Feet First!

Here are my size 6 1/2's jumping into the world o' blogging. (Or blawging, as it is with some.) I've got some folks out there that I've been lurking on for years, so I figured that I'd better get with it and pull myself out of anonymity. Am I grammatically correct? Uh, no. Will I always try to use spell check? Certainly, but my spelling is actually not that bad. Can I use a semi colon in the way that it is intended? I'd have to say no, but I can definitely learn how!

So who am I? Hmmm. I suppose that I could launch onto some great philosophical bit, but I'll spare you of that. Instead, I should start the blog with a really long story. So, here goes!

This past weekend, we traveled with my in-law's 7 hours from our home to Chicago. The road trip was actually quite pleasant and filled with updates of familyness and political voting choices. We got "to the 'Cago", as my daughter would call it, safe and sound. Our plan was to hang out that night, then have a big day of birthday celebration the next day. We tucked our daughter in and she fell asleep immediately. "Too easy," I thought. At around 12:30 AM, our little bundle of sleep joy hopped up and went on her way to the bathroom. I was laying there, half awake, listening. Then my husband jabbed me in the side. "I think that she just puked." Fantastic. I checked and she in her brand new Disney Princess nightgown that Aunt Kristin had just given her was a mess. Poor thing. Oh, and this was just the beginning. This went on for intervals of 10-20 minutes for the next few hours. We were in the finished basement their home, so we weren't interrupting anyone except for my in-law's. During a lull, I called our pediatrician's 24 hour nurses line and explained that I wouldn't normally call for the stomach flu, but that our daughter had just had a flu shot about 36 hours earlier and I was concerned that there was some serious shot reaction. She was having an injection site reaction, so it was worth the asking. She felt that it was the stomach flu (or virus, as it is supposed to be called), but that she was concerned that the shot spot had gotten to 2" in diameter, raised, red and warm. Ugh.

The night provided a few hours of sleep. God heard my prayers. K- got up at 5:30 AM and said that she was feeling, "much better, Mom!" She was thirsty. I gave her a Propel water that was stowed away. About 10 minutes later, propel did just what it's name suggests. Ugh. Another hour of illness. We weren't home. I'm always prepared for this at home. I had to tell K- that we wouldn't be able to go to the neat birthday party. The birthday party was to be at Sweet and Sassy. The little girls were getting haircuts and manicures. My daughter's hair has only been cut by mommy while she was sitting on the bathroom counter. I was excited that she would get an actual professional cut to what mommy has done to her noggin over the years. Everyone went off in their different directions and K- and I were left downstairs. We watched a lot of TV. We don't have super duper cable with a million channels, so it was great to watch a bunch of new stuff. When everyone returned, she was allowed to re-enter the main family pool for the party. We were having Italian for dinner. She was having chicken and stars. She didn't really eat it, though. She also declined on cake. Tell me what 4 year old out that declines cake, much less mine? Ugh, again.

The next day was our day to go home. On our way home, we wanted to make good on our promise to take K- to the Field Museum to see Sue. We got down to the lakefront and we found traffic. Much more traffic for a Sunday morning than we expected. Hmmm. Turns out that there was a Bears game at Soldier Field. The fun part? After we sat in a ton of traffic to find parking, we found out that the parking for the Field Museum reverts over to stadium parking and is $45.00 per car. NO KIDDING! I about had a heart attack. My mother-in-law is disabled with rheumatoid arthritis and has a handicap parking permit. I asked them about handicapped parking for her. "Oh, we don't have that near the museum during games. You have to park a ways away and shuttle back over." Thanks. So, we did what any other set of parents trying to scrape together some bit of fun for their 4 year old-- we had the in-law's sit in the traffic curve with their hazards on in front of the museum and we ran in. Literally. We have a reciprocal museum pass, so we didn't have to pay. Good thing, too! We were in the museum for about 15 minutes total. We saw Sue, their Tyrannosaurus Rex, nature exhibits and their African display. In the time that we were running through, my in-law's called three times. Then, we decided to divide and conquer. The hubs and K- went for the penny machine and I went to the gift shop. Ordinarily, I wouldn't have purchased a t-shirt, but the kid got the bummer end of the trip, so why not? We ran out the door, down the steps and hadn't an incident with anyone official during our quick stay. Sad though.

When we got home, we got all snuggled in our beds and fell fast asleep. Hubs was up watching a movie so he was coming to bed later. Though, I woke up later and didn't see him there. He was on the couch. Hmmm.

The next morning confirmed it. Hubs was down. He had it. He said that he'd be okay. He'd go get K- from preschool, bring her home and have her dine on odd foodstuffs and watch far too much TV. He declined my offer to stay home from work. He dragged himself to get her, smacked her head into the car door so hard that he left a bump and bruise. I came home and he looked to be a very broken husband and daddy. The illness was intensifying.

In the end, I thought that I was going to have to rush him to the hospital. I admit that my husband is not very cheery or a good sport when it comes to illness', but he suffers from pretty intense intestinal issues as it is. The intestinal funk is unkind to most, but particularly unkind to those with issues anyhow.

He hasn't been to work all week. I took him to the doctor yesterday to find out that he scored Rotavirus! Oh, yes! (Insert much sarcasm and pity here.) The good news is that he is much better. The bad news was that it took me an hour and a half to fully bleach, scrub and Lysol the bathroom. But, bed linens are changed, door handles and light switches are Lysol'd, floors are scrubbed and laundry is hanging to dry. I even made it to the grocery! I call the day a success!