Upon getting the kids this morning, we learned that, once again, Rowan had thrown up in his bed. Down himself, all over his bedding, and as an added bonus, he barfed on (and out of) the inside corner of his crib, spraying down the wall and onto the floor under his crib. But as has been our weird normal with this sickness, he seemed to be 100% post puke. So we decided to continue with our day. We had plans with my parents for a waffle lunch, but my dad got sick overnight, so our plans changed. We decided to bite the bullet, bring a bucket, and head into the city. These poor kids have been just so sick, but they have such bad cabin fever. So do their parents. So we packed them up after breakfast and drove to fun a few errands.

It wasn’t our smoothest errand day, but I think the general consensus was that it was a good idea. I think Brady and I were more tired at the end of it all than the kids were. We bought Rowan his birthday present, a couple of little get-well gifts for my dad, and a small handful of groceries.

Thanks to Rowans literal outburst this morning, I decided to buy a notebook specifically to track the kids sicknesses. We get into survival mode when we’re sick for an extended period of time, and I lose track of who has been sick for how long. When someone is sick one day, and another one is sick the next day, its hard to remember consecutive days. Details are fuzzy, and when I’m at the end of my rope and call my doctor, and she asks how long kid #X has been sick, I never know. It feels crappy. Also, I LOVE cute new notebooks, so I think it’ll be a system I’ll embrace really easily. I’m going to backtrack a little bit and record this sickness from the day Dekker threw up roughly a week and a half ago. Never too late, right?

Once we got home, we wrapped grandpas gifts and I took Dekker and Laela over for a very short visit, just to give the gift and then come back home. My mom snapped a BEAUTIFUL picture of them while we were there. The amount of time that they spend scrapping with each other results in very few pictures of them together, and I am SO happy with this one! Happy enough to possibly put it up on my wall.

We came home and made them a light snacky supper. I anticipate an early bedtime, since the little ones didn’t nap even close to as much as usual. Rowan slept for a short ten minutes, and Solly got maybe a little bit more. They both usually nap for three hours or so. Rest will come soon, little loves.

It feels like a successful day, and a very well-earned sleep, too. Reality begins again tomorrow!

Another good night and an explosion-free morning, Brady and his friends from work and pumping out a frost wall in our basement! Its so wonderful that our basement project is on the go, finally! The guys said they were happy to work for pizza, so pizza they got! I kidnapped my mom and took her to Pizza Hut with me to pick up lunch for everyone, which was a nice break in the midst of the day. While Laela and Rowan are LOVING watching the work downstairs, and Solly really couldn’t care less, Dekker is pretty freaked out by all of the noise. He was quite rattled all morning, and happily agreed to take a nap this afternoon. So once everyone was laid down for a rest, I got a little drive in with my mom 🙂

We all just finished up our pizza lunch now, and even just talking to the guys about the rest of the plans was exciting! It made me feel like we’ve hopefully got some of these projects in the bag for this year. Not to look too far ahead, but I had it in my head that we might come out of 2017 with a half finished basement and half finished yard, and I feel less that way now. It won’t all be done, by all means, but I think we’re going to have some really great progress soon. Woot! Nice to have so many good connections and loving friends.

With the work beginning again, the nailers and compressors are roaring away downstairs, therefore, everyone is waking up earlier than usual. But thats ok. I’m so happy to have a bite taken out of the work already, and SO happy to have the crew we have today. It is worth a LOT to have a group of workers who are efficient but positive! I hear them goofing around and chatting away consistently, but the work does not stop. Does. Not. Stop. I’m so so thankful! I couldn’t have asked for better help on our first day of the huge project that is our basement, and eventually the rest of the work we want to do around here. Brady casually threw out a ballpark number of what he figured we’d spend on our house/property this year, and one guy just laughed, and said we could do it for far less than that! WE 🙂 Love that! This is going to be GREAT.

