The sickness **Warning: Definitely TMI and probably just gross**

**If you don't want to read the saga, scroll to the end for some precious JackE pictures!**

We are finally (I think) recovered from "the sickness", as Noah calls it. Maddy had it Monday and stayed home Tuesday as we strictly adhere to the 24-hour rule: no fever, throwing up, etc for 24 hours. Okay, we don't strictly adhere to it for everything, but definitely for throwing up. Then Jack got it Wednesday morning early, but only threw up twice. The first time, he came up to me and said, "Can I have a snack? My tummy hurts." Guess he thought he was just hungry. As I went to get the snack, he said, "I gotta throw up!" and ran to the bathroom. As soon as he was done (and I mean, before the sweat on his forehead was dry), he said, "Can I have my snack now?" Tough kid. The second time was when he was napping on the couch, with his trusty trash-can "just-in-case" by his side, and I was in another room. All of a sudden I heard the tv turn on and ran in the living room. I asked if he was okay and he said, "I throwed up in the trash can, but I okay." Seriously, he was only concerned about what PBS shows he'd missed while he was asleep. That was the end of that. It was pretty early in the day, and he drank and ate a light lunch and was fine from then on. So I sent him to preschool Thursday (technically only 22 1/2 hours after the last "event") because...


...Wednesday night, I had really bad indigestion (which is normal for pregnant me) and having eaten a hard-on-the-tummy, but very tasty, meal of jambalaya for supper, I was awake into the wee hours, debating whether or not I was getting sick or just had overdone it with the jambalaya. I got sick once, but then was fine, so I'm still not sure what happened there (and I would recommend AGAINST rice if there's a CHANCE you might get sick later--lets just say, it expands and makes an already unpleasant event even more unpleasant). But while I was up, I heard Noah run to the bathroom for his turn. He had been sleeping in the trundle bed in Maddy's room to avoid Jack's lingering germs, so I moved him to the couch for isolation. Which left me no place to sleep. Not that there was a chance of that anyway, since Noah was up every 15-30 minutes for the rest of the night (3 am on), running to the bathroom. Bless his heart, he made it every time. His little eyes are still bloodshot.

So, Jack went to school Thursday because Noah was still sick and I was exhausted. Oh, and the painters were coming that morning!! Jared called and warned them, but they came anyway, so we stayed quarentined in the bedrooms. Jared ended up staying home with us to shuttle kids and supervise the household. I slept most of the morning and Noah continued the sickness. At one point, I laid in the bed with him and told him I wished I could just make it all better. His answer: "Thanks, Mommy, but only God can help me now."

Finally by Thursday afternoon, the living room and dining room were painted, I had caught up on my sleep, Jack had made it through preschool just fine (and his friends and mine were intrigued when he was picked up by a man claiming to be his dad, but dressed in Liberty overalls...isn't his dad an accountant? I'll have to get a picture of him tonight when he gets back from the office...it's become his "standard home attire" this winter...which leads me to how cold our house is, but look for that in a later, "You might be a redneck if..." post. I digress...), and Noah was keeping down his grape Gatorade. Noah, after reminding me no less than 50 times, in many creative ways ("How many hours has it been?", "I think my friends might get sick if I go", "I think it's only been 4 minutes, so I should stay home", "I might still have germs", "Do I need to go to the doctor tomorrow?", "Maddy can just get my work for me", "Wait, I didn't even take any medicine to get better!", etc), that it had not been 24 hours since he'd been sick, did not go to school Friday, either. So I had both boys home, but well.

Mom came down to visit and, boy, was she glad she did:The tired little boy hadn't had a nap, and fell asleep in his Dani's lap. It is a rare treat for ANY of my children to fall asleep outside of their own bed after the age of 6 months or so. Yes, the almost 3 1/2 year old still sucks his thumb. It's starting to cause dental issues, but I just haven't gotten the nerve/energy up to make him stop. Its' so stinkin' cute! Maybe when I have another baby to "baby"...he's also still in pull-ups at night. Why? Because his mama is too lazy to get gung ho about it. I'm hoping it will just happen miraculously. Hey, a girl can dream...

He was talking to Dani, mumbling something to keep himself awake, stuck his thumb in his mouth, closed his eyes, and was immediately snoring! This pictures was just after the thumb fell out of his mouth......and a couple of seconds later when his mouth had closed. I LOVE this picture. What an angel! It's nice to see his sweet side, when most of my day (life) is spent trying to contain his wild side!

So, we're all well for now. Except Noah launched his chicken noodle soup supper all over the bathroom in the middle of the night last night, but then went and got a drink before I could stop him and kept that down (as well as breakfast and lunch today), so WHO KNOWS!!?? I'm just tired of the sickness! And the Lysol, hand sanitizer, laundry, and stink that goes with it! Calgon, take me away!