Intrepid Murmurings

Emma dancing to Bob Marley (yes, she chose to do this over cupcake eating!),

Elsie with blue frosting, Delia with pink.  

Last night I got three hours of sleep, thanks to a combo of a late night (my fault), insomnia (rare for me) and a sick feverish kid flopping around beside me (as usual she was thrilled to be with us but Could. Not. Sleep. in our bed and eagerly went back to hers eventually).  The day could have gone really poorly due to the circumstances, but it was actually pretty great.  Emma went to school full day (a rare treat) and had a fabulous time. Delia is the sick one today, and she was really dragging but rallied off and on, especially around dinnertime and right after (dancing a bunch too) thanks to fever meds.  

I know, cupcakes are not the best food for sick kids, but we don't always follow the rules around here! Thanks to my cousin Sarah for the delicious fancy cupcakes (and sorry TT for missing your birthday playdate!).  Oddly, my kids decided dancing was more fun than cupcake eating, so they mostly just had a bit of the frosting and are saving the rest for tomorrow! 

Ugh, what a day!  It started out last night, actually, right at bedtime, when Delia puked in her crib.  My least favorite part of parenting, for sure.  

After a shower and total bed change, she slept for a bit and puked again, and again, and again!  Fun times!  A few hours later, Elsie started up as well.  The simultaneous sicknesses are one of those miserable and exhausting parts of having twins or multiple young ones.  I  DETEST the beginning of a stomach illness, when you don't know if its a one time fluke or the start of something big, and how they (and you all) will cope.  I was lying awake listening to every sound and unable to sleep when I should have been, for way too long.  Somehow they both slept okay for the latter half of the night, Delia actually dry heaving in her sleep (in bed with me at that point), and not even appearing to wake up for it.

Lonnie was off to work with the car in the shop early this morning (I was going to be housebound anyway!), so I got to juggle the needs of two puking two year olds and a 4 year old that was not at all sick.  Loooong morning.  Luckily, Emma was a pretty good sport, most of the time (as were Elsie and Delia, poor things!).  They didn't have much in their systems so it was not a huge mess, but it was one or the other pretty much every 20 minutes or so until the afternoon and they both wanted to just lie on me for big chunks of time.  

Elsie getting some cuddle time with Mama 

They did sleep, though, tag-teaming through the day, which was a HUGE help, for sure.  They are so good about being sick -- way less whiny and miserable than I would be --and just take everything in stride.  They accept and seem to understand the rules about not eating or drinking much (including nursing -- breastmilk was not staying down today either, sadly!) and they actually WANT to sleep and do when I put them down, bless their hearts! 

They seemed a lot better in the afternoon, and I might have given more food and liquids than I should have, which may bite me in the ass later tonight.  I am SO SO SO glad tomorrow is a weekend and Lonnie will be home.  Woo hoo!

My biggest fear right now is that Emma will get it -- it just feels inevitable even though I was trying to be good about handwashing and sanitizing, as much as I could.  Last week rotavirus was running through her school, so it could be that, though its odd that the babies got it first if thats the case?  They do go in every day for drop off, though, so maybe.  

What I found amazing and awesome today was that even though Elsie and Delia were sick as dogs, they still kept up with the potty training, without complaint!  What potty rock stars!  I didn't want to pressure them but would ask if they wanted to go and they always said yes, and did it!  Both of them kept the same diaper dry all day (and not because they were dehydrated -- they were still peeing all day long!) 

Emma doing something funny with "Bobby"

The weather today was AWESOME and it felt miserable to be in missing out on it (though nice to have the doors open and the sun shining in all day!!!).  I really hope they are on the mend so we can all enjoy the fabulous spring weather all weekend! 

Oh man, so tired.  

E & D had me up every HOUR last night.   Flash back to the early days, wheee!   

Whiny needy kids today.  Not much accomplished.  House a mess. 

A bit more puking, but not much.  Think its over now.  Hope!    

Did get a nap today for the first time in AGES.  Hallelujah! 

Contemplating a road trip tomorrow, am I insane?  Yes.   

Time for some hot tea for my sore throat (perhaps I am getting it?), and olympics.  

