Another knotch on the mommy belt

Warning:  The following contains details of real life experiences as a mom.  Subject matter not suitable for the faint of heart.

This weekend was the ultimate test of my mommy skills, well so far.  After all this time of bragging about how healthy my boys are ... came this weekend.  After surviving 3 days with 2 sick kiddos, I feel like I can add another knotch to my mommy belt.  This weekend, I scrubbed diarrhea out of our carpet, changed barf covered crib sheets in the middle of the night, cleaned poop out of the tub drain and spent extra hours rocking, holding, kissing sweet little faces.  C'mon, there's no badge for this?

On Thursday night Jon and I noticed that Jack wasn't acting like himself.  He was whining, listless and *gasp* not jumping.  He also felt a little hot.  Now, I haven't had to take Jack's temperature since he was a little baby.  And I wasn't quite sure how to do it since I was pretty sure the old way, the way that works great on babies but gives moms like me the creeps, wasn't going to go over well with my big guy.  Thankfully I found an ear thermometer that someone had given us at our baby shower.

Sure enough he had a bit of a fever.  But no other symptoms.  He spent the rest of the evening shivering and snuggling with his daddy on the couch.  We put him to bed early and piled on a few extra blankets.  And then I found myself sneaking into his room every few hours that night just to make sure he was comfy and covered.  For the first time in weeks, Jack slept in past 7am.  For the first time in I can't remember how long, he slept in past 8am.  I went up to check on him and as soon as I opened the door he popped up in bed and said, "Hi Mama!"  His fever had broke and it seemed like Jack was back!

Jon had a late day on Friday and I was planning to go out for a girls' night as soon as he got home.  He called to tell me he'd be at the house in about 20 minutes, while we're still talking on the phone Jack tells me he has to go "pee pee 'gain".  Then he starts crying and walking cowboy style.  I figured it was going to bad so I whisked him away to the upstairs bathroom.  After we got up there I turned around and realized he had a left a trail the whole way up the stairs and into the bathroom.  I don't want to go into too much detail but Jack was crying, I was gagging and we decided right then and there to go back to diapers for the weekend.  I'm certainly not up to potty training in the middle of that kind of illness, regardless of how many knotches on the belt it'd be worth!

Jack went right into the tub and I went right to work scrubbing the carpet, until he had another "accident" while in the tub.  By this point Jack is pretty upset, Jude is hungry and crying and I've just about had it.  This is when Jon got home.  I debated about canceling my girls' night since I didn't want want Jon to have a difficult night.  But only for a minute.  I needed my night out!

Jon appeared to have things under control by the time I had my car keys in hand.  Dinner was in the works and Jack seemed to be in better spirits... until he came running into the kitchen saying, "Monkey wet ... Monkey wet."  I just nodded my head and said "yeah" like I always do when I'm not quite sure what he's saying.  And then I suddenly realized he had just come from the bathroom.  Sure enough.  Poor Monkey went for yet another swim.  I fished him out and dumped him right into the washer, which apparently Jack found quite upsetting.  I figured if I didn't leave then I never would so I asked Jon to make sure he got Monkey in the dryer right away so he was "done" before bedtime and ran out to the car, shutting the door on the "yelling house."

Girls' night out was fantastic.  Apparently Jon got to experience another "Jackcident" that night, but thankfully he was in a diaper by then.  The poor boy was sound asleep by the time I got home, but his little brother was not.  I could hear him yelling in his bed the moment I walked in the door.  I barely had time to kick off my boots before it was back to cuddling and nursing and seeing babies off to bed again.

Saturday was a little better for Jack.  Although he didn't have any more major incidents you could tell he was uncomfortable.  I took the boys to my friend Jori's house to celebrate her birthday.  There was the sweetest black lab there named Chester that Jack had a blast with.  And for a few hours you would have never known he wasn't feeling well.  He was obviously on the mend but still a bit whiny throughout the day and more than likely a bit dehydrated judging by the number of false alarm "pee pee gains" we had.

I've been told by many that Jude has a number of funny facial expressions.  I don't know what they're talking about.

But Jude was quite the angel all Saturday.  I remember thinking how thankful I was that he was so happy and indpendent since Jack was requiring extra attention.  I even got dinner on the table late and he never made a peep.  Which is very un-Jude-like, he's pretty strict with his mealtimes.  He had pureed peas and oatmeal.  I noticed he was gagging a bit more than usual but figured it was just because they were chunkier than what he's been used to.  It certainly didn't stop him from opening his mouth for more.  And then he threw most of it up, which he's never done before.  I decided to switch to something smoother but 5 minutes later it happened again. 

At this point I wasn't sure what to do.  It was past his bedtime, but judging by the amount of food left in the container and the amount now puddled on his tray, he certainly hadn't eaten much.  I didn't want to put him to bed hungry but he was obviously in no condition to eat.  He didn't seem to mind at all and soon fell asleep on his own in his crib.  A little after midnight he woke up crying and I ran into his room to find my poor baby covered in vomit.  His face, his jammies, his neck and into his hair.  All over the sheets.  I have never had a child vomit before.  I wasn't sure what to do.  I picked him up and he just smiled and tried to grab my face with is barf-covered hand.  I put him down on the floor to get his jammies off and clean him up and he just kept laughing.  Then I walked away to go change the sheets on his bed and he was still chatting and giggling. 

Jude's signature hand on the hip move.

I figured it would be best to nurse him so he could get some fluids and maybe fall asleep.  Instead, he'd take a few sips and then look up at me and laugh.  Take a few more sips and then reach up and grab my hair.  And then he just laid there and smiled, as content as could be.  It was the strangest thing.  I couldn't get him to sleep so I just laid him back in bed and he kicked and cooed for a while and then I didn't hear anything more until the next morning. 

And other than some particularly stinky diapers today, he appears to be completely normal.  His appetite remains, he hasn't thrown up again and he's just as happy as ever.  And Jack seems to be better too.  We're still not sure if it's just a "bug" or if his two year molars are kicking in.  Either way, I hope today is the last of it.  Because it's sunny, the snow is all melted, and the park tells me its missing my kids every time I drive by.  Maybe the groundhog had it right!