Stay Away!

Henry had the stomach flu.  We knew it was coming because a couple of our neighbor's kids had it.  Poor kid.  But honestly you should feel worse for me.  Cleaning up puke is the worst.  It's like hugging a leper.  I try not to breathe in all those nasty germs or throw up myself, then wash my hands until my skin is raw, and then rub hand sanitizer into every little crevice just so I can repeat the whole process when the next round of sickness starts.  Naturally Henry picked a busy Saturday to be sick and I had places to be so Henry was dragged along for the ride regardless of his stomach bug.  We made it for the tail end of Landon's basketball game (he scored 14 baskets!) and a quick trip to Dick's Sporting Goods so I could get Landon a mouth guard for his first lacrosse game (he scored 2 goals!) all without incident.  I was thrilled and drove really fast just to speed up the whole process because I knew Henry was a ticking time bomb.  Just as we were about to take a quick detour to the car wash, Henry started throwing up.  Luckily we didn't hit any other cars as I quickly changed direction while yelling at Parker to "Grab the bowl!  Quick!  GIVE HENRY THE BOWL!!"  But Parker wasn't fast enough so Henry was covered and so was his car seat.  You know what's worse than driving around in a dirty minivan full of boys and all their crap?  Driving around in a minivan full of boys, all their crap, and the smell of vomit.  It's much worse.  I felt bad for myself. 
Poor Henry.   That night he was so thirsty and hungry.  I made a quick trip to the grocery store for popsicles hoping he could at least keep those down.  It was a long night of him crying and begging for water and snuggling on the couch while he sucked on popsicles at 2:30 and 5:30
in the morning.  Parenthood.....
But the next day was awesome because it was Sunday and I had six hours worth of meetings to be at so Randy held down the fort.  Like most men, Randy has a much lower tolerance for cleaning up throw up so he lucked out that Henry was no longer puking but I still got the day off while Randy stayed home with him.  It was glorious!  I really think I heard angels singing.  I came home to a messy kitchen, think post-Thanksgiving dinner kind of mess, and a delicious meal of roast, potatoes and gravy, and homemade rolls.  I think my new church assignment is going to be a good change for our family.
And now Ethan has the stomach flu.  He hasn't kept anything down in three days.  We will see who succumbs to the plague next....