House of Sickies

It's been a hell of a new year so far. The kids started back at school last Wednesday, but by that evening Ayden came down with a fever. Thursday morning, I took Rylee to school. As soon as we pulled back into our driveway at home, Ayden threw up in his car seat. Yeah, that was fun. Cleaning puke out of car seats is the worst! Thankfully it was a one time puke and done. He battled a fever the rest of the day, and woke up that night at 2:30am with a 102° temperature. By the time we all woke up the next morning, his fever was gone, but he had no energy. We dropped Rylee off at school and came home for a lazy morning. We had another day of rest, fever free.

Ayden and Mommy snuggle time while he was home sick.

Ayden was very full of energy Saturday morning and raring to go. Tony took the kids to his parents for a visit that afternoon, while I stayed home and worked around the house. So nice to have uninterrupted time to get stuff done! I had 5.5 hours to myself at home!! On Sunday, I returned the favor for Tony, and he got some time at home by himself. Funny how I worked my tail off to get a bunch of stuff done cleaning around the house, and Tony spent his time watching football and playing a video game. But, I digress.... Not to say he doesn't deserve to have a lazy afternoon, because he does work really hard to support our family.

I took the kids for a picnic at the park, and then we went grocery shopping. Even though I generally prefer to do the grocery shopping by myself (it's waaaayyyy easier), they really are great little shopping partners. About halfway through our shopping trip, Ayden started to fade though. He got super tired and I could tell he wasn't feeling the greatest.

His fever was back. Two and a half days fever free, and his fever came back. Sigh. It was short-lived though, as he woke up Monday fever free again, just really tired. He got to stay home with me again, while Rylee went to school. They both went to school on Tuesday.

Then, Wednesday morning rolls around. Within minutes of waking up, Ayden started dry-heaving. Well, crap (which turns out to be a literal statement). I got Rylee dressed for school and we had breakfast. While I'm brushing Ayden's teeth, she lays down in her bed and says she doesn't feel good. She had just been acting fine, so I didn't believe her, thinking she was just wanting to stay home since Ayden didn't have to go to school again. I continue getting us all ready to head out the door, to drop Rylee off at school. As I'm putting Rylee's jacket on, I realize she feels warm. Take her temperature, and she has a 102° fever.

Within minutes after that, Ayden gets diarrhea. Now I have two sick kids, one who has dry-heaved and has a sick butt, but no fever, and the other with a fever. I should also mention that I was not feeling great at this point either, with a sore throat, cough, and fatigue.

To further tell you about our shitty morning, Ayden doesn't quite make it to the toilet once. He ended up pooping on the floor and in his pants, literally right in front of the toilet because he couldn't get his pants down fast enough. The poor little guy felt so bad. He had several sick butt episodes within the next few hours, but nothing after that. By that evening, last night, he was FULL of energy and practically bouncing off the walls. Rylee and I on the other hand, not so much.

After their much needed nap, they both were hungry. They'd barely eaten anything all day, so I gave them each half a Kid's Clif bar to see how their tummy's would handle it. Rylee wanted more, but I told her to wait a few minutes to let the bar settle. We snuggled onto the couch and watched the Disney channel. Not long after that, Rylee vomited alllllll over her and me. I was able to catch most of it in the blankets we were snuggled under, one of which was her beloved little lovey blanket. During this time, while Rylee's puking all over us, Ayden decided he needed to be as close as possible, hugging my leg and standing directly in front of the puke fest. Ugh! I was TRYING to contain all the vomit, not have to clean him up too!

I got Rylee upstairs, stripped us both, and got her ready for a quick bath. Before her bath, thought, I had her sit on the bathroom stool while I went down and put the blankets in a safe spot. Because, God forbid, what if Ayden decided he needed to do something with them while I was upstairs dealing with Rylee and I ended up having to clean puke off even more surfaces!

Turns out I didn't need to worry about that, because Ayden decided he needed to be practically on top of me while I was bathing Rylee. He had NO sense of personal space during this time! I got Rylee washed up and tucked her into her bed, and went back downstairs to rinse out the blankets (blech!!!!). The ENTIRE TIME I was doing this horrendous mom job, Ayden would not leave me alone. "Mom.
Mom! Mom! Look how high I can jump. Mom!" I ended up losing it and yelling at him to just give me a few minutes already! Also insert a few curse words. Now insert mom guilt. Thankfully, he takes my yelling in stride. I'm also eternally grateful he's feeling so much better, but holy hell, I needed a break from this kid! Don't forget, I'm also sick at this point.

I got the blankets rinsed out and into the washer. I then spot cleaned the rug in front of the couch that was unfortunately involved in our puke fest. Tony finally got home and I breathed a sigh of relief. Hallelujah, now some of the pressure would be off of me. But nope! Not for lack of effort, but when I brought Rylee into my bedroom with me, Ayden HAD to be there by my side too. I convinced him to go downstairs to eat with Daddy, but as soon as he was done, he had a meltdown about needing his mommy! Soooo, the three of us cuddled in bed and watched some Netflix while Tony ate dinner and cleaned the kitchen.

During this time, Rylee ended up vomiting again, but thankfully she put the bucket to good use that I had on the bed with us. Tony came to the rescue to clean up the bucket and bring a wet washrag to wipe Rylee's face. We got Ayden ready for bed and read him a book, while Rylee stayed in our bed. After getting Ayden tucked into bed, I read Rylee a book and we both went to sleep (eventually). Tony slept on the couch, in an attempt to stay away from us sickies, and so that Rylee could sleep in bed with me. With her vomiting and her fever getting as high as 103.6°, I wasn't comfortable having her sleep in her own room by herself. Reason number one being... Well, Rylee says it best. Instead of saying puking, or vomiting, she calls it "choking." And with good reason. When she vomits, she does seem to choke on it (even though she was sitting up both times), and it's a little scary.

Rylee woke up with a fever again this morning, and I woke up feeling even worse. Ayden was just fine. He probably could have gone to school, because he hadn't had any symptoms since the previous shitty morning, but there was no way I was dragging Rylee and myself out of the house. Besides, it was probably a good thing not to potentially expose anyone else. We had a VERY lazy day today! I feel bad with how much tv I've let the kids watch the last few days. At one point this morning, while we were all snuggled in my bed, Rylee told me her eyes were bleeding. I responded by telling saying her eyes weren't bleeding, and she said, "but they hurt, mommy." I really just thought it was because she was tired, from being sick and not sleeping well the night before. However, by mid afternoon, her eyes were bloodshot. So weird. I do remember that happening to Ayden once after a fever though.

Rylee went to bed tonight (in her own bed) with a fever still, but her tummy has been better all day. In fact, the poor thing was starving! She was able to eat and keep it down all day. She told me numerous times today that she was done "choking," and "sorry for choking on the blankets yesterday." Of course I reassured her that it wasn't her fault. Ayden has had no fever, no sick butt, no other symptoms at all since yesterday.

Rylee will have to stay home again, but I think Ayden is good to go to school. As long as he wakes up fine in the morning, he will have been symptom free for close to 48 hours. Meanwhile, I sit here with a crazy sore throat, and have been working on coughing up a lung. And guess what happens every time I cough? I pee a little. Every Single Time.