It has been an interesting 30 or so hours in our house. Oscar decided he wanted to sleep during his quiet time (there was my sign something was up), but I went in to get him at 4:30 to be sure he’d sleep well last night. He was pretty sad that I woke him up, so I told him he could lay back in his bed until he was awake and ready to play. He never comes out, so about 20 minutes later I go in and he’s curled in a ball on the floor saying his tummy feels funny. I tell him he may just need to go to the bathroom or get a snack, and Evelyn on hip, I walk out to get him something to eat. We get about 10 steps out of his room and she throws up everywhere. Immediately she looks up at me and smiles like nothing happened, despite the fact that both of us were covered in yuck. I set her down in an empty tub in her clothes to go clean up the mess before big brother comes out of his room and freaks at the sight. I get her (and her mess) cleaned up, thinking that was just a fluke one time thing because she was so happy, and Oscar decides to come out of his room and join us in the living room. Evelyn quickly decides it is time for her to be sick again, and just as she finished, Oscar must’ve felt left out and got sick too. It was the craziest few minutes I’d ever experienced as a mom… a record that lasted for like the next 5 minutes.
Greg was at his monthly guys night, so I had texted him to tell him the kids were both getting sick. He said he’d come home, but I thought that maybe now they were done, and that I could handle it, so I told him to stay but keep his phone nearby. Then, almost immediately after I told Greg to stay, they decided to test their mother by getting sick in unison. I failed that test and totally freaked out.
I’m sure our house felt like Armageddon when Greg walked in the door. Both kids were crying and needing cleaned off, neither child had on clothes, and there was already a mountain of dirty towels and pjs needing washed. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he ran. Thankfully, he rolled up his sleeves and helped calm the little ones, clean up messes, and laugh with me at how incredibly insane it all was.
They continued to get sick at the exact same time or just a minute apart, every thirty minutes, for the next 5 hours. We were running all over the place rinsing out buckets, wiping down clammy kiddos, throwing more towels in the wash, etc. When all was said and done, my slippers suffered a fatal injury, every surface in our house had been thoroughly cleaned, and I think we did 4 loads of laundry between 9:00 and midnight just to keep up with all the towels, blankets, and pjs.
Thankfully, the germy little ones slept through the night and woke up today feeling great…for a while. Oscar moved kind of slowly this afternoon, and just wanted to snuggle and watch movies (though he may have just seized the opportunity to watch way more tv than normally allowed). Evelyn decided she needed a grand finale just when we thought we were in the clear. But now, I think I can safely say that both are on the mend. It didn’t keep us from covering our couch and recliner today, and stopping dead in our tracks anytime either of them coughed.
Final count:
Evelyn: 11
Oscar: 9
In situations like last night, you just kind of have to laugh, because it truly was insane. An evening to go down in the books for sure, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed we never come close to topping it.
tend the farm 