Family Memories: Sick January

So you know that stomach bug I mentioned before? Well, Wednesday night, the night we drove home from my parents' house, Maddie got sick in the middle of the night. She got sick about 5 times every hour after. It was the first time she had ever had the stomach bug. Thankfully, she let us know when she was going to get sick, so we got her out of her crib and brought her to the bathroom. I was really impressed since she is barely 2! She was also crazy though. Once she got up saying she was going to get sick. We set her down, and she got a stroller in her room, started pushing it around and playing! Remember, it's in the middle of the night and she has the stomach bug! Crazy kid. I asked if she was going to be sick. She said she was so we went to the bathroom and she did.

The next day, we really tried to contain the germs in hopes of not getting anyone else sick. It's hard to contain a very active 2 year old though, so I ended up putting her in her high chair and letting her watch youtube videos of kids songs (one of her very favorite things to do ever) all day. It felt like I was going against what I would usually do. She wanted to play with her toys, but instead, I strapped her in and had her watch tv all day. It was very counter-intuitive, but I was trying to keep our family healthy.

Recovering from being sick. If only she'd stay like that for more than 5 minutes, I wouldn't have had to strap her to her high chair to quarantine her.

I thought it was hilarious that Claire fell asleep like this. At first I thought she just put my sweatshirt over herself. Then I realized she put her legs in the arm holes. Haha.

This little one was happy! I was sooo grateful she did NOT get the stomach bug. Yea breast milk!

Yeah, these sisters really love each other. :)

Sadly, the next day, Claire got sick. Thankfully, she is old enough that she always makes it to the bathroom in time, so she's easy. She felt better quickly though. After a few days, we thought that the rest of us were in the clear as we hadn't gotten sick yet. Well, we were wrong, because on Sunday night, within 10 minutes of each other, Chris and I got sick. I ended up sleeping on the couch in the office as Chris was WAY sicker than I was. Poor man. Then, in the middle of the night, I heard Claire get sick too. I felt bad for her and thought, “I'm her mother. I must go comfort and help her!” But then I stood up and felt like death, so I laid back down. Thankfully, she was totally fine taking care of herself. Go Claire! The next day, I didn't know what to do as Chris and I were both really sick and I was in no shape to take care of the kids, particularly Maddie. My saint of a friend came to my rescue though. She not only brought us a massive container of gatorade, but came over in the morning to play with the kids while I rested. Laying down and sleeping was the only time I didn't feel like death. I was in no shape to chase after Maddie and take care of them. Claire was somehow feeling great so she and Maddie had a blast playing various games with my friend. I am grateful for such awesome people like her!

This was just the beginning of a very sick January. Claire got an upset stomach a few more random times. Then when we thought everyone was healthy, Claire came home from preschool with a nasty cold which then Amelia and Maddie got, except the cold was really RSV. Poor Amelia was hit hard – she was eating way less, had a hard time breathing, and ended up having some breathing treatments. It ran its course, and thankfully she has fully recovered. This took us to the end of January though. I was ready for a new month in hopes of staying healthy!

This is how Amelia slept while she was sick. Just when I was trying to get her transitioned to the crib, she got sick again. This thing is great for propping her up to help her breathe better.

Despite having sickness in the house most of the month, we still had some fun times! We enjoyed time together as a family, had family pizza making/ movie nights, etc. Here are some pictures from the pleasant moments we had in January.

Random, yes. This is the Christmas tree the girls decorated to have in their room and I forgot to take a picture of it until we were going to put it away.

Claire likes that she can hold Amelia in different ways. She can hold her standing up, and when she has her on her lap, she likes to play with her and bop her around a bit too. :)

One night we made a pizza in Chris's deep dish pizza maker. It was fun to work together and afterwards we watched a movie. Fun!

Maddie saw Claire put on her apron, so Maddie wanted to wear an apron too. (I believe I have a sewing project in store for me.) She's wearing my apron and Chris's chef hat I made for him. :)