The Daily Hailey

When I woke up, my house was quiet. I made a bit of a plan of what to accomplish, but it was going to be pretty relaxed. I had a miraculous wave of energy and motivation yesterday, and I completed my Christmas baking! This was a big thing off my list, and even though I didn’t bake as much as I had hoped to originally, we have a sheet cake, and a double batch of homemade oreos. That plus a Ziploc bag full of shortbread and other cookies, I think we’re good for treats. So I was feeling good about the day, and thinking a few menial tasks would be simple enough to accomplish.

And then I went into Laela’s room. She was laying flat in her bed, awake, but very calm. I asked her if I had woken her, and she said “Um…ya. My bed is wet.” I looked at her sheets, and sat they were quite wet. “Wow! You must have peed a lot in the night!” I said to her. She agreed. But when I hugged her, she wasn’t wet. She was crusted over. Then I looked closer.

I’ll spare you the picture, but there was vomit everywhere. The smell started to set in then. It was insane. “Did you throw up?” I asked. Her lip quivered a little bit, then stopped, and she said she had. A very brave little girl, she was. Right away, I stripped her down and put her in fresh jammies. She’ll obviously need a bath later with fresh jammies yet again, but I just needed a temporary fix. She said she felt ok, but she was a bit shaky in her hands and on her feet. I asked if she was hungry for breakfast, and she said she was. So I sent her to the table to wait. My kids always set the table, but I wanted her to just be still.

I went into the boys room, and Rowan was still cashed out. Dekker came out to breakfast, though, and we poured Cheerios and milk.

Then Dekker offered to pray. We pray lots with our kids, and for the most part, they’re memorized prayers that the kids have picked up. I still love that they pray, because even if they can’t fully understand the idea of God and his greatness and role in our life, I think the habit is wonderful. So Dekker held Laela’s hand, and prayed “Dear Jesus, thank you for the breakfast. Let us have a good day….. and please help Laela feel better. Amen. Whoo!” That warmed my heart extra, because I think he’s really getting what praying is! He didn’t just recite a prayer. He prayed for Laela in our current circumstance, which at least so far this morning, he hadn’t witnessed me do out loud. God is good, and He is working in my family.

Laela ate maybe a quarter of her usual breakfast, but was very thirsty. I convinced her after a cup of milk to drink water. I tried to explain to her to take little sips, but she’s three, and was thirsty. So she chugged.

As I’m sure you can imagine, as I was coming up the stairs from throwing her bedding in the laundry, she had thrown up again. Because I know you’re dying to know, it was mostly water! It appeared that she was keeping her cereal down pretty well! Also, she had managed to barf before making it to the carpet, and because she had barfed on her feet, she hadn’t moved from her spot. She simply said, “I threw up again, on the floor. My feet are dirty, too.” She was so calm, which I found really impressive! When all was cleaned up, I lay a blanket down on top of my beloved living room carpet, and asked her what she wanted to do, whether it be to play, to sit on the couch, to read stories, etc. She went to the blanket and knelt down on it. She set her water bottle beside her and smiled at me. “Come sit with me?” She agreed that I could make a cup of coffee first, and then we sat and had something of a tea party.

The mood lifted, but she was still determined to just sit on the floor. Wearing her new necklace seemed to make her feel a bit better about herself. Isn’t it funny how early that starts? How feeling a tad put together makes you feel a bit more stable?

We read book after book. These pictures came after reading “Baby Happy, Baby Sad.” Apparently these are the saddest and happiest faces they can make. Laela’s sad face is pretty bang on, I’d say.

Rowan finally woke up mid-morning. Laela agreed that I could go get him, so I headed in. He was standing and happy. I asked him if he was sick today. “Nooooo.” What about healthy? “Yay!” He understands so much, which makes things like this a bit easier! I pulled Ro out of bed and started his diaper change. Laela wandered in, as she always does when I get Rowan.

*whispers* Hi, Wowan.
*whispers* Hi.
*whispers* I’m sick today.
*whispers* Uh ohhhh…
*whispers* See my necklace?
*whispers* Wow! Pitty!

Its probably my favorite interaction I’ve ever witnessed between those two. Rowan understood so much, and they both just whispered and visited. I loved it!

Ro ate breakfast while we continued with our day. Laela started saying that her throat hurt, which I believe, because throwing up has that effect. She obediently drank little sips of water and she needed to, but opted to move to the couch. I got her the sickie blanket and a fresh smaller blanket to snuggle, like she has in bed. Once again, she was insistent that I sit by her. I had to deny her the one time, as both Solly and Rowan needed some assistance at the table with yogurt. She understood. When I did make it back to her, I sat beside her and stroked her hair, and this is what I hear.

“Mommy is a princess. Mommy and Laela are beautiful princesses. I love everybody. I love Daddy. I love Mommy. I love Dekker. I love Wowan. I love baby Solly. I love myself. I love everybody, and everybody loves me too. I just want to be nice.”

She isn’t wrong about being nice. Laela has not milked her sickness at all. She is a champ! When Dekker asked to play Lego, Laela had said she didn’t want to play Lego today. I told her that was more than fine, and she could just cuddle up. When I said to Dekker that he could pull out the Lego once his links her tidied, Laela insisted on getting out of her cocoon on the couch to help. Once it was done, she went back to the couch. Again, from her, “I just want to be nice.”

Laela occasionally switches to laying on the floor, and then back to the couch in the blankets. I think she’s trying to regulate her temperature. She has a very mild fever, and I can tell she’s unwell, but she is amazingly self aware! I’m so pleasantly surprised by how calm she has been through all of this!

After eating a tiny bit at lunch, she is back to the couch. Its definitely a tv day around here, but I’m not being too hard on myself about that. She needs to zone and rest her achy body. Even when she’s more upbeat and chipper, she’s a bit shaky, so I can tell she’s weak and likely aching a bit. She is such a strong little girl.

All of this being said, I am SO thankful for the amount of things I accomplished yesterday and the day before. At the end of both days, I was so annoyed at how tired I felt, and how little I had to show for my efforts, but looking at my list now, just about all of the big jobs are crossed off! Thank you Lord for the burst of energy you gave me yesterday evening! I’m not sure what today would have looked like if I had a longer, looming list!

Please keep us in your prayers, if you feel so inclined. This has been the sweetest sick day I could have imagined, and while I’ve actually loved certain aspects of it, I don’t desire that everyone else starts barfing right away here.

Off to get the stuffies out of the laundry…