First tick

I made it 8.75 years as a parent before I had to remove a tick from a child. As we were eating lunch today I discovered that Ian had one on his back near his right shoulder. I am guessing he had it since at least Saturday because the kids didn't spend much time outside  yesterday. Having no experience with ticks I asked two different neighbors if they knew what to do. The first said to put rubbing alcohol on it. The second is an ER nurse, and he put on a rubber glove and then rubbed Vaseline on it. He said his four year old son got one a few days ago and it came out with the Vaseline. He said Ian's tick was more deeply embedded. So I called the Pediatrician's office, and they told me to use tweezers to get it out and then Neosporin to prevent infection. I pulled at least part of it out and used both rubbing alcohol and Neosporin. I wasn't sure if I got it all out since the head seemed to be embedded under the skin. I called them back, and they told me that as long as I got the body out it was okay if the head was still in there. I am to continue to apply Vaseline or Neosporin. If he has a fever or a rash within

the next 22 days then he'll need to see the doctor because it might lead to an infection or Lyme disease. Praying that he stays fever and rash free!

Although I am not a fan of ticks, we do enjoy the baby robins every year. This year we have spotted eggs in three nests thus far. Unfortunately the eggs in the nest near the top of the slide have bit the dust. The robin built a nest in a different part of the one shrub, and it's harder for us to see the eggs this time. Another bush that they have used almost every year is vacant thus far this year, but for the second year a robin built a nest in the wreath on my front door. That is my least favorite location because then I have bird poop to clean off the door plus they make a mess of my wreath, but when I discovered it on Friday night when we got home, I saw there was one egg in it, and I didn't have the heart to move the nest. Yesterday there were two blue eggs, and today there were three blue eggs. There are actually four eggs in the nest now because yesterday I found an intact robin's egg on the ground and

decided to see if this other robin would "adopt" it if it still was alive. I figured it had zero chance of survival on the ground and maybe it might live if I put it in another robin's nest. The robin watches through the glass on the door and flies away if she sees us inside near the door. It is fun to watch the little baby birds grow.

Usually when our choir sings an anthem I really like and I try to find it online so I could share it here, I only find a very short preview of the song, but when I searched today for the one we sang on Saturday night and Sunday morning, I found the whole thing! I liked the whole song, but the last four pages were by far my favorite. If you click on the link and then click play under audio sample, you can hear it also.

On Friday Nadia ate nothing and threw up I think about seven times. On Saturday she ate maybe three bites of food over the course of the day. Yesterday and today she *said* she was hungry but still didn't eat much, although she definitely ate more than just three bites both days. Her fever has been gone the past two days, but she still has thrown up at least one time a day. I am hoping tomorrow can be a vomit free day as I was planning on taking the kids out to dinner after our tour of the sheep farm. We shall see if she can keep her breakfast and lunch down tomorrow.