I woke up this morning with grandiose plans. I had made lunches last night. (Pre-planning is not a given these days...) I had worked out a plan with my boss that I would go into work for a bit, then go tour the (low-on-my-choice-list) school HeyMama had gotten assigned to. It was going to be a busy and productive day. I was PREPARED! This has a way of setting me up for failure...
MeToo was up early. I heard her padding around upstairs. She woke up thirsty, and was helping herself to some water. I'm so thankful they can help themselves to necessities now, especially with baby #3 on the way. Except when they think a 7am necessity is eating the ears of their chocolate bunny... But that's a post for a different day. She came down to tell me she had spilled something. I couldn't quite understand her story. But that was ok. I was dressed. My hair was ironed. My makeup was on. I was ready to face the day, go upstairs, and remedy whatever the situation was. (Yes, our bedroom is downstairs. The rest of the house is upstairs. This is backwards from every other house I've ever lived in. But we have an actual master suite. I'm ok with it being downstairs, next to our unfinished basement, even if that sounds odd.) I carried her upstairs and into the kitchen to investigate. Nothing seemed amiss. Until I heard the sound.
Hork... hork.... SPLAT! The glass of water she drank and some undigested carrots made their way onto the kitchen floor. I put her down, jumped back, and managed to escape the splatter zone. Poor MeToo did not. She threw up some more. Today was obviously not going to happen as planned. My day immediately re-organized itself in my mind as I wiped vomit off the floor. BestestHusband asked the question, "So, are you still going to the school tour?" Now, I'm extremely relaxed about sniffles, aches, pains, and the random preschooler medical complaints. "You'll be ok. It's time to go to school." And generally, they ARE just fine. If MeToo had puked in her bed last night, but awoken cheerful and ready to eat a big breakfast, I would have sent her to school. Bugs happen. Germs happen. She probably got it from preschool. So if she feels ok and is behaving normally, I'll send those germs back to preschool. I only work 2 days a week. Missing one of those days is kind of a big deal for me. But not with active puking. There was no way the child was going to leave the house today. I made BestestHusband take HeyMama to preschool. The puker was NOT going in the car.
Poor puking second child. Is it bad of me that my second thought was, "Whew, another day at home to catch up and recover from the last few weeks!"? Of course I feel bad that she feels bad. But it's a stomach bug. She's 3. She's healthy and hearty. She'll puke a bit, sleep a bit, watch some extra TV. The bug will eventually pass, then we'll pump her with some Gatorade and eat a BRAT diet for a day or so. She'll be fine. Chances are good that her sister will show the same symptoms tomorrow, and we'll do it all over again for her. I get some extra time at home to continue to process laundry, sweep floors, and sort clothing that needs to be moved to the basement. The last few weeks have been a hectic time of planning events at church, cooking, hosting house guests, late work nights for BestestHusband, Easter festivity planning, and general pregnancy exhaustion. The house is a disaster. I'm a disaster. Oddly enough, a puking 3 year old is not a disaster. Especially since she has mastered puking into a bucket.
I've been doing this mommy thing long enough not to feel guilty. A stomach bug is not a real cause to worry in our household. So I'm not worrying. I'm not fretting. I am taking the opportunity to get stuff done for ME. Guilt free. And cuddling my pitiful little MeToo, of course. In-between rationing her toast and banana intake. And sorting through clothes that my amazing Clothing Fairy, Jen, sent me from Texas.
Now my only real worry is my Camelback water bottle. I'm thankful that MeToo is willing to drink water and keep herself hydrated. But does it need to be from my new water bottle? Do I try bleaching the germs off the bite valve? Or just burn it and get a new one?
I hope you all have a puke-free week!
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