Today was supposed to be a crazy day -- swimming lessons for the two youngest, followed by two appointments for Elli in the afternoon, followed by company over dinner. And Scott at work functions til at least 9pm.
Yesterday, my mother's instinct started sending out low-level alerts. Something was wrong with Elli. She refused food and drink, coughed a lot, and lacked her usual spark. She had also spent most of the day Sunday emptying her bowels.
In fact, quite a few things seemed to be off with her, and had been for a few weeks now. I finally decided to take her to the doctor.
He diagnosed a sinus infection, and suggested that her new, super-high-calorie formula might be to blame for the two bouts of diarrhea in the last week. I went ahead and dropped her off at school, after picking up an antibiotic.
Last night, she ate enough bites to get her medicine down. I gave her a 50/50 mix of water and formula and we put her to bed.
This morning, I walk into her to room to find both diarrhea and vomit. After giving her a thorough bathing, stripping the bed, cleaning up the pajamas, and tossing everything in the washer, I proceeded to cancel everything for today.
The one thing I hated to skip was swimming lessons. The kids both knew we were supposed to go, and today was the last day of the session. But as the morning progressed, I could tell that Elli was truly miserable and that a swimming pool was the last place she'd want to hang out, even for a short, 30-minute lesson. So we stayed home.
So instead of running hither and yon, wearing all of us out, we spent a quiet day at home and I've gotten a lot of bill-paying, paper-shredding, and paper-sorting done, in between caring for Elli, moderating Sam and Anna's constant bickering, and catching Anna getting into trouble or making major messes.
And of course, the constant prayer that no-one else starts vomiting until Scott gets home tonight. Especially me.