Or Netflix?  NBC coverage annoys me... 

Four days in, I am no longer freaking out about the vomit.  Bring it on, I can handle this!  Emma started up around 5am this morning out of the blue (MUCH better than right after dinner, let me tell you), and while I immediately knew what was happening from several rooms over, I just sent Lonnie in and got to stay in bed (my valentines day gift, which I very much appreciated, ha ha!).   And then when Elsie got it this evening, I was mostly just relieved, to know that now there is an end in sight.  Delia recovered so fast, so I am hoping Elsie does too (hooray for breasfeeding!).  Emma was a trooper despite being sick off and on all morning. The funny thing with this bug is that other than when they are throwing up, they are totally fine.  No other symptoms (other than lack of appetite, which is a plus in this situation), pretty cheery and playful, considering.   I am in denial that Lonnie and I will get it (we won't, right?) but taking my immune boosters (or rather, my quackery, according to my husband) when I remember just in case.  

Tragically, this all meant canceling on the miraculous offer of free, last minute Valentine's day babysitting (thanks anyway Auntie Em )!!!  And I don't think we've been out on V-day for at least 4 years!  Waaaah!  We are holding you to a rain check!  Impressively, she, Uncle Charlie and Marie all braved the house of sick to keep us company and entertain the sickos, which was a really nice break from our usual program.  Yay to cool sibs (and their delicious buttery cookies as well).

More tomorrow, as we sit around the house keeping watch, hoping for happy kids and solid stomachs....

....dropped yesterday.  Both ears.  I knew it!  Delia was awake for hours the night before, and then was feverish and just cried and wanted to nurse constantly all morning (which gets old fast, when trying to get breakfast for the others and everyone ready and out of the house, let me tell you!).  She barely ate all day long, too.  Luckily I was able to get an appointment while Emma was at school and when the Dr. saw us he laughed because I had told him he'd be seeing us again in a few days.   

Now though, everyone is back in good spirits.   Antibiotics work fast!

Not too good in the blogging department this week -- life is getting in the way!  

Everyone still in various stages of recovery from this nasty cold.  Emma was gloriously happy to go back to school after a missed week, but I had to keep the babies home from a twins playdate because they slept like CRAP last night and needed an AM nap.  As did I, but organized and cleaned up the spice cabinet (aka random stale spices in a sticky ocean of honey) and did online price comparisons for overnight diapers (so worth it!) instead.  FUN!  And they slept for almost 2 hours!  Ran out to pick up Emma from school, and then around lunchtime Elsie became a sad, screaming mess thanks to an ear infection*. Luckily I was able to grab a 5:30 Dr. appointment, fed everyone first then got to the appointment, got the required meds (thank you modern medicine, especially numbing ear drops because ibuprofin wasn't touching it!), and then literally was home for 15 min before heading out again (leaving Lonnie with three screaming kids at bedtime, yeeps!) to arrive half an hour late to a parenting class.  Halfway through the class I realized I left my phone in the car, and called home to check in and they were all asleep.  Whew.  

For two hours every Tuesday night I am taking a class on Positive Discipline at Emma's preschool.  LOVING IT!  Its really great (except for the part where I have to ROLE PLAY, OMG) and I will post more about it soon.  

I've also been tackling various housecleaning and organizing projects (in small chunks, since thats all I can handle) and thats been good.  So much more to do, but it feels like progress.  

Right now I am eating ice cream and listening to silence.  Heaven.  

*as for the ear infection, its actually great that we've made it this far through the winter without more problems, since last year both Elsie and Delia were getting them with every cold that came through.  This is the first since early last spring!  No more talk of tubes, at least for now.   Of course now I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, since in the past if one had it the other always got it too.  So far Delia seems fine (though she was up a lot in the night, too), so we'll see.  I'm guessing its about 75% likely I will be back to the Dr's office within the week for her... 

So, this week has been a bit of a drag, due to the preschooler being really quite sick (cold, fever, odd aches and pains, general malaise, and now the little ones are getting it too, a bit more mildly) which has been keeping us out of our usual rainy day haunts.   The combo of staying home and rainy days can make for a little stir craziness for us all!

