One day I'll look back and ask Glen, "Hey, remember that time the kids threw up everywhere the week of Christmas? You know, at the candle light service at church and the family dinner at my moms and in the van and outside the house and in our room?" Maybe it'll be amusing. Or maybe it'll be just as tragic as it feels right now after 4,365 loads of laundry in the hottest water possible and 3 hrs of sleep, and every cough has a PTSD reaction of me shoving a bowl in front of someones face.
I apologize to all those we exposed to this little GI wrecker. And sadly, it was a LOT of people.
Wednesday we had a great day. We had a busy morning around then house, then we visited Gpa at the hospital, we went to a baby shower, we went to Costco, and then to church for our annual Christmas candle light service. I was apprehensive about having all the kids in the service with me since Glen was staying at the hospital with his dad, but I knew my folks would be there to help. I had already decided to sit near the back in case we needed to make a quick exit. The girls were quite interested in the service and mesmerized by the candles. Sam was happy to be stuffing his mouth with cheerios and playing with toys, but he was quiet, no complaints here.
Shortly after these photos were taken things went down hill fast. Madison came over and snuggled up to me and I remember thinking "Aww, this is the perfect ending to a lovely Christmasy day" Ha! Then she starting puking, right there, on me, in the service. I jumped up, shoved Sam (who had been sitting in my lap) into the guy's arms behind me and dragged the poor girl puking all the way out the back door. We went to the bathroom and get cleaned up as much as possible. As I was standing in the bathroom imagining a horrific chain reaction of vomit, our observant pastor must have been imagining the same thing and kindly directed everyone out the other door. Later, he and several other dear people cleaned up the mess so I could get the kids loaded up. That is servant love right there folks. There was no question, there was no hesitation. People just jumped in and cleaned up my kids puke. That's like foot washing x 5 folks. I can't tell you how grateful I am for my church family, it's truly humbling to be served when you feel the most vulnerable.
I'll spare you the details of the night, but it pretty much went like this. Puke, laundry, sleep, repeat. Then about 6am it was over. Done. All better. Madison did lay around a bit Thursday recovering, but no more messiness. Friday, rolled around and I began to think we were in the clear. All day I watched for symptoms in the others. Nothing. They played inside and out. They ate well. Normal. Just down right normal.
So we decided to go to a family Christmas gathering at my parents house. The night was going great. There was good food, family, fellowship. The kids were all playing together. They were running laps around the house. It was wonderful Christmas chaos. Until Anna-Kathryn starts throwing up. Time to get out of there. We try to gather and clean and load as quickly as possible. Glen goes to get Sam up and before Glen and get Sam to the van he starts too. Holypukefestbatman. I strip poor Sam man down to his skivvies outside and wrap him in towels for the ride home. Before we can even get home, Sam is at it again. And then the night was like Wednesday night except x 2. AK was on Glen's side of the bed, so he took care of her and Sam was on mine, so I took care of him. And by God's grace the morning dawned and it was over.
So here are a few things I'm super grateful for this week:
1. Friends and family that will clean up my kids puke
2. Washing machines and hot water
3. Bowls
4. Waterproof mattress pads
5. Bleach
6. Ginger ale and saltine crackers
7. 70 degree day to air out the house
8. My husband who is more than willing to get dirty in the trenches of life with me
9. Kids who bounce back quickly.
10. Jesus. Born as a tiny helpless babe, (wonder if he threw up on his mom?) who loves me and you enough to die in our place that we might be saved. Grace. Sweet undeserving grace.
Merry CHRISTmas y'all!
Lindsey
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