff. She said, 'you can go pet the bees but you might get stung.' May said, 'Will I get a band-aid?' Aunt Carolyn said, 'Bee stings just hurt; they don't bleed. If there's no blood, you don't get a band aid.' Then she found a dead wasp and got May to try to pet it. After we learned there was no potential to earn a band-aid and we actually had an opportunity to pet the bee, there was much less general interest in petting the bees.

In Kennels Beach, I especially enjoyed tooling around on the beach with Jill's cousin's husband. We set a net and caught some flounders. I never thought you could fillet a fish as skinny as a flounder, but Brendan proved me wrong. I got to scale the fish, and he filleted them. He has a brilliant talent for this that must come from many years of practice. I'm going to grill them outside tonight on my George Foreman grill.

Ben was happy to be home today. He was too excited to eat. He wanted to play right away. He now likes to get behind a chair and push it around the room. It's great fun. May has been sleeping on the couch all morning. She's feeling a little under the weather.

Tomorrow, early, we begin the long drive from Philadelphia to New Bern, NC to visit my Aunt and Uncle and my mother's parents. It should be 8-12 hours driving with the kids. We're also visiting Jill's cousin. It's a lot of driving in a short amount of time, but my goal is to save money, visit some family, and get my wife out of the house.

News on the kids.

A few days ago, May broke several rules at the same time. She climbed up on her play kitchen table and tinkled on her gushy fish pillow. Jill caught her doing this, as of course a display like that is not meant to be discrete, and May cackled like a witch.

Ben has been very busy. He is trying like hell to climb the stairs. Today, Jill and May went upstairs and Ben and I were downstairs. He got to the edge of the stairs, tried to climb, and screamed in bitter frustration.

I made a rice pudding to bring to my Aunt and Uncle in north carolina.

My back hurts from being busy today and running yesterday. Good news: my shorts from last summer still fit.