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!