March 16, 2010

I'm going to save you the graphic image of the day but tell a quick story of how I earned my Mommy Badge of Courage today. Warning, it's about puke, so if you're weak stomached, don't keep reading.

Eli has been sick since Saturday night. It started as a weak little cough and turned into a fever, a runny nose, tons of sleeping, no eating, hardly any drinking, lots of clinging and lots or coughing. He's been a different child since Sunday morning, and not in a good way. We've been doing breathing treatments, Tylenol and the humidifier round the clock, but Broncialitis (different from Bronchitis) is a virus and it just has to run its course. Unfortunately. Owen, through all this, has been totally fine and healthy.

They had been in their room for a nap since 1:00. I heard them still talking to each other over an hour later, but then they quieted down and slept until 4:00. Here's the short version of the story: Owen had puked all over his bed, bumper pad, and self... and then fell asleep in it. He was covered! In his ears, his head, his socks - everywhere. I got Eli set up in front of the TV and went back to give Owen a bath and clean up/wash/disinfect his bed. I got the bath taken care of, put him in new PJs, and set him on the couch to start on the crib. The second he sat on the couch, he threw up again, all over himself and all over the cushion. Eli took one look at him and threw up too. So now there's two messes on the couch, the couch itself and still the crib to take care of. Babies first. Check, got them changed (again) and settled back down. Pre-rinsed the clothes, checked for residual stains before washing and got the laundry started. Feeling pretty good about my progress, I picked up Owen and he proceeded to throw up all over me and himself, again. Pajamas #4 for the hour.

My neighbor, bless her heart, knew that Eli had been sick, so she brought dinner that night for us. At least that's one thing I didn't have to think about! We got the boys settled for bed and finished cleaning up for the day.

Skip to the next morning. Owen woke up and had thrown up all over his crib again. Thankfully, that was the last of the puking and sheet changing for now, but it's been a rough couple days! Owen's on the nebulizer now for broncialitis too, but Eli's whole personality seems to be mostly back to normal. Since he wasn't eating, he's down to 21.5 pounds - the 3rd percentile. We need to fatten that little boy up!

So that was my week in a nutshell. Mommy Badge of Courage successfully earned!