Here are a few things we did a few days ago that were a lot of fun.  Everyone enjoyed themselves, kids stayed busy for the most part (whew) and we had very few meltdowns!  We even got to get outside for a bit, and ate lunch outside at the picnic table, thanks to some nice sunbreaks and really warmish temps.  Yay!     

Anyway, here are the activities: 

1) I received this pasta beading activity via a toddler activity bag trade (where 12 folks made an activity for 12 others, then we all traded and got one of each).  Its just raw/dried pasta that has been dyed somehow, and ribbon with a pipe cleaner "needle" on one end and a metal loop on the other (to keep the pasta from falling off that end, and so you can fasten the pipe cleaner to it to make a temporary necklace).  I had never let Elsie and Delia try this before, but they actually had fun too!  I had to help them with the threading, especially with some of the smaller beads, and we lost a few that were chewed to bits (YUCK), but overall they had fun!   

2) After that success I felt emboldened to pull out the bean tub, which has been in seclusion due to the mouthy baby factor.  Just a washtub full of dried beans bought in bulk, and a lot of toys to play with.  Fun fun!  I had the brilliant idea to put it on a blanket, and tried to impress upon them the importance of keeping the beans ON the blanket to contain the mess a bit.  When the blanket was covered, everyone would get off and I would dump them back in and set it back out again.  It worked! Definitely took my keeping an eye on, but it was fun and not too big of a mess at all!  

3) Another boredom buster that often works for us is "mixing it up" -- combining toys or activities in ways we don't ordinarily try.  One thing I like to do sometimes is adding the girls play food (plastic/wooden/etc) and our real kitchen pots and pans Add in some mixing bowls and utensils and let them have at it!  Similarly, my girls enjoy playing with their regular toys (plastic people/animals or plastic play dishes/silverware) in the kitchen sink with some bubbles.  We have a learning tower which works great for one or two kids at a time.  

Another fun combo around here is blocks and little people or plastic animals.  Making buildings or roads for them, lining up all the people or animals on a long block or row of blocks, etc.  Maybe this isn't novel for most folks but around here the people and blocks tend to be played with separately so the combination adds intrigue when they are bored with their methods of play. And one last idea in this vein is to set out collections of little things (dominos, marbles, keys, etc) and some muffin tins and egg cartons (or other divided boxes or containers).  I generally set them out on a big tray so that the things are somewhat contained. Emma loves this, the babies don't get to do it as much (yet again due to putting things in mouth), but are getting there.  

4) And finally, there is magazine collages.  Lord knows we have enough old (and unread) magazines piled up around here!  I just started cutting out of pictures from a magazine (dogs, babies & kids and food go over REALLY well, as did a lot of holiday type items like santas, presents, cookies from a December mag) while they all pointed out and grabbed the ones they liked.   Then add paper and glue sticks and have at it!  I had to direct the little ones with the glue a bit, and had to assist in trading/sharing some of the highly sought after pictures, but it was mostly fun and easy.  And here are the results: 

What are some of your favorite rainy day activities?  We are always up for some new ideas!  

Tired of being locked up in our house on flu quarantine!  We are going nuts here!

Tired of wondering if its H1N1, strep, sinus or ear infections.  Or a combo of them all.   

Tired of E & D climbing ON EVERYTHING.  And messing up my stuff.  Constantly.

Tired of sick babies wanting to nurse all the time.   

Tired of no naps, late naps, short naps, messed up naps due to the 2-1 nap transition and the 1-0 nap transition.

Tired of food refusal and food throwing.

Tired of negotiating.   

BUT!  Last night everybody slept!  E & D from 7:30-6 (with one wakeup around 4:45).  So despite all of the above, I am not actually TIRED.  Yeah! 

Sick sick sick.  

Fever for me of 103!

E & D still coughing, Delia still really congested and miserable (sometimes).  

Emma getting a cough that was ramping up this pm... 

Luckily Lonnie had it two weeks ago, and is mostly recovered.  

Not a pleasant day, though!  

Lets go immune systems!