I can’t be sure that we’re officially done being in this particular stage of sickness, because being optimistic even is scary stuff. BUT none of the kids woke up covered in anything unspeakable this morning!!! Laela practically bounded out of her bed to me, telling me she hadn’t pooped of thrown up, and that she felt really healthy! Not sick to her tummy or in her throat or anything! It was a huge relief. The boys were much the same. Dekker has been feeling decent for a good few days now, and Rowan still has a runny nose and yucky poops, but his demeanour is classic Ro. Solly is the snottiest of the group, and he’s still pretty tired, but if this is the worst of it for my group, I am completely tickled.

And if it all falls apart again tomorrow morning, then I guess I’m really thankful that we got this break in the middle 🙂 Positive thinking, right?

Thanks all, for your care and concern for our family. Please don’t stop caring too soon, haha! Give us another day or two and see how we manage 😉 But tomorrow, basement plans are a go!! Wish us luck on that too, please and thanks! And a HUGE thank you to the guys from Brady’s work who are coming to offer their expertise and muscles towards our house. I’m so so excited for this project to finally start!

Rowan turns two today. He has cried a lot of tears today already, and I am right there with him. I find myself very focused, and in survival mode, when we’re all this sick for this long. Today, however, on SUCH a special day as my sons birthday, I’m having my big sad tearful breakdown.

My AMAZING Rowan Toby is two. He was sick on his first birthday, and now he is on his second. I found him playfully chatting away in his crib this morning, once again, covered head to toe and pillow to sheet  in barf. He was so patient with me as I carefully undressed him, not wanting to get any of the more recent, wetter stuff in his hair. What was already in his hair was crusted over. He also had a very nasty, sick diaper on. It was all contained, thank goodness, but seriously, its like the outside of it was grey. He seemed to feel way better once he was in a fresh diaper and clean jammies. For the time being, I just threw his hair into a ponytail. That way, he could come out and be with us, and have a bath later in the morning.

He ate some breakfast, but didn’t watch much, and I didn’t push. His morning of play started well enough, and he enjoyed some birthday greetings and songs, but he started to break down before long. And Rowan breaks down pretty loudly, if you haven’t witnessed it before. He cried and screamed, and could not be pacified for probably about 40 ish minutes. He needed his bed. But here’s the thing. His bedding was in the laundry. Sure, I have lots of different sheets and pillowcases I could swap out, BUT his pillow and stuffed toy were in the washer. My only extra pillows are really puffy, too puffy for a toddler neck. And his stuffed toy (his foxy) is a new development since we took his comfort chewing blanket away (More on that in another post soon, by the way) and I couldn’t bear to try to put him to bed without it already. I knew he would freak, honestly. So I held off putting him to bed, but I bawled right along with him.

I’m having to face that fact that my “strong mom” facade is wearing thin, and I am just flat out discouraged. I can’t believe that Rowan’s birthday is overshadowed with illness again, and that our entire school “break” has been spent with at least one child barfing and or pooping all over themselves every day. Everyone in our house has a dreadful case of cabin fever, but there is no possible way we can actually take them anywhere, because of their additional dreadful case of whatever the heck we have here! I want to do something special with Rowan, but we can’t go anywhere or eat anything beyond plain noodles and toast. What’s celebratory about that??

I was relieved when I checked the laundry and Rowan’s pillow and foxy were dry (enough) for him to use them in bed. Rowan had been up for only about two hours, and when I carried his pillow and foxy up the stairs and he saw me, he got way louder, WAY sadder, and raced me to his room. He stood beside his crib as I threw a new sheet on it and a new case on his pillow. When that was done, I looked down at him. He had a train in each hand, which he held up and said “Here y’go!” I took them and set them on his dresser. He held his arms up and cried “Up pleeeeease!” I scooped him up and he practically dove into his crib. He shuddered and shrucked as I covered him up and tucked him in. I asked if he was ok, and he said yes. “Happy birthday, Rowan. I love you.” He was already in another world.

