It's been a bit of a crummy week around here. It started on Monday when I came home from work with a horrible headache, which was causing me to feel nauseous as well. I went to bed at 5:30 and Pete took care of the kids. Tuesday I felt mostly okay, but that evening Clara threw up all of her dinner and continued to be sick through the night. Wednesday she stayed home with me and seemed okay. Thursday I had both kids home. We frosted Valentines cookies and delivered them to some friends. For convenience's sake we drove through McDonalds for lunch. That night I was very ill. I was up every 45 minutes through the night. This was a bit of a milestone in my relationship with Pete. In the time we have known each other (15 years, in case you haven't been keeping up) I have not thrown up one time- other than when I was pregnant (and one time due to drinking, but that's not really appropriate to talk about here, is it?). Pete is usually the one to fall to such illnesses, and he usually falls pretty easily.
And fall he did, Friday morning. We scrapped our plans to go to Iowa City for the weekend for a nice double-date with Rob and Carrie. Since we were both feeling pretty low we called Mary and Peter to come take the kids. They were more than willing....until Mary realized she wasn't feeling so hot herself.
And that brings us to the picture.
So, to summarize: I was sick. Pete was sick. We still had both kids home with us. They were healthy, but Henry was disappointed about not going to Iowa.
But did they whine and fuss and make life difficult for us? No. They did not. When Pete went back to bed early in the morning, I was left to clean up the breakfast mess (not so easy on an uneasy stomach). I got through it and we had some quiet playing time. Then Clara (bless her heart) took a nice long morning nap. While she did this Henry quietly watched a little PBS and let me nap on the couch. Then, while Clara still napped, we moved into the other room and I layed on the other couch while Henry quietly put together his alphabet train puzzle (see picture) and then worked in his coloring book (see foreground of picture). When Clara awoke she was in a great mood (if you zoom in on the picture you can probably see her cute post-nap hair). Henry helped show her how to color a little (see picture- they're coloring inside a shirt box). It was so lovely how sweet and quiet they were together, seeming to understand that Pete and I could not give them our full attention. I also love in this picture how Clara is looking up at Henry like "is this right, brother?" At the very bottom of the picture you can see my robe and Crocs. That was pretty much my costume yesterday.
So, the rest of the day went on sort of like that....until about 9PM when I heard Henry coughing in his room and I went in to see him throwing up all over his bed and the floor. He spent the night in the 3rd bedroom with Pete.
Which brings us to Valentine's day. Henry seems to be doing okay. He's had half a piece of toast and a little applesauce. Clara has been happily playing and is now napping in her crib. I'm feeling pretty okay. Ate half a bagel and drank most of the Valentine's mocha Pete went to get me. I'm picking up the house and cleaning everything I can get my hands on, with frequent breaks to just sit and breathe for a bit. Pete is back in bed. I keep telling him the coffee is not doing anything to make his stomach feel better, but he was also up frequently during the night with Henry, so he's probably pretty tired.
It's a very romantic 15th Anniversary Valentine's Day.
