No Time For Mommy To Be Sick!

CAUTION: DON'T READ IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH!

Well, sorry for the hyatus...I've been under the weather. My daughter decided to pick up another bug last week! A Rota virus to be exact. Mind you, she didn't do it on purpose, nor did she intend to give it to me or Joe, but it happened and so we were all out the last weekend!
On Thursday morning I took her to the doctor for another issue, and while we were driving there, she got sick in the car. Poor thing didn't know what hit her, it totally caught her (and of course myself) by surprise. I pulled over immediately, and saw that she acutally managed to throw up into her lovies, what a trooper! Luckily I had an extra undershirt with me to change her into, but no sweater, so I just turned up the heat in the car, cleaned her up as much as I could and continued driving to the pediatrician. We even made it there in time. She was fine until after the visit, when she decided she didn't want to leave, nor sit in her car seat. She just kind of listlessly hung out in the car and no bribing helped to get her back into her seat. That's when I knew something was up, so I opened the windows for fresh air, and just held her for a while. All of a sudden, she said "here it comes again" and I was just in time to hold a towel in front of her so that she could puke in it. When she was done, she said "I feel better now, let's go home!" I just wanted to cry, because she sounded so grown up! Gosh, I LOVE this little one!

Well, you may have guessed, this wasn't the end of it. We had a rough day on Friday, stayed in and just pretty much spent the day doing laundry, and going to the bathroom a lot. Later on that day, I started to feel a little queasy, but was hopeful it was only in my mind. It wasn't. Sofia only threw up twice after that, and both times it landed on me... I don't think I have ever experienced anything more gross in my life! But, what can you do? You don't show it and you praise your baby for letting it all out! That's what you do. Then you take of your clothes, wash yourself off, and hope for the best. You also don't get sick. Because mommies can't be sick, they have to hold up the fort, and keep on doing what they do. Like getting up the next morning, after you've had the worst night of your life with cold sweats and other things I can and will not mention for your own good, to tend to your little one, while husbands sleeps until noon (because he too caught the bug and was up all night). To give him some credit; he did get up a couple of times for Sofia to change her after she had soiled herself involuntarily during her sleep, right before he then got sick as well.

We all were able to take a nap on Saturday afternoon, but it was me (and Sofia) who went out to get some groceries that would hopefully help speed up the health of our intestinal bug, while hubby continued to sleep... He finally got up when we got back, took a shower and was somewhat useful.

On Sunday we finally started to feel a little better, after having a relatively good night's rest, and even managed to go to the Famer's Market. Even though it was my turn to sleep in, dear hubby and baby woke me up at 10am to get ready for the Market. While I was silently cursing him out for having woken me up, I later was glad to get some fresh air into my system and enjoyed the time with them very much! It was also Joe's birthday on Sunday, yeah, great timing to be sick. Needless to say, that we weren't in the mood for celebrating. We barely were able to sing "Happy Birthday" to him! I felt bad, on top of everything else. I promised him a Do-Over next weekend, which all in all will work out just soooo much better for all of us. So hang in there, honey! You will get your Birthday celebration, I promise!

All is so much better now, even though we're still trying to keep Sofia's bowels under control. But man, it was quite the weekend!

The lesson I've learned during all of this? Don't get sick. Ever. And if you do, continue with what you're suppose to be doing, especially if everybody else is sick, too. But most of all: Be thankful that you are this strong individual who can take it, and of course be thankful that this, too, WILL pass!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY honey, I love you! ;o)

Helloooo 2009!

Wow! It's 2009 dude! I can't believe it's already January. Christmas and New Year have come and gone, and so has my husband's time off :o( I like having him around, because we get to do things together, duh. Yes, but also, we get to work on the house, which we did. We painted the hallway green. I know, it sounds kinda weird, but I actually like it. Of course it would look much better if there were better lighting, a nice rug, and maybe some art, but hey, it's a start. You'd like to see our handiwork? OK, I'll post a picture:




Christmas was really nice. It was so much fun to introduce Sofia to the whole Santa story, and she really enjoyed making cookies for him and put them out on a plate together with a glass of milk and a carrot for the reindeer. You guys should have seen her face the next morning when she saw that they were gone, and instead there were presents! When it was time to unwrap the presents, she made sure we each had one to open. It was so nice to see that she wanted to share, which all of you who have toddlers at home know, is unheard of! It warmed my heart and it made it that much more special to me. Then, in the afternoon we had some friends over for Christmas dinner. We made a ham and potatoes and our friends brought something to share. It was nowhere near the event we had for Thanksgiving, but I so enjoyed to have them here and share some of the holiday spirit. We also had a good discussion about religion and what to do when you have children. Joe and I are spiritual, but not dedicated to one religion, and we both want Sofia to grow up exploring this subject herself and figure out where she feels comfortable. It is something that we both need to spend some more time discussing, and exploring and I look forward to doing that together with our daughter!



At this point, I'd also like to acknowledge some sadder news; after Christmas we learned that Joe's grandmother of 97 had passed away. She had a very rich life, living on a farm in Connecticut, being a teacher and a mother of two warm, loving and most of all caring daughters. After her health had declined, those two women took in upon themselves to care for her, which was a 24-hour job in itself. They made sure she was well cared for until she peacefully passed away in her sleep. I am very proud of them, because I know how much work it is to care for an elderly person.
So Joe flew out there for four days for the funeral. The poor guy was sick going and even sicker coming home! But we were glad he was able to go and be a moral support for his mom. It was nice having some time to myself, but I have to say I wouldn't want to be alone for longer than that. As for Great-grandma Margret, I'm positiv she is in a good place now, where she can enjoy all the things again that she couldn't do anymore here on earth. We love you and miss you!

Alright. So now that we've moved into 2009, I am, of course wondering, what it has in store for us: will it be a pet? a vacation? some more home improvements? a brother or sister for Sofia? Who knows. All I hope for is that all of us will stay healthy and the rest will fall into place by itself, I'm sure.

So thanks for being in my life, all of you! I look forward to doing lots of fun things this year, watch our daughter grow up, and cherish family and friends.