Sickness in Summer Sucks

After Titus' birthday we were having a grand 'ol time.  Playing lots, preparing for more family to arrive, and overall enjoying being in Idaho.  Until Titus decided to throw-up during the night of Friday, June 14th.

He had thrown-up all over his bedding, himself, and his blanket.  And of course he went to tell his grandparents about it instead of me.  So Darren, Deanne, and myself cleaned him, put his bedding in the washer, and I took Titus to in my bed to sleep.  It was a restless night.  The following day he took a 3 hour nap and ran a fever.  All of us were praying that this wasn't a bug, but instead a manifestation of exhaustion and under-hydration.

Marcie, Tyson, and Jaxson flew in from TX on the Monday, June 17th.

Isaac started throwing up Tuesday, June 18th's night.  All night.  I was up with him for four hours straight while he emptied his stomach every half hour.  Darren and Deanne took over at 7:30, I crashed in my room for 3 hours, and Darren and Tyson gave Isaac a priesthood blessing.  His vomiting stopped suddenly, and he fell asleep for 4 hours.

At this point we were all praying that if we were all going to get sick for it to be AFTER all the family activities, which were to end on Sunday evening.

Chase, Jenese, and Jemima drove over Thursday, June 20th's afternoon.

Jaxson, 18 months, got sick on Friday night--which continued into the morning/noon time.  He also had an amazing blow-out poop.  Luckily Tyson was around to clean up his boy!

All the adults were still feeling well, hoping that this sickness was just a "kid thing," and that we'd all be spared.  Sunday, June 26th's activities came, with lots of family together for Caitlin's farewell, and lots of friends too.

7pm Sunday night.  Chase calls from on their way back home to say he's sick and not doing well.
9pm Sunday night.  Tyson gets really sick.
4:30am Monday morning.  Me, Marcie, and Caitlin are all up not feeling well.  Caitlin and I are throwing-up, and Marcie feels awful.  Tyson is on his death bed.
6:00am Monday morning.  I hear Eli crying in his room.  I run in with my throw-up bucket, he starts to heave into it.  I join him... In the same bucket, at the same time.  He lays down with me.

Monday, June 27th, 2013 is a day that will forever be remembered.   ALL the parents are down for the count.  Me and Tyson are still throwing-up, unable to keep anything in us.  Marcie is fevered and sweaty and achy.  Caitlin the same.  Darren and Deanne stepped up and took care of us all, including watching their 4 grandboys.

I don't remember much from that day, nor the next, but I'm grateful to have had all the family to help keep my boys fed and happy while I was a weak mess.  (Also, Jenese wasn't doing well at her home, either.)

Saturday, June 29th at 6:20am I hear noises in the hall.  I go and check it out.  The door to the boys' room is open, and Eli is crying and naked from the waist down.  I smell something awful.  What in the world?  I go into the bathroom, and my stomach fell on the ground.  Poop everywhere.  All over the floor, all over his pj bottoms and undies, and up the side of the tub.  There is toilet paper covered in poop stuffed in the trash can, and the toilet is stopped up with wads of paper.  It's a major clean up, with much gaging done by me.  I wash Eli off in the tub.  I'm pretty sure he goes back to sleep.  The next day and a half he has diarrhea.

Friday, July 5th Isaac says he's not feeling well.  He's running a fever.  Pretty sure this is another one of his throat infections.  I Pump him with much water and put him on a Tylenol regiment.
(I really hope he doesn't have to get his tonsils out before Matt comes home.  I'm pretty sure he'll need to at some point, like 98.99% positive.  He gets a throat thing with a fever monthly.   Heaven help us.)


Pics from June 15, the day Titus was ill:

Yes.  This is very important.  

Isaac enjoying Titus' new water gun.  Sneaking up on birds and all!
Above:  Eli taking selfies.  

Where Titus decided to crash for his 3 hour nap. 

Titus got a cold sore.  Pitiful.

