Valentine's Day

Yesterday was one of the most memorable Valentine's Days I think I will EVER have! I apologize that there are no picutres with this post, but then again you are probably happy I didn't post any after you hear about the day...

Cameron's brother was coming into town with his new flame. The plan was to go out to lunch, maybe spend the afternoon around the mall, and then attend a church sponsored dinner/dance in the evening. Nothing fancy but I was looking forward to it (plus there were some clothes I needed to return to the mall, we had a gift card to the restaurant, and the church function would be free; really how could you get a better, relaxing Saturday than that?).

I will have to say I am so happy we had kids, it keeps life interesting. I am now either ready way in advance which allows me to be early/on-time to things, or we are embarrassingly late. Something always seems to come up and the only way to deal is to plan for the unexpected (which requires you to give yourself 10-20 extra minutes) and be flexible.

Two kids make this much more fun.

We were riding to the restaurant in two separate cars (having two kids also allows for only one (very small and quite uncomfortable) extra passenger in our compact car) when Dallas decides he needs to throw-up. I will spare you all the details for those with weak stomachs, but let me say there was a LOT of it. We pulled over to assess the damage and deemed it inappropriate to continue on to a restaurant. Cam stayed with his brother and company (who hadn't eaten any lunch yet) while I turned around and took Dallas home (with all the windows rolled down and the heater turned on full blast). Mercifully, Chelane fell asleep.

I stripped Dallas down to his diaper in the backyard, wiping off his hands, mouth, and neck with a clean corner of his undershirt. Grandma was nice enough to take him inside to bathe him while I hosed down (literally) his clothes and completely dismantled carseat (I took out the straps and everything). Then I tackled the small amount that leaked through the carseat onto the car seat. After coming inside I started a batch of laundry and let my frozen feet thaw out (I did all the hosing off barefoot).

We figured Dallas throwing up was a fluke. He had been sticking his whole hand in his mouth and practically down his throat the last few weeks and gagging himself (darn adventurous kids). We thought he had just gotten really bored in the car and gone all the way this time. We were still planning on the dinner/dance (and maybe a little bit of mall going). Jeremy brought some pizza to the house for lunch/afternoon snack/dinner (it was about 5pm) and Dallas ate it just fine. Ten minutes later Cam starts yelling at me to hurry upstairs.

Regurgitated pizza is not a fun sight, nor fun to clean-up, but it sure can clear seven people out of a room quickly. Cam isn't much help when kids start to chuck their cookies. He is a little empathetic and it starts his gag reflex up. I was trying to decide if I should bathe off Dallas first or tackle the carpet when Jeremy started to clean up the carpet without any provocation and I was able to bathe Dallas and start (another) batch of laundry. (As a little side note here I am SO thankful for washing machines and running water. I think episodes like this really put things like that into perspective. Since I am talking about being grateful for inanimate objects I should express love for family that helps unselfishly with things like this too!). After his bath Dallas threw up again downstairs (we caught most of it in a bowl) and he was banished to the bathroom (Grandma was tired of throw-up landing on her carpet, and really, who could blame her?).

Well we pretty much wrote off doing anything that night. The dinner was suppose to start at 6:30pm (seating at 6:15) and 7pm was rolling around. If you know anything about me you could figure that I was stressed not to mention tired. Dallas' last bout was pretty much just clear liquid and we figured his tummy was empty. He wasn't running a temperature either. He was doing a good job not throwing up while playing in the bathroom so we eventually let him out.

At about 7:30pm Cam's brother and company were trying to decide if they should just go when Grandma insisted that we all go to the dinner/dance, the dance wouldn't be starting yet anyway, and enjoy ourselves; she would watch Dallas. So we did. They were still serving dinner when we got there, so those of us that were hungry were able to eat. We even spent a few hours dancing afterwards. Cam says he has no sense of rhythem, but he is a good enough sport to dance with me anyway. We really did have a great time after all was said and done (I even was laughing, which after a day like that is an achievment for me), although I don't know how much fun Grandma and Grandpa had with Dallas.

I am so thankful for a loving and close family. And I apologize profusly to my brother's and sister's kids that Grandma and Grandpa were watching yesterday if any of them get sick. We didn't plan this, we swear!

(And incase you are worried, Dallas didn't throw up all night (and slept really well) and has eaten some toast, a tiny bit of egg, and some cheerios today with great success. Hopefully the throwing up is over.)