Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Ginger Ale and Warm Tea

But goodness, last week saw a lot of lying around.


The week started as a party (Eden's fifth birthday!)




and quickly turned into a plague.


After his nap on Sunday, Gideon (23 mos.) was throwing up. 9x in 4 hours, for those of us counting. Wait, there was only one counting?


The next day, it was Abraham (6).



I referenced the torn "Bland Diet" page taped to the inside of my cupboard and readied the ginger ale and warm tea.


I emailed Ethan at work and asked him to please pick up some holds we had waiting at the library. It turns out one of the holds was a "kit" with a children's book and an accompanying stuffed animal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it seem to be an incredible oversight to lend out an item that could possibly be sneezed on, thrown up on, dropped in the toilet, and then plopped back into the gallon storage bag with its book and returned to the library?


We didn't do any of that.


But how would you know?


And how do I know where that thing had been before us? I'm not a stuffed animal fan under the best of circumstances, but the library can keep this city's germs to itself from now on, is all I'm saying.


Then Monday night, Jonathan (3) was sick. We plopped his mattress on the floor on my side of the bed so I could holler, "Use the bowl!" when he started to get sick. This was rather inconvenient, as that was the night that I also got sick, and having his mattress as an extra hurdle on the way to the bathroom proved almost deadly to him a few times.


Then Benjamin (10), then Miriam (6), then Jonathan AGAIN.


Ethan went to check on some room-cleaning progress, and found this:












So, yes. Next was Eden (5). We were so thankful to have the bed still set up in the sitting room/guest room/whatever it is now. The sick children would rest in there, and the others could play without disturbing them.


The entire week, Ethan had meetings every night. He would call on the way home and ask if I needed anything. The answer was always the same: "More ginger ale!"


Sunday night, after his evening sermon (from which the rest of us stayed home), he and I sat on the couch and breathed a sigh of relief. The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week was over. The meetings were over, the towels were all clean, and the bowls were bleached and returned to their regular cupboards.


I went to bed happy.


I woke up to Miriam standing on my side of the bed. "I went into the sitting room and saw PAPA on the sick bed!"


Oh.


So yesterday Ethan had his share of warm tea, ginger ale, chicken barley stew, and yogurt.


I'll not make the mistake (again) of saying we're done. After all, there are two more children in this house (Lily [8] and Salem [23 mos.]), and there is always the chance that one of the previous patients could suffer a relapse.


I'll just go about fixing breakfast (French toast - this recipe but typical shape), making coffee (iced today, the high is 63!), switching laundry, and getting the kids started on seeds: starting some in eggshells and sprouting others. We'll also gather eggs, do some school, and spend much of the day outside (once it hits 50). Lily has her friendship bracelet to work on, and I've got my knitting.




And quite possibly, the day might also involve bleach and ginger ale and warm tea.


But really? It shouldn't bother. We've been there and done that; and quite honestly, we can stomach not stomaching things, and it takes more than a tummy upset to upset us.




8 comments:

  1. I am so impressed by how well you handle all that. I HATE throwing up; I've never handled being sick or having family members be sick very well.

    But good heavens, you have a sense of humor about the whole mess! I read part of this out loud to my husband and we laughed out loud. (Sorry, but you just have a way of writing that's hilarious!)

    I sure hope everybody all feels ALL better very soon. Kudos to you, Rachel. Or should I say...SUPERMOM!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jaimie,

      HA! You learn to handle it when the alternative is hating every second of every day for over a week. No supermom here, just a super tired mom who says, "I'm not taking any of your backtalk!" to sickness. We clean it up, we ready for the next bout, we go on.

      It's much easier that way.

      At least, I think it is!

      Delete
  2. Can I tell you I think I earned extra super cool Momma points with Abigail as she slept on the crib mattress on the floor in our room? She got the crud first. And as I was helping Caleb who was the last to retch, Abigail came in and said, "You helpin' Caleb? You helped me. You wiped my face. I slept in your room. You rubbed my back. You da best Momma ev-uh!" Of course, I lose this status when I don't let her have her way. Ah, the fickle winds of fate. :) Hope you all are better soon with NO MORE relapses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrea,

      You endured much more than sickness. You earned extra super cool Wife and Friend and Woman points.

      But I'm glad Abigail took the time to point out that she noticed you da best Momma ev-uh. There's just something about when the kids take the time to say, "Hey, I noticed what you did, and I know it was pretty special." That's rare, and so needed.

      And Andrea? I noticed what you endured last week, and I know you are pretty special.

      Delete
  3. So sorry about the sickness...we've had the never ending cold/cough/cruddy nose for the past month. It's cycled through everyone, even the babies (5 months) & just keeps going. I'm so ready for spring!!!

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  4. Oh, and don't you just love Auntie Leila's advice/wisdom. I love her posts, especially about crafting and children. I definitely need wisdom from someone who's been there and done that!

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  5. Don't make me cry, Rachel. That's not nice. :)

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  6. Glad to know about the tea party. My friends have planned a get together at one of the reputed New York venues in a couple of weeks. Looking for delicious cuisines and desserts. Have to decide the final menu to be given to the caterer.

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