We've been hit by a VERY nasty bug!!

(Note: do not read this blog while eating! :))
I should start by saying that generally we are a very healthy family. Grace had her very first fever AFTER she turned 2 (it accompanied her first ear infection). Noah has never had a fever and other than a runny nose here and there has never been sick. Tyler has not missed a day of school so far this year (that will change tomorrow) and in the time I've known Aaron, he's had sinus infection or two, but NEVER a stomach bug. Other than my kidney stone, I've avoided any "blog-worthy" illnesses as well.

Having said all of that, some kind of super germ kicked our trash this week! It started Tuesday night with little Noah throwing up. We thought it was an isolated event until it happened 45 minutes later...and 45 minutes after that...and 45 minutes after that....and so on and so on for the next 12 hours. The next morning we took him to the doctor. We assumed it was some kind of virus, but wanted to be sure it was nothing more serious. Sure enough, the doctor said there was something going around. Noah was very lethargic for the rest of the day and then seemed to feel much better (though his illness moved South...let's just say we bought some disposable diapers to get us through the week).

On to Thursday, Grace went to Mother's Morning Out as usual, came home, ate lunch, took her nap and 2 hours later woke up SCREAMING at the top of her lungs. I went in to get her and found her pitiful, covered in vomit, trembling, and saying "I'm sick." I think she was scared by the mess so I tried to comfort her while stripping her down, stripping her bed, and identifying which stuffed animals needed cleaning up. I got her bathed and cleaned up just in time for round 2. Like Noah, she had an episode every hour or so for about 12 hours.

By Friday morning, both of the little ones seemed to be past the worst of it, but at about 5 am, Aaron started throwing up. Same 12 hour deal. Now, I have to say during all of this I felt very queasy and very tired (24-hour laundry perhaps?) but so far I have yet to hit the vomiting stage. We all felt well enough by Friday evening to do the movie on the lawn with the neighbors.

On Saturday, both kids were still dirtying lots of diapers, but they acted very normal and Aaron was well, so we ventured out to the store. Bad idea. On the way there, Grace begged for some water so we gave her some. 10 minutes later she was projectile vomiting in her car seat. Thinking it was caused by too much water too soon, we proceeded into her store where she had a VERY. MESSY. DIAPER. Aaron took her out to change her while Noah and I finished the shopping and we left very quickly. On the way home she had another episode that was probably the worst I have witnessed in three kiddos. Aaron is not that easily amused and even HE was impressed. Bless her heart, we felt so bad for taking her out. We got her home, got her out of the car seat and cleaned up. We pulled the car seat out of the car and washed every part of it we could figure out how to get off. We cleaned the carpet, pulled the 3 outfits she had gone through out and washed them (let's just say my washing machine has had a heck of a workout this week). In the meantime, Grace took a nap. When she woke up she felt much better and has done very well today.

To be safe, the kids and I stayed home from church today in an attempt to not infect all the other kids at church. Wednesday through Friday, Tyler was on a trip with his school and I prayed that he was not experiencing this during his trip. He got home and reported he had felt fine through the trip. HOWEVER, he started throwing up at 3 pm today and seems to be on the same track as the rest of them. He'll be missing his first day of school this year tomorrow.

I'm feeling guilty that all my family has suffered through this bug and I've escaped relatively unscathed. But at the same time, I know they have needed me to comfort and clean and I am thankful I've been able to provide these things for them. I just hope Tyler recovers quickly and we can put this nasty bug behind us because it has been one messy, miserable week at our house!

It's a beautiful NIGHT in the neighborhood...

At the risk of things sounding too perfect, I have to say... I love my neighbors. I love my neighborhood.

One of the things that tipped the scales for this neighborhood when we decided to build a house was that we already knew 5 other families nearby (3 in our immediate neighborhood and 2 in the neighborhood that connects to it). When we found a floor plan that included EVERYTHING we were looking for, we called our search to an end and started building! When we moved in, it was just comfortable from the start. Over the past 10 months, we've been able to meet most of the other families in the neighborhood and we are so blessed to be surrounded by some of the nicest people I've ever met.

Our backyard backs up to two other families and since the warm weather arrived, we've been doing lots of stuff with these families and several other neighborhood families. The kids all love playing together and inevitably we end up eating together at least one weekend night. Last night, one of our neighbors ordered pizza and we all ate pizza and the kids played outside until dusk. Then the guys hung a movie screen up on the outside of the screen porch, we laid down blankets, and watched the Jungle Book. The kids LOVED it. The mommies got to sneak inside for a while for some pleasant conversation and the daddies hung out and watched the movie with the kids. I snuck away at one point to grab my camera because I realized I was witnessing a great blog entry. :)

I think there's something about moving into a newly built neighborhood...where everyone is new at practically the same time. I observed close relationships forming in my parents new neighborhood and am so pleased to see the same thing happening for us. We're happy, our kids are happy...yes, we are really HOME.

Why I wish I could safely have more children...

Yes, we're busy. Yes, our hands are a little full. But look at these little faces...(these pics were made at Grace's preschool and I scanned them so they are a little blurry, but you get the idea)

Say WHAT?!?!

You know how sometimes well-meaning strangers make comments that make you go hmmmm? Like the time I was at the mall with Grace and Noah and a lady came up to me and said "Are they ALL yours?" I was thinking "um, yeah...all TWO of them and *gasp* I even have another one at home!" Well, tonight I think I heard the best one ever...

We took the kids to Panera to eat and apparently they were REALLY hungry because all three of them stayed in their seats, were relatively quiet, and ate their food. For the record, this is not normal, but it was a completely enjoyable time. As we were getting close to finishing up, a very nice lady at another table was leaving and she came by and said "You all have such a sweet family." Of course Aaron and I beamed and said thank you. She followed that up with a comment directed to Aaron....

"Thank you for being such a good daddy. I am a school teacher and I wish you were the daddy of MY kids."

Yep, she meant well...but we sure did get a good laugh out of that one after she left. :)