What we've been up to the last few days

Sunday: Chad is gone in the morning for part of a UCI philosophy conference. Benji is sick with a runny nose, so I can't leave him in the nursery at church anyway. We stay home and Benji takes a short morning nap. In the afternoon, we have friends from Texas come. They are staying overnight. Ethan starts to get congested in the evening, and he hardly eats any dinner.

Monday: Chad's gone in the morning to work out. Our overnight guests are sleeping on the couch bed downstairs. When the kids wake up earlier than usual and our guests are NOT awake, I contain them upstairs for nearly an hour and a half (!!!), despite my subtle hints for the guests to wake up by going downstairs with both children to get Ethan a drink and make him some toast. The guests finally get up at 8:20, after the kids have been awake almost 2 hours. I'm already exhausted.

Chad's taking most of the day off to be with our guests. They go on a long walking tour of UCI, while I stay home and Benji takes a long morning nap (2 hours!) Then we walk to Aldrich Park and have a picnic, then we put the kids down for a nap. Ethan wakes up after an hour and a half, and vomits over the side of the crib. When I get him, I run for the bathroom and catch the rest of it in a towel. It's very mucousy. Benji wakes up early too.

That night, Ethan eats a lot of pizza, and after being in bed about 45 minutes, vomits copious amounts ALL over (carpet, sheet, mattress pad, crib bumper, blanket, and BLANKIE! How will he sleep without blankie while it's in the wash? (He does; I was amazed).

During the night, Ethan wakes up FIVE times, and Benji wakes up once. We are feeling weary.

Tuesday: I contain the kids upstairs for about 45 minutes, but this morning, I let them make as much noise as they want. The guests get up this morning at 7:40. I can't go to music class this morning since Ethan is sick, and we have to quarantine ourselves from other kids.

Chad takes the guests to the train station around 9 am. I start to clean up the aftermath.

We are allowed to play with Gugi since he's been sick with the same thing. This is my sanity today. Ethan seems okay; we play outside for nearly 2 hours, then he seems not so great, so we go in, and he watches a movie. We eat some lunch, then I put the kids down for naps.

Benji wakes up every 20 minutes for an hour and a half. Ethan wakes up after about an hour crying. I have to call Silvina to take Benji for me while I tend to Ethan. He sits in my lap for 30 minutes, heaving and almost vomiting, but never actually vomiting. Then he says he's ready to play and seems like a different kid.

We play outside till Chad comes home at 5:15. I gratefully escape to the gym for step aerobics, but work out very hard and come back in a worse mood because I'm so tired.

Ethan eats crackers for the dinner, goes to bed, and wakes up 5 times again. Benji wakes up once.

Wednesday: Ethan seems to be feeling much better. I'm hoping for a better day, and I think it will be. He didn't throw up yesterday, so I guess he's on the mend. He still has some stuff in his throat, and he voice doesn't sound great. We're going to Tanaka Farms (a pumpkin patch) today with the play group...