Why haven't I been posting much lately?

She actually got her knee up there but I wasn't quick enough to catch it on film before she lost her balance and fell back.

Children cure puking

The day was going along fine. We had just returned from a walk and all the kids were cheery despite that two of them were suffering from a bad cold. Clara, one of the cold sufferers, had developed a fever the day before and had had a horrible night's sleep but was holding it together quite nicely. Her fever had broken earlier in the afternoon and I was hoping for a better sleep for both of us tonight. The hour was approaching dinner time and having nothing planned I asked David to go out and pick us up some Chinese food while I bathed Clara and put her to sleep. Emerging clean from her bath, I dressed her in warm pj's and together we settled into the glider. Suddenly a great thirst came over me and I willed Clara to sleep so I could get back downstairs and get some water. And then a headache came. Right on the heels of the headache came some slight nausea. I attributed these symptoms to being overly tired from the previous night's lack of sleep and also to not eating enough before our walk. I vowed to stuff my face full of Chinese food and get to bed early... if only Clara would go to sleep. But it soon became obvious that I wasn't going to make it much longer so I took Clara downstairs, handed her off to David and went and puked in the bathroom. And the last thing I ate was unfortunately not waffles with strawberries. It was actually some eggnog followed by Odwalla's Superfood - Micronutrient Fruit Juice Drink. Great green garden of puke. Don't ask why.

Feeling much better I returned to the family room and guzzled a glass of water. This, in hindsight, was a big mistake because about 5 minutes later I was back in the bathroom puking up the water. During all the up-chucking I was thinking that I might have one of the stomach bugs going around that lasts like 2-3 days. And, while the thought of vomiting for 3 days straight is unappealing, I have been wanting to lose some of this post-pregnancy weight. This may be a hell of a way to do it but... hey, silver lining, you know? But I was also thinking that if this agony is going to go on for 3 days just take me to the hospital now, knock me out and hook me up to an IV.

At this point in the evening all 3 kids are still awake and I'm in no condition to help any of them get to bed. After another 5 minutes pass, and another vomiting event, David bravely declares that he will rock Clara to sleep. Up the stairs the two of them go and over the baby monitor I hear her agonizing screams. Realizing I probably have at least 2 minutes until I puke again I start up the stairs thinking I can at least sing to her while David rocks her. But as soon as I start up Jackson yells from the kitchen, "Mom! I've got a bloody nose and it's really bad!" Oh, for fuck's sake. Really? Let's see how many gross body fluids we've covered today: Clara's diaper leaked poop on the carpet this morning; Clara wiped green snot on me in the afternoon; I've got the puke thing covered. Have we not hit our daily maximum? Bloody nose, really?! So I choked back the urge to puke and dealt with the blood.

Now Clara is still screaming upstairs and it's ripping my heart apart to not comfort her. But when I finally do take her from David she is so worked up that she can't stop crying to go to sleep. So I hit the baby reset button... which for Clara means that I just have to take her to watch her silly brothers. So we hang out with the boys while they prepare for a bath, me leaning against the wall holding Clara with my mouth tightly closed. Then I smell poop. Because you just can't finish the day without coming full circle back to the poop. The diaper stash upstairs is completely depleted but I know that as faint as I'm feeling I can't make the trek downstairs with Clara in arms. I set her down in Sam's room where David is wrestling with Sam to put his pajamas on. I make it halfway down the stairs before I hear David say, "Oooh, ouch," and then Clara's scream. Clara has just recently learned to crawl but has not yet mastered the skill. She bonks her head into things all the time and I assumed that's what had happened. Back up the stairs I went, retrieved Clara and staggered back down.

By the time I've finished changing her diaper she's really tired and sad and I'm really feeling weak from all the puking. But I can't just let my baby cry so I carried her back upstairs while singing "You are my sunshine." Wise to my attempts to get her back to sleep she refused to lay in my arms so I sat her on my lap and rocked until she leaned her head back against me and it slowly dropped to the side. Finally! Now I could go puke. But I didn't feel the need anymore. As a matter of fact I was feeling a bit hungry. So I fixed myself a flour tortilla, the only simple carbohydrate I could find in the kitchen, and sat down to type this up.

Seriously. When people say that moms aren't allowed time to be sick they mean it. In this case I was glad, even though now I'm actually going to have to exercise to lose this weight.