I'm sure you thought that since I hadn't posted in 3 days I must have fallen severely ill with this stomach flu. Actually, so far and quite miraculously I do believe, I have been spared. I prayed that God would keep me from getting sick until Scott got home each day, and this time He did. I am not getting over-confident though. If I am still well Monday evening, then I'll start breathing - and eating - easier.
I haven't posted because our cable, which controls both our Internet access AND our phone, died Thursday night. In fact, it went out at 7:55pm, right before the women's free skate event came on! What a bummer. Scott rigged up an antenna so we could get every network but NBC, so no Olympics. But I think that lack of phone and Internet was the worst. I felt so isolated, stuck inside this house with sick kids and no way to contact anyone except with my cell phone (which has few minutes because it's really only for emergencies).
Elli had a really bad day Thursday. She was pretty much inconsolable all afternoon and evening, no matter what we did or what we put on TV. I finally just laid her in bed, figuring that eliminating all the stimuli would eventually help her settle down and rest. I think Anna's constant noises and poking around us really got on Elli's nerves. She woke up doing a bit better Friday morning, but was still really tired and cranky, so she missed two days of school. At this point, she's really cranky because she's bored, I think. That's too bad, because Monday is a teacher in-service, so she doesn't go back to school until Tuesday afternoon!
We did reschedule the family birthday celebration for next Saturday. That was another reason Elli has been upset. I'm not sure she really understands why all the grandparents aren't here this afternoon. I'm trying to scramble some stuff together so that we can at least make tomorrow (her actual birthday) special. I'm making a Cinderella cake (photos to come) and we'll give her our presents tomorrow.
Sam caught the bug Thursday night -- his panicked crying woke us up at midnight. He had no idea what was happening and was terrified. We got him and his bed cleaned up, calmed him down, and got him back to bed fairly quickly. He fell asleep on the couch Friday morning, a sure sign that he was sick.
It's so hard to ease a child back into food. They don't understand vomiting or taking it easy with food -- all they know is that they are hungry (or so they think) or thirsty. It has been tricky getting him to eat or drink only the right amounts of the right things. I messed it up once, giving him too much juice too soon. That came right back up, so we had to start over.
Then early this morning, after he did really well all day yesterday and even ate a little pizza for dinner, he came into our room. I could tell he didn't feel well. He laid in bed with us for about 30 minutes before he started heaving. There was nothing in his stomach, so we didn't have to run for the bathroom, but he was still really upset. Once it stopped, he slept for another 3 hours or so and had some toast for breakfast. So far today, he's doing well. But I won't be sure until we get through tonight.
Meanwhile, every twinge or hint of lightheadedness and I'm looking for the nearest plastic bag just in case. I'm eating very little, so most of it is hunger I think. Scott thinks I'm immune since I haven't caught it yet. But neither has Anna, and she has way less immunity than I do! So I'm going to continue eating cautiously and going to bed early.
Well, OK, so I'm not going to bed early. Last night we went to bed as soon as the kids went down, but we didn't go to sleep. We watched "Ocean's Twelve" on Scott's laptop and I knitted. Tonight we rented "North Country" and I've been working hard on the socks for Elli. Now it's 12:30 in the morning!
OK, I really do need to go to bed now! I guess I'll frost that Cinderella cake in the morning!