While I’m very sad that Rowan is so sick on his birthday again, I am warmed by the memory of his birth, and the thrill it was to bring him home and add him to our family. Rowan’s birth brought some serious healing to my fearful mama heart. He instantly became the perfect third kid, who slept beautifully long stretches, wanted for very little, and loved his siblings. Two years later, he is still wonderful. He is bright and comprehensive, and loves to learn from his siblings. He loves to help, and do whatever everyone else is doing, whether it be unpacking the dishwasher, counting, singing, riding bikes, reading stories, doing laundry, etc. He finds the part of it that he can do, and gets right in there! He is fabulous for snuggling. He loves to give kisses with those big squishy lips. Sometimes, he’ll catch your eye across a room, bellow “HUG!,” raise his arms up, and just run at you for one. Its truly the best. Rowan loves to pray to Jesus at bedtime, and sometimes even asks to pray at meals. He is a wonderful boy, and he continues to develop and change and grow, even through all of this sickness. God has not forgotten Rowan, and he will no forget Rowan. And we have NOT forgotten Rowan!

I love you desperately, my Rowan Toby. I’m sorry you’re feeling so sick today, but I hope we can really celebrate soon!!

I feel like normally, I would use a title like this to tell you guys something heroic (but not actually heroic) thing I accomplished for the sake of my children. However, that is not the case. In fact, today was quite the opposite. Today I was so weak. SO WEAK.

I don’t care to get into a ton of details, but I did not sleep until about 4:30. Even then, I slept lightly, nodding in and out, and woke up in a panic at 7:45 upon realizing that Brady had slept through his alarm and was instantly two hours late for work, also missing an additional deadline that he was supposed to meet at that exact moment. Seemingly seconds later, he was out the door, and Solly was awake. I tried to feed him, but he wouldn’t drink. I lay him back down and got dressed and ready for the long day ahead.

Come to find out that Laela had once again had a poop explosion all over her bed 🙁 This is of absolutely NO fault of her own, as she is so very sick and her body is simply not cooperating, but it is SUCH a wild amount of mess each time. Just amazing. She informed me right away that she hadn’t pooped on her stuffed toys, so thats good news, but it was on her hands and feet, all over her bedding, etc. I took my cue from Brady the other day when he had to deal with it on his own, and I stripped her down in the tub. She was so cooperative and chipper as I cleaned her off, and only one time mentioned that she was little bit chilly standing ankle deep in water so I could get every little spot off of her. I wrapped her up quickly and cleaned out the tub while she sat in her towel. Some fresh jammies and a diaper seemed to fix everything, and she was good to go for the day! I, on the other hand, did a big load of laundry, soaked and hung her big quilt, and aired out her room.

It was a pretty rough start for me on such little sleep. The boys were happy when I went to get them, but I was having a lot of trouble cooling off, and I know I wasn’t being very nice. I was failing left, right, and centre. It was the kind of day where I would have loved to just load them all into the van and drive to the city for Starbucks or to bring Brady a coffee or something like that. Just to get out for a bit. But with the kids so sick and unpredictable, there was just no way. I may it until about 9:40 before I called my mom. Rather than talking me off a ledge, she came over. She braved our illness and came to love on us for the day. It was SO needed and appreciated and saved the entire day. When someone would start to cry or a argue, my mom would get up before I could. It was so nice to have a dear friend to split some of the load with <3 Thank you, mom, for all you do. I don’t know how well today could have gone if not for you. I love you!

Now, kids are in bed, and I have honey mustard chicken and garlic parm bread cooking. Still have to find a veggie, but we’re well on our way to winding down for the night. I hope you all had vastly smoother starts to your days, but I know I’m the only one who got to spend it with my mom, sooooo mine was likely the best 😉

Not in order of importance, obviously 😉

I’ve had a couple of “this is what I’m going to blog about today” moments but they keep changing. So you’re all getting a bit of a mixed bag.

