The Plague.

Whelp, Ellie sure does know how to have fun on a holiday weekend.

Yesterday morning Tim headed down to San Diego for a nerdy cousin LAN party (ie: playing video games together nonstop while drinking Red Bull and eating chips) and I headed out to Balboa Island, where a friend of mine was borrowing her parents' fabulous house. Leslie had invited Cara and I and our husbands and babies to come and spend the weekend. I was unsure about having Ellie sleep overnight someplace without Tim around, but I knew we would have a fun Saturday playing with the other babies (and drinking with the other moms.)

We got there around 10 and after everyone got arrived and settled, we headed out to lunch. Ellie was happy as a clam when I loaded her into the Ergo carrier, but when I got home to change her diaper, her entire torso was covered in a red rash, as well as her hands, feet and mouth. Considering her friend Lexi came down with hand, foot and mouth disease last week, I was pretty sure I knew what I was dealing with. And then when she woke up from her nap, she was also running a fever, so it was a pretty easy diagnosis from the nurse on call at the doctor's office. Poor little Bug.

So after unwittingly exposing Penelope and Clare, we figured we'd stay the rest of the afternoon as planned, especially because there's nothing much to be done for HFM. It's a common virus, so the key is just to push fluids and watch the fever. But within a few hours, everything seemed to result in a lot of crying, so we packed up and headed to Gigi's. Ellie perked up with her grandparents, and it gave me a chance to run to the grocery store to buy supplies recommended by mom friends on facebook - mostly popsicles and pedialyte just in case Ellie got mouth ulcers.

Thankfully, she's been mostly an angel. Just a rashy one. She slept great last night - only woke up once, at 5am. I curled up in bed with her, where she informed me "Lulu sleep mama pillow" and then we both passed back out until 8am. Took a nice long walk this morning, and now she's napping again.

The other good news is that between Lexi, Ellie, Penelope and Clare, we have a plenty of places to go for play dates this week, since I can't really take her to swimming or music class. We'll make our own baby leper colony!