Deck the Halls with Lots More Laundry

(This is an icky post about sick kids, but I need to get it out. You've been warned.)

The 24-hour bug hit us hard this week. Except I really shouldn't call it a 24-hour bug because it lasted oh so much longer than that. My cousin Tara suggested I call it the 24-hour-plus bug, so that's what I'm going with.

It started on Tuesday at dinner - in that Maddie lost hers. It wasn't horrible and it was only once and she was fine after I cleaned it up. No fever so I figured the blueberries (eeeew) just didn't sit well in her tummy. (I called it her "belly" that day and she got very upset with me and said with emphasis that it was her TUMMY. Noted.)

All was well for the the rest of the night. Katie started crying for me around 10:30pm that she had to go to the bathroom and she did a GOOD one so I was happy. Then she started screaming for me 15 minutes later and she had vomited everywhere! (That's the last time I will use that word - from now on it will just be "it." Ugh.) All over her bed and pillow and animals. Andy had just given the girls a bath that night but she needed to be bathed again. I cleaned up the mess (so much fun for a pregnant woman who gags) and she said she was feeling better. She went back to bed and all was well.

Except it wasn't.

We repeated that scenario about 7 times that night. Each time was less and less messy - but she didn't stop until about 4am. My heart was breaking for her - and the pile of laundry that kept growing and growing in my basement. Four sets of sheets, 7 blankets, 3 pillows, plus all her clothes. I stayed with her until about 3am, and then Andy took over from there and just slept on the floor beside her bed. She was very upset. I called her out of school the next day and the secretary said she wasn't the only one sick.

Then on Thursday I was taking the girls to get their 2nd H1N1 shot and Katie gags on a piece of banana and loses "it" in the waiting area. Ugh. Andy ran to get someone to help us clean it up, I'm kneeling down holding Katie because she's crying, a friend of mine, Tracey, is watching Maddie for me, people are moving away from us, it was nuts. A nearby dad asked if he could help with anything - which was so nice. The nurses didn't want to give Katie the shot at this point and I agreed - (just when I thought we would all be done with vaccinations for the year). So now I have to find another place to take her.

THEN - while I was Walmart with my neighbor Lisa - Maddie loses "it" in her bed. Andy cleaned it up and bathed her all alone and I felt so bad. He said it was fine though and that Maddie kept thanking him: "Thank you for cleaning me up, Daddy ... Thank you for giving me a bath, Daddy ... Thank you for warming me up, Daddy." Too cute. She's done that before.

That was Thursday night and we have been "it" free since then. The laundry situation is still out of control because all my regular laundry had to be put on hold so I could clean up all the other things that were a mess. I did a few loads more than once just to be sure. I ran out of detergent at one point and had to wait for Andy to pick me up some on the way home from work so that set me back a day, too.

Thanks for sticking with me through this icky post - I just needed to vent!

Hope you all have a "24-hour-plus" free Christmas!