Last night, I finally decided to let go of a pair of denim maternity shorts I ordered a while back. They fit me funny when I ordered them, so I exchanged them through the mail for a size smaller. When I received the second pair, they still fit wrong. Soon after that happened, I lost our baby. Therefore, the stupid big shorts have been sitting on our kitchen island ever since. I could still exchange them for another size, and maybe that size would be bang on. But I bit the bullet and asked Brady to just mail them back. The reality is they may very well get worn down the road, but not for a couple of years. And why hang onto them for so long when I can just buy a different pair when the time comes? If I get pregnant anytime in the next few months, I will have a winter baby. So I wouldn’t AT ALL be showing or needing maternity stuff in summer. Its weird to talk about trying to conceive on here, haha! Thats never been something I’ve been public about. But its not like you guys think we’re not going to try again. We aren’t yet, and I’m not going to announce it when we are, haha! But we obviously will. Anyway, after that bummer of giving back my maternity clothes, I was happy to receive my new Keurig Rivo!! So one good parcel cancels out the bad one, right?

I started some tax stuff today.

Not tons, but I had some quiet moments while the little boys napped, and I got some of the prep work done anyway. I’ve been doing more of Brady’s office stuff recently and I have decided that I HATE the spreadsheets that he uses! Too many boxes that are never ever filled, and if I ever had to print them off, each page would be like four sheets of tiny print. No good. So a while back, I redid a couple of them, and since doing some of this prep work, I know more ways to improve them and make them more efficient. So I’m calling success on my first attempt at summarizing our year, but anticipating it being much smoother next year.

Aaaaand Laela. Laela tossed it all again this morning. She seemed ok when I got her up from bed, and announced excitedly that she hadn’t “fwowed up or pooped on anyfing!” It was pretty adorable. However, after breakfast, she coughed suspiciously when getting down from the table. I wasn’t instantly beside her, so I dove for a bucket (we have a few floating around the house at the moment) and asked her to “hang on!” She had definitely coughed out a bit but the bomb dropped as soon as I had the bucket under her chin. That girl let fly, let me tell you. Now Laela is SO chill in this situation. I asked her if she was ok, and she chirped “ya!” before releasing another bomb. Her biggest issue with barfing is the stinking leftovers that dribble down her chin. So as soon as she started up, I asked Dekker if he could go get a kleenex. He responded with “Help is on the way!” I cleaned up Laela’s chin and she assured me she was done for the moment. “Would you dump dis out please mommy?” she asks, eyeing her bucket with distain. Of course I did, and she went to rest on the couch for the morning.

Seriously, who looks this clear after barfing her guts out??

She has since eaten lunch, and while she continues to tell me she’s feeling good, she’s got those suspicious burps and breathing going on that makes me think there’s more to come :/ Sooooo we’ll anticipate that.

Time to get off my butt and read a story to Laela, as she has picked a book and is now heavy breathing beside me, waiting. 👀 Its actually super nerve wracking…

Since I know it pleases everyone greatly to know our barfing history, I’m here to share it with you. But it just never ends. 

First though, a high point!! We sold our minivan last night!! I’m both so happy that we managed to sell it and no longer be attached to that loan, but we are also really happy to see friends of ours have a need met and have a new vehicle for their family! Win win, for sure. While we made that deal, all of the kids were in bed, except Solly. He wouldn’t drink anything, and he had such a long nap in the afternoon that we decided to just let him be up with us, and then we’d feed him and put him to bed. 

Once everything was done and done, Solly still didn’t want to drink his milk. He had eaten a decent amount of applesauce for supper, though, so we let it go and put him down for the night. I was really really nauseous and sick yesterday, so i popped a gravol and fell asleep quickly. We all slept completely soundly until Solly woke around 4:00. Now that is a really really good stretch for him, so we were pretty thrilled. Brady got him and brought him to bed while he headed to make a bottle. I rubbed Solly belly and noticed right away how soaked he was. Same with his blanket. And when I touched his face, it was crusted over. Now I could’ve been more diligent, but I was SO zoned out and sick. When Brady came back up, I mentioned that I thought maybe Solly had thrown up. Sure enough, when Brady turned the lamp up, Solly was covered in vomit. So I rallied and got up. I snuck into Laela’s room and grabbed a handful of receiving blankets and a handful of fresh sleepers for Solly. I went back up and handed Brady one of each while I changed Solly. I headed over to Solly’s playpen, and the sheet was GROSS and brown and gnarly with barf. So we cleaned that up too. It was a long, drawn out feeding, that’s for sure! But he drank a pretty good bottle, which we fed him very cautiously, and then he easily the went back down for sleep. 

