With the benefit of hindsight, it is now clear that our Christmas 2010 odyssey really only began on Christmas Eve with the boy playing in the Puke Bowl. Since then, several more family members have been swept up in it’s wake. And just when we thought it was all done, we’ve had a nice little “not so fast, we’re not done with you yet” thrown into the mix.
The rest after the jump- but only for those with strong stomachs.
Christmas Day was seemingly event free. In reality it was the calm before the storm. For little did we realize that there would be a gift that kept giving, with a no-refund policy.
The lass woke up in the early AM on Sunday complaining that her belly hurt. The problem with the lass complaining that her belly hurts is this is her goto gripe. Anytime she wants to try and gain the upper hand, she pulls a “My belly hurts, do I have to finish my vegetables?” or “My belly hurts, can I go play the Wii to make it feel better?” Point being, her complaint didn’t sound the alarms it should have. (I’ll also note that, until this weekend, we’ve never had a bug rip through the house as this one was about to.)
Cutting to the chase, she popped a couple or hours later. I missed the festivities as I was still asleep. The Wife took care of cleaning things up and she went back to bed for a couple more hours of sleep.
By this time, it was pretty much time to get up. So I did. But the Wife did not. Both kids made there way downstairs. The lass was definitely not her usual perky self. The boy was in good spirits, but not terribly hungry. I was still tired from the previous night when I was awake all night tending to the boy. I went up to check on the Wife, only to discover that she had a fever and her stomach was bothering her.
Also, by this time, I was aware that I was not destined to escape the weekend unscathed. My regular morning trip to the office had revealed that I, uh, was evacuating from the rear of the building. My stomach was not completely right either. But there were chores to be done, and I would have to see to most of them myself as I was the only able bodied adult at this point.
So the rest of the day was spent taking care of the lass and her mad dashes to the bathroom, plus regular checkups on the Wife. Often times shortly after hearing her frantic footsteps to the bathroom. In the meantime, I handled cleaning sheets and other laundry as well as tending to the fire and gathering some extra wood since we had the predicted blizzard coming for later that morning.
I nibbled on some things as the day went on. Mostly because I was trying to keep my energy up. There were no real meals that day. The boy wasn’t terribly hungry; clearly the lass and the Wife weren’t in the mood for eating. The nibbling was a mistake on my part- I finally succumbed to the bug in the early evening.
Since, we’ve learned that the Wife’s parents, whom visited with us all day Christmas Day, were also sick. And just when it seemed we were well on our way to go health, the lass woke up around midnight with a temp in the 104 range. We were able to get it under control and she slept through the remainder of the night. But it’s since been determined that she has strep throat. She yakked again late this afternoon. An exclamation point on the whole affair.
So in all, this will be a most memorable Christmas. But not for the usual reasons associated with the holiday. The Wife wants a “Do-Over” on the whole holiday. Which might be nice, except I’d be worried that we’d all end up with bronchitis the second time around. But rest assured, we won’t be taking wishes for good health lightly in the future.