The Pre-Christmas Plague

Unfortunately, the first three weeks of the Christmas season were a haze of changing sheets and scrubbing carpets in the middle of the night and tending to sick kids all day.  I was going to write a post with the stats of this illness the kids had but I didn't have the energy to figure that out.  I washed the sheets so many times that I ran out of laundry detergent (which never happens here).  I ran out of carpet cleaner and but they still look like they need some professional help.  My hands were raw from washing them and scrubbing things.  I didn't make dinner for two weeks unless it was pasta or a frozen pizza and I didn't go to the grocery store unless it was for Vitamin Water or popsicles or bananas.

I'm so glad it's over.  It was a little bit of a roller coaster.  At first I didn't think Casey was going to get it or at least she got a milder version.  Then she's throwing up all night.  As soon as I thought Jack was better and sent him to school, he was throwing up again and soiling his sheets in the middle of the night.  I still cringe when he tells me his belly feels funny even though I'm sure it's from the massive amounts of food I'm feeding him.  He lost a little weight but I think he's more than making up for it this week.  He's finally eating like I heard boys eat!

We missed a lot of things in the last few weeks - school field trips and birthday parties and holiday parties and church practice.  But now everyone is doing well and we're getting really excited for Christmas!  I'm so glad I got most of my shopping done early or was able to buy online.  We're counting down the days (we have 4 countdown calendars) and I think I might get through this without being too frantic about the things I have left to do.  The silver lining of spending so much time at home is that I got to sit down and watch a lot of Christmas shows with the kids and that was kind of fun and brought back good memories.  The kids are really into Christmas specials now!

Despite being pretty sick kids, the highlight of each morning was coming downstairs to open their Lego Advent calendar.  Each day they pull open a box and there is a Lego figure or car or spaceship they can build.  Jack has a Lego Star Wars calendar and Casey's is a Lego City calendar.  Jack is already excited about next year.

Here are a few pictures of the first day...