Week of the Barf

The week of the barf began about 2:30 am on Monday morning. It went down hill from there. Bad dreams are one thing but having sickness spread from one family member to the next is not as fun as playing dominos. In spite of the barf, the triumph from the week is that my continuing education credits are DONE! (At least for 2 weeks until I get to do 20 more credits for 2010.)

Here is a detailed story of day one from L4’s perspective: “This morning around 2:30 am, we woke up to K2 screaming for his customary midnight meal. His cries weren’t getting any softer, so I stumbled my way to the boys’ bedroom. Upon opening the door, I was greeted by that smell which all parents dread- the pungent aroma of vomit. As I came to my senses, I was surprised to find Underfoot clutching my legs. I flipped on the light and saw that he (and his bed) were covered in dried goo. I picked up both boys and carried them down the hall, alerting Mama that now was the time to get up. She asked what was wrong... I told her... We did our best to get K2 fed and Underfoot cleaned. (I’ll let you figure out who took which role.)

After getting Underfoot cleaned up and into a new pair of pajamas, I foolishly set Underfoot on our bed while Mama and I surveyed the damage. A few moments later Mama asked me where I put Underfoot. On our bed, of course. At that instant I was rewarded with another round of vomit, only this time it was all over OUR bed. We got K2 back into his bed and Mama started to rock Underfoot. He erupted again while in her arms. She got him into the bathroom, but not quite far enough. At least it was the linoleum and not the carpet.

We then got down to the business of cleaning up the mess. We rinsed out his blankets and sheets in the shower and then started laundry. We vacuumed and cleaned the floor in the boys room so that at least K2 could sleep in peace. Underfoot vomited again so we decided to give him a shower. In the process of bathing him, I was rewarded with a warm sticky sensation down my back, just as I was finishing my shower. I cleaned him up again. Around 3:30 we decided that I wasn’t going to work today, so I sent an email to my boss letting him know my situation.

We made our bed up, we all (Mama, Underfoot, and I) got back into our bed, and we kept a bucket right next to Underfoot for the rest of the night. He didn’t have a fever, but whatever nastiness that haunted him caused him to vomit about every 15 minutes until around 8 am. Mama would hold Underfoot up so he could hit the bucket and I would fetch the rag to wash off his face. Underfoot begged for water several times. Each time we gave in to his request, he puked again. It was very difficult to tell him no.

Underfoot finally fell asleep around 8. He slept until 9:30. By that time K2 was awake and ready to start the day. I stayed home from work. Mama spent the day finishing her Continuing Education Credits required for her Counseling License. In the end, I went through two pairs of pajamas, Underfoot went through three, and Mama changed her shirt once. K2 came through the ordeal unscathed.”

So L4 thought that K2 was unscathed. As mentioned above, the illness spread like dominos. I was next then K2 and finally L4. L4 stayed home from work three out of five days this week.

Fortunately the sickness past before a Sunday School party on Friday night. L4 teaches the 13 year-olds at church. He has about 16 students. Eight came to our home for homemade ice cream and games. It was a lot of fun to listen to them banter with each other. Underfoot learned how to play “Duck, Duck, Goose” by observation and then by participation. K2 got a lot of attention too.

On Saturday, we felt the best of all and decided to get some UV rays and worked outside. Projects completed: lights replaced in the garden area, soil rotated in a garden box and then replanted with beans, peas, lettuce, and broccoli seed, debris from old plants cleaned up, turnips picked and preserved, and flowers transplanted, and weeds pulled. Underfoot and some neighbor children helped with the digging in the dirt.


K2 had a tooth break through and is not eating very much. He purses his lips together and refuses to eat at times.

Winners

The Christmas tree is put away!!!! It was a happy day and clean front room!!!! The garage attic storage has now met the measure of its creation! We are happy to have found a bag big enough to put the tree in.

Underfoot has learned how to make his bed. He now has the new job of making his bed in the morning, and when it is time to change his sheets he gets to help with stripping the bed too. He is very concerned about his Mama and checks in with her often by giving her a hug or asking if everything is okay. He likes to line things up in a row and even built a fish with chocolate chips. He has started to sleep in his own bed every night and is rarely in our bedroom anymore. Yippee!! On Monday he decided he was going to wear underwear and made it to the potty every time. He then decided that it was too much work and has asked to wear diapers the rest of the week.

Underfoot was sooo tried he curled up and fell asleep.
K2 has improved in his crawling and is going farther and faster everyday. He likes to take baths. In the bath, he loves kicking and then getting brave and rolling over to crawl around. He sticks EVERYTHING in his mouth and has been a big help in keeping our home cleaner. He loves to watch the marbles from Underfoot’s marble game. He watches a marble go down and then jumps to get it at the bottom of the track. He doesn’t get discouraged when he doesn’t get the marble. He goes for it again and again and again. He must have a lot of determination in his personality. He also is a grabber and grabs at anything in arms reach. He got his food bowl this week, and the bowl fell to the floor shattering into little glass shards. He was a little upset that he couldn’t finish his lunch.

L4 worked on the cars and wishes he were a better mechanic. He wants to tinker and be the hero by fixing all the oil leaks on the Scout. He is enjoying his work more each day.

