The Worst Family is a Sick Family

The past few weeks have been rough at the Ayres house. We all came down with a stomach bug. Being sick while taking care of two small humans is the type of thing that makes all us stay at home parents want to down a bottle of wine in the evening.

This was the worst day of our head colds, Rose was so out
of it. I love Heather's tired smile. 

Disclaimer: You might not want to read this post if you are a sympathetic puker. Or if someone describing puke makes you sick.

Thursday morning about two weeks ago I went to get Heather out of her crib. I opened her door and the overwhelming smell of puke wafted out. I have never smelled puke like that before, it was bad! I am not one to puke at the sight or smell of puke, but this made me want to. I have no idea at what time in the night she actually puked, she must not have cried about it much, because she didn’t wake me or RJ up. By the morning it was mostly dry and she was playing with whatever was left (I know, kids are disgusting). I quickly stripped her clothes off and threw her into the shower with RJ. I threw the large chunks and whole raisins into the toilet then started laundry, washing all her bedcovers and clothes. I retrieved a grumpy wet Heather from the shower and took her downstairs for a diaper. RJ steam cleaned the floor in her room and opened the windows. I am so glad RJ had not left for work yet.

Heather did not puke again that day. She had a fever around 99-100, had no appetite, and was very tired and snuggly all day. The following day, Friday she was still sick but did not puke. But I started to feel under the weather. Friday night I felt really sick and nauseous, I ended up puking my guts out early Saturday morning. I have not felt that sick in a very long time. I spent the entire day on the couch trying not to dry heave. It was rough. Heather was feeling better. No one else had come down with the the plague yet...   

Heather never falls asleep on the couch. She was so sick. I
am glad it did not last too long. 

I was worried Rose would catch it. She is not fun to handle when she is sick. Saturday evening Rose puked all over the carpet. It was bright orange and smelled like Cheetos. Rose puking made Heather cry, and attempting to keep both of the girls out of a large puddle of orange puke, while trying not to puke myself again took some serious skills. RJ cleaned up the puke while I cleaned up Rose and tried to calm both of the girls down (we had to shampoo the carpet an additional two times to get all the smell out. Every time someone walked over that part of the carpet the smell got kicked up till we deep cleaned it). Rose puked another one or two times that evening but RJ and I watched her closely and we were able to help her make it to the bathroom. It was not easy to do while feeling sick myself, but much easier than cleaning puke out of the carpet.

Sunday I was feeling much better. RJ thought he was in the clear and had passed through unscathed, but that Saturday night/Sunday morning the nasty stomach bug claimed it’s final victim. RJ said the last time he puked that hard he was definitely not sober! Luckily, I was feeling better on Sunday because Heather puked in her crib again at nap time. I think it was my fault. I sent her to bed with a sippie full of milk and her stomach wasn’t ready for it so it came right back up. I don’t think Rose puked again that day however it was a bit foggy, I was still recovering.

Having a family of four, all getting sick at the same time is awful. If you think you can handle puke everywhere, cleaning it up while being sleep deprived and nauseous, definitely start a family.

Rose still smiled on her worst day after puking a lot the
night before. 

What was worse than puking, was the awful head cold we all came down with a couple days later. I have never been so congested in my life. The pressure in my head was the worst part. RJ introduced me to nose spray, which helped a lot. After a very hot bath, cold medicine and a few days of nose spray I felt much better.  

Being sick sucks. Being a sick parent with sick kids is absolute hell. Still, I would not trade my family for anything, and I still want it twice as big as it is now!

Finally, I feel 100% again. I felt good enough this weekend to get my septum pierced! I’ll be writing a whole post about it next.

Sorry I went dark on the blog for a little while! I’m back!