Saving Mommy

Well, Ian got better. Then on Friday night it hit Erin. She threw up plenty, though she never had the other end of it. I was just fine and dandy and so was my HC. Then after all day of the other end, everything I had ever eaten decided it wanted to make an upward appearance. And of course it wanted to happen about an hour before it was time for my HC to go to work. He was sleeping through most of it.
And everyone else? Well, they wanted to watch.
I think Erin was trying to hold my hair back at one point and Ian was just standing in the doorway with an EW! look on his face. I had keep Erin from getting too close and after I almost knocked her down (I thought I was finished), I had Ian go wake Daddy up. Of course, Ian came right back. "Daddy won't wake up," he complained. It was clearly not a good time for me to do it. I hobbled into the bedroom and scrabbled at his leg until his bleary eye cracked open. Thank God he went into alert mode right away. He entertained the kids while I had some more trips to the bathroom. He called in to go on a later shift, which gave him 2 more hours at home. He fixed supper while I lay on the couch like a dead thing.
I almost cried when he went to work, I felt so awful. But one thing saved me from utter despair.
It was Elmo.
Elmo bubbles to be exact.
Gramma and Papaw got Erin a little Elmo bubble blower for her birthday last year. Since bubbles are seasonal in our neck of the woods (?!!!), we eagerly snapped up a bottle as soon as we saw our brand. Almost every day we have been filling Elmo up and turning him on for some bubble frolic.
Unfortunately, our lame camera is not transferring pictures to the computer, so you'll just have to visualize. If I can get my HC to sit and help me, we'll figure out what's wrong with it. Until then, I am thanking God for Elmo and the distraction he afforded while I was so disgustingly sick.
Today I feel better, just TIRED and my stomach feels like something you want to poke at with a stick, wrinkle your nose and leave on the edge of a ditch.
To Ian's great disappointment, he will be going back to school tomorrow.
That's okay. As long as Elmo has batteries, the world is a friendly place.

Ew

*note: due to the sensitive nature of this post and for the protection of my readers, there will be no pictures in today's blog.

Last night was the beginning of Stomach Bug II. The first was a few years ago when Ian was a toddler. Now he is 4, and praise God he can throw up into a bowl or the toilet (or the sink; or outside), most of the time. Erin thinks the emergency puke bowl is great fun. This morning she threw some cereal into it (don't worry, it's kept rinsed out). Then some bottles of Gatorade. A couple of hot wheels. Then she wanted to lay on the ground next to it to see her reflection in the sides. Ian thinks she is quite gross. "That's a YUCKY bowl!" he keeps telling her.
Of course, the twin companion to vomit comes out the other end. Explosively at times. Unfortunately, there is no bowl for this. But we are now minus one rug (I was sleeping; my HC determined this a matter of household security and made an executive decision), several pull-ups and a couple of rolls of tp.
Meanwhile, Erin decided to do another diaper fingerpainting when we were too slow to get her from her nap. So I have seen enough body fluid and waste today to last me for quite some time. And the Pizza Rolls that we heated for supper (we were desperate and cooking was not an option) did not phase us a bit. Ian finally managed to keep some string cheese down (he insisted, I was pulling for the jell-o). It's been 2 hours so far with no gastronomical pyrotechnics and we are SO praying that it was a 24 hour bug?? Please? Please?!
We are also praying that no one else gets it (go ahead and laugh, but we can hope, can't we?).

In other news, we went to the allergy specialist on Wednesday, for Erin. We got some nasal steroids even though she is under 2. They also took a few vials of blood for testing. We go back in 2 weeks to see the results. My HC was there to hold her while they took her blood and of course, it hurt him more than it did Erin. After a medicinal Happy Meal, Erin felt better. We also got strict instructions for some earwax removal, since it was too thick to see inside her ears. I don't know about anyone else, but I have always heard that "you should Never try to clean your kids' ears out with q-tips or anything; let your doctor clean the ears. You could damage something!" Of course, I go to the doctor and get "his/her ears are too filled with wax to see anything," with a hint-hint type of look. Finally the allergy doc steered us to an OTC oil that will cause the buildup to slip out (or you can suction, if you have kids that are amenable to that [I don't]). Sheesh.
Now we have the Blue Beast (nasal aspirator) and the Tuber of Terror! But so far, I haven't been able to catch anyone long enough to use it...

Drippy Eggs--Part 2

As a little add-on to the last post, this is a pic of my new, beautiful niece, Aislynn, who has just completed her first month on the Outside (of the womb, that is). I think it's just no end of funny that the Easter Basket is bigger than she is. She's probably eyeballing all that chocolate and thinking "Just you wait, next year, I'll be all over you!"