I made a huge batch of granola, won a contest, and got the ironing done (until we did laundry last night). Here is my winning entry. This is what I won (an iron-on for shirts).

It rained a lot in our neck of the woods this week. It has been cooler outside, but our house is nice and toasty after L4’s insulation work. L4 and I taught our friends how to play Cities and Knights (a Settlers of Catan variant). We really enjoyed their company.

Another Busy week

It is hard to believe that we’re already half way through January! It seems like Christmas was only a few minutes ago. Where did all the time go?

On Monday we enjoyed Family Home Evening with some friends from Church. They helped us get our trap door installed in the garage. It is finally done! We discovered that the Christmas tree box (one of the main motivator for doing the project in the first place) is just a little bit too wide to get up into the attic through the trap door. The good news is that we’ve put up most of the baby clothing and a bunch of toys. It has been helpful to have a place to put things.

On Tuesday and Thursday Mama and Underfoot did school. Underfoot really likes doing school and asks for it frequently. On Tuesday after work I fixed an irrigation valve that was stuck on.

Wednesday was a homeowners association board meeting. The meeting was very heated because HOA dues were raised this month. A lot of people showed up. Some people were very angry. There were a number of tense moments. In the end I think most people went home with a greater level of awareness about the financial challenges of our community.

Thursday Underfoot chose the menu for supper- ice-cream. On Friday morning we all had appointments at the dentist. Underfoot did a great job sitting in the chair. We also learned that Underfoot has a cavity. (I guess that means no more ice-cream for supper.) After the dentist we headed north to spend the day at the Mesa Temple. We enjoyed the wonderful 70 degree weather. We picked lemons, oranges, and grapefruit at the temple. Contrary to rumor, there is delicious fruit on the Temple grounds, and they beg people to pick it. There are a few sour orange trees, so we always taste the fruit before pick a bunch. In all we came home with about 30 pounds of fruit.

On Saturday we did what we always do- work our guts out! Mama worked on cleaning house. Daddy and Underfoot hung lights in the garage, replaced a solenoid on an irrigation valve, and did some maintenance on the cars. In the early evening we went on an adventure to get Mama some church clothes. At the mall Mama strapped on K2 while Daddy chased Underfoot. Underfoot discovered the joy of riding the escalator. He and Daddy went up and down at least 30 times. At one point, a store employee admitted that she had watched Underfoot for some time. His squeals of delight were so funny to her that she couldn’t help but watch.

K2 started to crawl on all fours on Saturday at approximately 2:43 pm.

Ho-Hum

This was a ho-hum week. Here’s a quick list.
 L4 returned to work on Monday. We returned to home chaos.
 The computer got fixed on Tuesday.
 Thursday we got a passport for the baby.
 Friday L4 fed K2 too much. He returned the favor by vomiting on Mama twice.
 Saturday we did bountiful baskets in the morning. We spent the afternoon cleaning and preparing for the Sabbath. In the midst of it Underfoot determined to have a little snack of brown sugar.We had supper with friends. After the boys went down, we got our first batch of items up into the attic storage space.

We picked a few HUGE turnips from our garden. They are quite good. The house still hasn’t returned to a blissful state of cleanliness. However, we are much closer to our goal.

Crashed

Our computer crashed this afternoon before we wrote to our family and friends. If you are getting this late, we apologize. It appears that the mother board died a quick and painless death and will need to be replaced.

For L4's mandatory business shut down, he busted his guts on our home. The last week of the year L4's company has a shutdown between December 25th to the beginning of the next year. This year L4 decided to:
 cut a hole in the ceiling of our garage
 insulate the garage with fiberglass insulation
 insulate the rest of the house with blow in insulation
 create pathways throughout the attic
 wire the race track and garden with motion lighting
 wire and light the attic with lighting
 create a storage area above the garage
 fix the swing set with the extra wood
 load the garage ceiling with all of the items to be stored (We are still working on deciding what goes up there.)
 clean out the garage at the end of the week.
He did this all in a mere five days. He took off New Year's Day to spend it with his family bowling and shopping at Harbor Freight Tools. Harbor Freight is like a candy store for those who want cheap Chinese power tools and accessories.

The rest of us ran errands to Lowe's to pick up the blower and three pallets of insulation plus all the other items of wood, fiberglass insulation, and steer manure. The steer manure was for the 50 strawberry plants and 6 asparagus plants that were planted on January 1. We hope to have delicious strawberries in the fall or maybe (that is a BIG maybe) this spring.

Following family tradition, we had pizza on New Year's Eve and bowled on New Year's Day. The highlights were not the pizza but the bowling. Underfoot got the safety award for bowling so slowly. His ball would go only about half way down the lane until it made a return run. The bowling alley manager had to retrieve the ball at least twice. Underfoot was determined to bowl HIMSELF. L4, on the other hand, was bowling "granny" style and skipped the bumpers and gutters to take out 8 pins in the lane next to the one we were bowling in. It was hilarious. I hit the safety bar as it came down to sweep the pins that were laying down. K2 soiled his clothing (okay had a blow out in his pants) and got to wear Mama's scarf and his blanket. We forgot an extra outfit.
All in all it was a wonderful memory filled event.