And so did we. For sure me! Brady lovingly let me sleep in as long as I needed. I only learned this, of course, when I woke up. AT 11:00!!! My gosh, what an amazing sleep! I’m feeling much better since then. What a wonderful gift. 

Upon getting up and going to be with my family, I got the scoop. Rowan had barfed in the night, so his bedding and jammies were in the laundry and he was in fresh clothes. We had a monitor on him, and didn’t hear from him at all in the night, but it was all crusted and old :/ Can’t win them all. Also, Laela had pooped. Everywhere. Her entire bed was patchy with poop. So not only was her bedding also in the laundry, but she had been bathed and was also in fresh comfy clothes. Once Brady knew I was up, he took Laela’s blanket that cannot go through the washing machine, and soaked it in our bathtub. Couldn’t be the kids bathtub because Rowan and Solly still need baths, thanks to the amount of crusted vomit in their hair. 

What a day. What a time! We’ve been sick for only a few days but MY GOODNESS they have been big days! Yet, its seeming like everyone is only sick for a couple of days at the most, so let’s hope everyone is better by the end of the day, so I don’t have to do too much crazy on my own this week! Though if Brady can do what he all did this morning, I know I can too! Sure would love to not though…

I’m going to rush this point. I am the one on the proverbial chopping block today, waking up incredibly nauseated and dizzy and hot and gross. I am waiting but for the life of me, my body refuses to remove the sickness from itself. While I don’t exactly love diarrhea or vomit, I would give a lot for SOME progress right now!

I have been in bed all day. All. Day While I welcome the rest, honestly, I feel guilty that the rest of my family isn’t 100% and I’m all tucked into bed. Brady is still quite achy from his crazy bouts of sickness the other night, but insists that he is more than happy to care for the kids while I wait for the bomb to drop. I miss him. I also miss my kids. Every once in a while, they stick their beautiful faces into my room, whether to show me a trick, or give me a hug, or bring me a soft thing. Its SO sweet and SO endearing, but every time I turn my head, I have a hot flash. The. Worst.

So this post is already over, because I can’t sit up very well, and I forgot my glasses in the bathroom the last time I thought I was going to throw up but didn’t. Please wish me luck! This is SO different than how we planned to spend our long weekend, but I guess it did time out fairly well rather than halfway through a busy week! I only have Brady home for one more day, though, so I HAVE to be done with my turn of this sickness ASAP. Please offer up a prayer, if you think of us!!

Aaaaand back to lying down…

As luck would have it, Brady started barfing at work yesterday. He made it home and proceeded to throw up a number of times in the afternoon and evening. We bit the bullet and cancelled our house plans for today. Our basement framing will have to wait for another weekend. I won’t lie and say I’m not disappointed, but I am also a picture of compassion for my poor family.

Laela woke up covered in vomit once again. She seemed to be in worse shape than when she woke up barfy yesterday. Still very pleasant, but COVERED. Not just wet, but dirty and gross. There were pieces of things all down her jammies and all over her bed. As soon as she sat up, she started heaving. Brady held her pail for her while I stripped her bed and got her some fresh jammies. We went and lay her on the couch with a fresh blanket, and within a few minutes, she was insisting on breakfast. I asked her to wait a few minutes for her tummy to settle, but she was persistent. So I agreed, and gave in to her request of Cheerios and milk. Now I KNOW that milk is frowned upon when kids are sick, because sometimes dairy upsets an already angry tummy, but in chats with my doctor previously, she fully supports my giving them milk when they ask for it. I just don’t have juice kids. They aren’t into it! Neither warm beverages, like tea or honey water. No dice. So milk is that extra oomph that water can’t give them. And if they barf it up, at least they likely absorbed something extra. Though when she asked for yogurt, I sold her on apple sauce instead. I figured that would be less vile if it decided to come back up. So far, though, we’re in the clear!!