The day of sickness, which 4 adults and 1 child were down for the count.  This is the pic I sent Matt:

One day after the flu left my system I tried to run a mile.  Dumb.  But I did put make-up on!

2 days after the flu bug left the house I took the boys to the park, including a nature park!  Then went to Chick-Fil-A for them to play even more. 

We saw a fawn!  Aww!  And soooo close to us too.  

Day 3 after flu big left, we had some fun time with sidewalk chalk.

Day 3 or 4 after flu bug left I tried to run a 5k.  Bad choice. But the view was great! 

The morning of all the poop.  Wow.

Poem of the Month

It's hot.  Like, really hot.  This week Boise's highs are close to 110.  But the heat is dry, humidity staying at 25%.  So it's bad... but not like 98 degrees, with 90% humidity.  Which I've lived through, which was miserable.

When it starts to get so hot, I start to think back to my family's first summer in 1873 home.  An ancient house, with ancient air-conditioning units.  I remember literally being in my underwear and laying sprawled out on the hardwood floors to try keep "cool."  

I laughed when I read this poem.  Heat messes with sanity.  And I'd bet my bottom dollar I'd be a crazy tree planter myself if I was in this person's situation.  

Hot?  Plant a tree.  

  

Landscape, Dense with Tress 

Ellen Bryant Voigt 

When you move away, you see how much depends   

on the pace of the days—how much

depended on the haze we waded through

each summer, visible heat, wavy and discursive   

as the lazy track of the snake in the dusty road;

and on the habit in town of porches thatched in vines,   

and in the country long dense promenades, the way   

we sacrificed the yards to shade.

It was partly the heat that made my father

plant so many trees—two maples marking the site

for the house, two elms on either side when it was done;   

mimosa by the fence, and as it failed, fast-growing chestnuts,   

loblolly pines; and dogwood, redbud, ornamental crab.   

On the farm, everything else he grew

something could eat, but this

would be a permanent mark of his industry,

a glade established in the open field. Or so it seemed.   

Looking back at the empty house from across the hill,   

I see how well the house is camouflaged, see how   

that porous fence of saplings, their later

scrim of foliage, thickened around it,

and still he chinked and mortared, planting more.   

Last summer, although he’d lost all tolerance for heat,   

he backed the truck in at the family grave

and stood in the truckbed all afternoon, pruning

the landmark oak, repairing recent damage by a wind;   

then he came home and hung a swing

in one of the horse-chestnuts for my visit.

The heat was a hand at his throat,

a fist to his weak heart. But it made a triumph   

of the cooler air inside, in the bedroom,

in the maple bedstead where he slept,

in the brick house nearly swamped by leaves.

WAIT! Titus Turned 3!

That also happened during our 2nd week in Idaho.

What's even awesomer is that Aunt Caitlin and Titus share the same birthday!  Birthday number 3 for Titus, and birthday number 19 for Caitlin.  There really was no choice in the matter, Caitlin was going to have a Spiderman birthday cake.  That was settled months back by Mr. T.   Actually around Easter, see? ::

Easter program with Grammie 

He got like 4 Spidermen.  Amazing.

They had a great birthday, filled with cake and friends.  Deanne and I happened to make waaayyy too much cake so we hurriedly invited people over, and thankful persons accepted!  Post hast!  
Of course presents were opened, and of course they were all Spiderman themed.

Titus had issues turning 3.  He couldn't wrap his mind around it.  He was either: "I'm 2!"  or  "I'm 6!"  or  "I'm Spiderman!"  It wasn't till that evening, or the next day, that he finally came to conclusion that he is in fact there--at least for the next 365 days.


Pictures of the day::

Birthday buddies picking at icing!  

 The party!  Involving FaceTime-ing and Skype-ing with Matt on one end and Grammie on the other.

Opening the long asked for present, Spiderman LEGO.

The line-up of the rest of the presents, a day or two later: