Puke, Parties and the Pool!

To really start this story we need to go back about 10 days to my birthday. I don't really get to celebrate my birthday anymore so I had planned on just celebrating myself since it fell on a Friday and I was off work and the kids could go to the babysitters. Well, the sitter had to close so that kind-of put a kink in those plans so we ended up just staying at home and not doing anything. Birthdays are a big deal to me - that is why I celebrate my kids birth week instead of just their actual birthday only. Each year they are lucky enough to be alive is something to be celebrated!

That evening Noah started complaining of his stomach hurting - which was the last thing I wanted to hear since his birthday party was the next day! Well, he ended up getting sick that night. (It was a lovely birthday present) We were not sure if he had a stomach bug or what at that point because he acted fine after he got sick so we decided to wait until the next morning to decide on what to do about the party. He woke up fine so we went on with our party plans. On the way to the party he ended up getting sick again so we had to cancel the party and rescheduled it for a few days later. He seemed fine the rest of the day and so did everyone else.

Nathan got his old Nintendo out to try to cheer Noah up after we canceled his party

The next day was Father's Day. This year we decided to go to Byrd's for lunch and play in the Mulberry River to celebrate. Since my birthday has passed and my older brother's was coming up in July we had cake for us also. We forgot to bring candles so we blew the lighter out after everyone sang us Happy Birthday :)  We got Nathan a meat smoker for Father's Day. I also got him a key chain with the GPS coordinates for where the kids were born and made him a picture :)

Blowing out the lighter :)

Dad and the grandkids - Ryan is at a stage where she loves taking pictures :)

The next day was Noah's rescheduled party day! Unfortunately, Nathan woke up sick. So, the kids and I went to swimming lessons and then I took them to the sitters and went to work. I was only at work an hour when the sitter called to tell me that Ryan had gotten sick at daycare. So, here is was party day and now Nathan and Ryan were sick instead of Noah. I wanted to scream, or cry, or both. I decided since we had an expensive cake going to waste in the refrigerator to go ahead and have the party without them. The party was at our local movie theater and the plan was to watch a  movie after the party. We had to cut out all the games since our rescheduled time was half as long but it all seemed to work out good. About half way through the party I started feeling a little sick - but then I would feel fine. I couldn't decide if I was just psyching myself out because I assumed I would be getting sick, or if it was stress/worry because of Nathan and Ryan or if I was really getting sick. I ended up leaving Noah with my mom to watch the movie so I could go take care of Ryan and Nathan. Once I got home I started feeling better and felt fine at bedtime.

Trying to stay healthy long enough for Noah's party!

We missed Nathan and Ryan SO bad!

Noah used all his birthday money on this toy he had been wanting for awhile :)

Ryan and I spent the next day cleaning house and getting my flat tire fixed since she couldn't go back to daycare for 48 hours after being sick. We got Noah from daycare and I was optimistic that everything was about to go back to normal. WRONG! I got a text from the babysitter that now she and her son had the stomach bug so she would be closed the rest of the week. I had already been off work for 3 days so I decided to just take the kids to work with me after swim lessons. Swim lessons were going great! Noah has improved 100% and loves to jump in the water and do canon balls now :) Ryans instructor said her kicks were very good and natural and I think she learned a lot and got more comfortable with the water. The kids were doing fine with me at work, then Noah started complaining of a headache and stomach pains. So, I decided to take them home for lunch and see if he felt better after laying down. He ended up getting sick again! I could not believe it! Once we were home I quarantined him in his room and he continued getting sick until 9:00 that night and complaining of his head hurting and stomach pains. I could tell this was different though. He was starving in between getting sick and he had no other stomach bug symptoms. I watched him most of the night and he cried "this is killing me" and moaned in his sleep all night. So, I called the on-call doctor and they said he needed to be seen as soon as the clinic opened that day. So, I had to skip our last day of swim lessons and took him to the doctor. After lots of questions, the doctor diagnosed him with gastritis. Noah's stomach lining got inflamed after being sick so everything he was eating was hurting it and eventually it caused him severe vomiting. Thankfully he was not contagious and was actually feeling a lot better by the time we left the doctor. My mother-in-law watched the kids a few hours that afternoon so I could finally get a little work done.

Friday we cleaned house and got groceries and all our normal stuff. Every time one of the kids yelled "Momma" or coughed my heart would sink because I thought they were getting sick again. I am a little gun shy on that right now :) I am not a stay at home person. I cannot be at home for long periods of time - sick or not it seriously bothers me. So, I decided to take the kids shoe shopping for Noah's pageant and to eat lunch on Saturday. It felt so good to get out of the house for more than just a quick trip for more lysol and gloves. Saturday night was one of our local fireworks show. Since we didn't get to do Noah's pinata at his party we did it with his cousins there :)

We LOVE Cracker Barrel!

Sunday we decided to go to the lake with my brother and his kids for a little sand and sun :)

I have never been so happy for Monday and my normal routine! I get very high anxiety sitting at home for days on end like that. I like being out with people around. I only took 2 weeks off with each kid when they were born! I informed Nathan after this 10 day ordeal to never worry about me wanting to be a stay at home mom - the boredom and lack of activity would make me fat and crazy! Now, bring on our July full of Independence Day, a weekend at the races, Branson with the Gunn's, Little Mister Pageant, The Peach Festival and Noah's Leap Start in Kindergarten! Now that is more like it! I like being busy!