Brady feels considerably better today, after sleeping almost 12 hours last night! He is still very achy from all of the dry heaving he did yesterday :/ Whatever they have is pretty crappy, and is clearly irritating their stomaches, empty or not. So much heaving! Ack! But so far today, Brady’s tummy is cooperating. A HUGE thank you to my mom for bringing fresh muffins over last night. They have made a delicious brunch and a gentle transition back to food for the hubs. Plus I think muffins and cheese are on the menu for supper for the littles! Win win!

I’m pretty bummed that we aren’t getting our basement started today, but it would have been challenging for Brady while he’s feeling so wiped and sore, and also for me with a sick kid or two. I’m happy that the basement is TOTALLY ready for the job, and we’ll keep it that way until next weekend or the weekend after or whenever it can happen. We’re as ready as we can be! Just keep hoping that we’ll be healthy enough for it soon!

The “fun” is also never particularly well timed.

Dekker endured a pretty wild barfing episode the other day. I don’t want to be too gross, but it was unlike anything I’ve ever cleaned up. It. Was. Everywhere. He began at the couch, and bolted to the bathroom, throwing up on the living room carpet, on the bathroom floor, and then on/in the toilet. Barf was everywhere. Once he was done, though, he was back to 100%. It was weird. I have to say on his behalf, though, that he was AWESOME while he was getting sick!! Standing over the toilet, “I think (heave) I think (heave) I’m a bit (heave) sick.” Once he had finally stopped, I just stood and stared, completely unsure of where to even start. So I stripped him down and plunked him in the empty bathtub. I gave him a towel to wrap around himself in case he got cold, and I threw a bunch more old towels at the floor to soak up the majority of the mess. While I cleaned, Dekker played and chatted and closed the shower doors and peeked out of them and just joked around. It was a HUGE relief that he was feeling so much better so quickly! After probably a solid hour of wiping, spraying, cleaning, scrubbing (my poor living room rug!) and throwing in a load of laundry, all was behind us.

Now, this morning, I went to get Laela and she right away told me she had barfed on his bed. Sure enough, every item on her bed was wet, herself included. Sheets, pillowcase, blanket cover, four stuffies, and two cuddle blankets. My. Gosh. But she was chipper and happy! I changed her jammies and brought her into the boys room to change diapers and start the day. As I was changing Rowan, Laela commented that I’d need to find her a bin to barf into. I agreed that we’d find her one. A few seconds later, she said “Mommy, you might need to find a bin really fast!” I grabbed the garbage can from beside Dekker’s bed and juuust  got it under her chin in time. Just like her brother, she goes “I’m not (heave) feeling (heave) very well (heave) today.” I sat beside her and rubbed her back while she threw up. Now, again, I don’t want to be gross, but Dekker’s barf had been legit barf. When you picture barf, that was his. Laela barfed foam. It was really strange. Just bubbles. Froth. I don’t know. Once she slowed down, I tied her hair back in a ponytail to keep it out of her face, and she thanked me, saying I was really helpful 🙂 Three bouts of barfing later, she’s assuring me she feels “supa healfy.” So I guess we’ll go with that…

Sick days like this always make me feel like I can’t do ANYTHING else. And I think thats ok. I want to be as available as possible. So all I’ve accomplished today is the laundry that obviously needs doing, so Laela can sleep in a fresh bed tonight. But there is SO MUCH MORE to do, and I desired very much to be productive today. However, plans change. With the work starting on our basement tomorrow, I’m SO thankful that friends have offered to come work with us, and I’m confident they won’t judge if things aren’t 100% ready or tidy. SO that’s a relief.

Now we just keep praying that this doesn’t spread to anyone else!!!