Good riddance, March!

March was supposed to be "family month" for us. It was, but it also ended up being "illness month." Not fun.

We were scheduled to see every one of my siblings except for my youngest sister, and every one of Jason's siblings except his youngest sister, and all 4 of our parents. The first week of March, my sister was going to fly out with her 2 kids. Her daughter got the flu 2 days before they were scheduled to leave, so they had to cancel their trip. Bummer.

The second week of March, Jason flew to San Diego for a work convention. I flew with the boys to New York, dropped them off at Jason's parents' house, and flew out Tuesday to join Jason. We had a great time and got to see two of his brothers, their wives, and their combined 6 kids, including meeting an adorable new nephew for the first time. Holding him made me so baby hungry. While we were gone, Colin got sick. We flew back to New York Friday night, and visited with Jason's parents and his brother, his brother's wife, and their 3 kids, who live in Manhattan. It was very fun to see them, but the fun was offset by the fact that Colin was vomiting, miserable, and totally not himself. Poor kid. Luckily no one else got it. More about that trip in a happier post. 

We flew home the following Monday (now the third week of March). Two days later, my other sister flew out with her 8-month-old, and my younger brother and his wife and their newborn baby boy (Mark) arrived at my parents' house. But Colin was still sick, so we stayed away. We were able to join them on Saturday for Mark's baby blessing and again on Monday evening.

Erin left on Tuesday morning (the last week of March). I knew it was going to be an insane week, because the last Thursday of the month was the quarterly enrichment dinner, and I was recently called as the enrichment leader. Jason and I prepared dinner for 50 women, and it was ambitious and busy. (I'll probably post about it later.) It was made even harder when Colin started vomiting on Wednesday. He has vomited every day since. That's 7 straight days so far. I got it Thursday, and lost 5 pounds of fluid between the time I woke up and the time I crawled in to bed. I missed the enrichment meeting, and Jason was gone most of the day trying to get the dinner done. Jason got it Thursday night, while working the overnight shift at the hospital, and Ethan on Saturday.

Jason hasn't thrown up, because he's been popping Zofran like it's candy. Ethan is a middle-of-the-night vomiter. 98% of the time he's thrown up in his life, it's been after he's gone to bed, and this time is no different.

In the last week, I've dealt with more vomit and diarrhea than I have in the nearly 5 years I've been a mom combined. I reached the end of my rope on Saturday, and now I'm at the point where I can't even see the rope anymore. I'm burning all our belongings (furniture, bedding, clothes) and selling the house. Because I'm never getting rid of the smell.

So, it's been a hard week. I know a lot of women go through much harder things, but this has been an extremely physically and emotionally exhausting experience for me. I think if I'd been mentally prepared for so many days of illness, I would be in a better place right now. But I've never had a kid vomit so many days in a row. And with Ethan throwing up only at night, I haven't slept through the night in a week, and I'm so tired. Colin won't go anywhere in the house unless I'm carrying him or holding his hand. Ethan was such a patient, great kid today, but he is so, so bored, and I haven't been out of this filthy house for any significant length of time in so long, and I am going crazy. Jason got home from work today and I was a complete mess. I just couldn't stop crying. And I'm not a crier. Ethan even looked at me and said, "Mom, what are you doing?" in a really confused tone of voice. Jason took the kids and sent me to my room, where I sat in the bathtub for an hour and tried to forget the last few days.

Now the house is clean(er), the kids are in bed, hopefully for the night, and I'm feeling better. I've been trying to think of things I'm grateful for. Here's what I've come up with:

1. My washer and dryer. How did my pioneer ancestors deal with situations like this??

2. My husband. I can't imagine being a single mom. Jason was gone for the toughest day (Thursday), but he was around Friday (after he woke up), Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It was so nice having help.

3. Rug Doctor's brand of spray bottle spot-cleaner for the carpet. It's the best product ever. Seriously.

4. Our overall health. We have no chronic illnesses or disabilities, so at least I know that at some point, this will pass. Right? Right???