Of course, her cousins Ian and Erin would be more than happy to help her right now with all her Easter Candy.
Upon seeing Aislynn's pictures, Ian's first response was a look of pity. Then he spoke up. "She doesn't want to be a baby. She wants to be big. She NEEDS to be big." Clearly, he's happy being 4. Erin just points and says "Baby!"

Drippy Eggs

Eastery Sunday was pouring rain and 40 degrees. We had to practically swim from the parking lot to the church. Ian and I had wet shoes and legs and Erin's face was buried into my shoulder trying to keep rain out of her eyes. It was not fun.
But I did have a chance to try to take some pictures.





For those who think it's completely necessary for kids to have their eyes open, I finally figured out how to turn off the flash. So there. At least some eyes are open.
We played Candy Land after our big Easter dinner of ham and asparagus, though Erin was only interested in the Hawaiian rolls. Erin got an Aqua Doodle and she loves it. This is a wonderful thing, since she has adorned almost every surface of the house with ink, crayon and/or colored pencil. Erin also got a coloring book, an Elmo movie and a book to read. Ian got a HotWheel, a Matchbox play scene and a book on Outer Space. There was a little candy involved and a small chocolate bunny, but we are overflowing with candy from the egg hunts we went to. These pictures have disappeared from the camera due to a mysterious removal of the battery (bad picture maybe?). Oh well.
Tonight we are having Hawaiian pizza with leftover ham. MMMmmmmmmm!!!!

Bunny Ears

Today was Easter Fun Day at school. Everyone had to bring 6 candy-filled eggs, their Easter Basket and a happy smile (due to the cancellation of naptime for holiday festivities). Ian complied. He returned home with an insane sugar high, a little crankiness (happy smile suspended after the end of cancelled naptime), and these cute little ears.

Immediately, the kids sat down to examine the loot and open those filled eggs. Daddy added a little bug juice in case Erin felt deprived at being too young to go to school.







What is that on Ian's shirt? It goes with the cock-eyed ears...










Awwwww, it's a little bunny tail!!! And it came off about 2 seconds after the picture was taken. "I don't wanna wear the tail anymore, okay? I frow it in the trash."




Meanwhile, someone else was more than happy to play with Ian's discards, candy included...

First Haircut

We've been sick a lot this past winter. Erin has been sick all except for about a week, and that's adding the days together. With all the runny noses and smearing and drool from teething and other messes, there have been a lot of unidentified masses in her hair, especially the part that gets in her face. We do a barrette or a pony tail almost every day, but at night, her hair gets in her face. It really aggravates her, and you can tell from all the impatient swipes to get it out of her eyes and accompanying huffs and noises. Gramma has suggested several times that we cut the poor thing's hair so she can get it out of her face.
After having to pry out a dried boogie last night and almost just cutting it out, I asked my HC again and he FINALLY gave the go ahead. He might change his mind after he sees it...


Ian said it looked beautiful. I say that it's really hard to cut a one year old's hair, especially around the face and ESPECIALLY when it's curly! It's growing on me. But she does remind me of a picture of my mom and her sisters when they were little mites. Now she looks more like Gramma than ever! Don't worry, I saved a little bit of curl for the Memory Box. Now I have to wonder, what am I going to do with all these barrettes??

A Windy Hunt

Today was the annual town Egg Hunt at the park. After a lot of restless pacing, waiting and nagging, it was finally time. We walked, because parking is usually crazy, at least for our town. We joined the crowd, complete with pit bulls on leashes (who, I'm sure, were looking at the crowds of children and thinking of snack time).
We got our goody bags and our pictures with the Easter Bunny (how many kids will have nightmares tonight??) and then waited at the starting line with the other mercenary parents and understandably ill-tempered children 4 and under who didn't get why they
had to stand and stare at the eggs for 10 minutes instead of snatching them up.
We were herded along the edges of the field. It was 2 minutes and counting. Then someone started a familiar dance. "I gotta PEE!" ??? He started to run off toward the fence. He was stopped by my HC. He told me to take him to the bathroom. The bathroom was a tiny mirage at the other end of the park. "But he'll miss the hunt," I protested. Ian squirmed and danced and held his pants. My HC crouched down and looked him in the eye. Erin bopped him on the head a few times ("Up up!"). "Ian," he said, "can you hold it?" Ian was faced with the inconceivable possibility of missing the hunt. Before he had time to answer,
the shout had sounded. The Hunt had started.

They had a great time and we got a lot of eggs, since we were at the end of the craziness (mostly parents).

Gramma and Papaw sent a little box to us and a taste of the steel drum concert (the island lollipops). They were a hit (and a dribble).