Last Week

Last week was going to be one of the busiest we've had in a while - we had something going on everyday of the week.  Then it all changed, but was still busy, just in a different way.  So bear with me while I relive it all for you!

MONDAY - I went for a walk along Paseo del Mar, stopped at the playground halfway through the walk, and had a random meeting with some friends I hadn't seen in a while at the playground.  Then we went to storytime at the library.  During the girls naptime, I got dinner ready, showered, and did some other things around the house, because I had my monthly Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild meeting that evening, which was awesome, as usual.

TUESDAY - Picked my sewing machine up from the repair place, and took the girls to the duck pond.  While we were there, I got a call from Barb, who is in charge of our small group.  We were supposed to meet that night, but she said two other families cancelled, so she was leaving it up to us to still have it or not.  I made the decision to not go, since we had such a crazy busy week ahead of us, and normally we wouldn't cancel, but since other people were, we'd just go ahead and follow suit.  That ended up being a really good decision, unbeknownst to me, because...

Tuesday night around 11, Grant and I were woken up to the sounds of Kendall crying.  Which is unusual. 

Let me give some background here...Over the last few months, friends of ours who have small kids have gotten the stomach flu.  We've never had that - Kendall's never thrown up before, and I started realizing that for a 3 1/2 year old, that was pretty good.  But I was not so naive to think that it wouldn't ever happen.  So after hearing about my friends who've gotten the flu, I've been mentally preparing myself for it.  In fact, a few weeks ago, Kendall cried, and I woke up saying, "She's throwing up!"  She wasn't, but that just shows that I had it in the back of my head that it might happen soon.

So that night, I kind of did the same thing, except that night it was true.  She really was throwing up.  At first, and in our sleepy fog, we weren't sure what was really going on, but when she kept throwing up I realized that this wasn't a one-time thing, and that she was really sick.  So I told Grant to go back to bed, and I'd stay with Kendall in her room. 

Every 15-20 minutes, she was throwing up.  But she handled it like a pro (if there were such a thing as a pro puker).  We would lay in her bed, and when she was feeling sick, she'd just say, "Mama, I need to throw up."  So I'd get the trash can for her, and she'd do her business, then get back in bed, and actually sleep until the next episode.

That went on until about 3:30 am.  Which brings us to...

WEDNESDAY - Kendall woke up happy, and feeling totally better!  I, on the other hand, was exhausted.  Because, while she slept in between pukings, I did not.  And I didn't really sleep after it was all over, so I was going on about 2 hours of sleep.  Except for being tired, I was fine - not pukey, or anything. 

But we had tickets to be in the audience of American Idol that afternoon!  It was going to be me, Grant, and my two girlfriends (Michelle and Deb), and I already had a babysitter scheduled and everything.  Needless to say, I really didn't want to go.  But the tickets were in my name.  So I called the ticket place to see if I could transfer the tickets to either Michelle or Deb's name, because I didn't want them to miss out on going.  Of course, they said I couldn't.  I had to cancel the sitter, because I didn't want her to get sick.  So I was stuck.  My sweet, loving husband decided to come home early from work to stay with the girls, sacrificing his chance to go to American Idol.

So that's what happened.  Michelle, Deb, and I made our way up to the show!  We waited, and waited, and waited, and were told that we might not get in (the tickets are not guaranteed).  While we waited, we were starving, and started talking about our favorite foods, which was not a good idea, because that just made us more hungry.  As we kept waiting, they told us that if we didn't get in, we'd get guaranteed tickets for another show.  At that point, with our hunger in full-force, I was secretly hoping that we wouldn't get in, so we could go EAT!  Which is what ended up happening. 

So we made our way over to The Grove, which is right behind the studios they film the show at, and went to the Cheesecake Factory, and had a great time.  For being such a good sport, I got Grant two slices of cheesecake, and my delicious leftovers.  Actually, one of the slices was supposed to be mine, BUT...

THURSDAY - I woke up not feeling too hot.  I kind of felt nauseated all morning, but not to the point I felt like throwing up.  Those cheesecakes were staring me in the face, and I didn't want them.  I knew something was wrong.  I did eat breakfast, but that's all I had all day.  I gave the girls their lunch, put them down for their naps, and I laid down to rest, because I just didn't feel good.

Shortly after I laid them down, Cami started crying.  That's not totally unusual, and I usually let her cry it out.  But something was different about her cry.  I started thinking to myself, If I'm feeling sick, I wonder if she is, too?  So I went to check on her.  And as I opened her door, I smelled it.  She had thrown up all over her crib, and was standing there, looking so sad and confused.  I cleaned her up and brought her downstairs with me, bracing for what I knew was coming.

It was the same as Kendall - every 15-20 minutes for a few hours.  Seeing your babies throw up is horrible.  I know there are worse things they could be going through, but this was definitely a low point for me.  Kendall kind of grasped what was going on, but poor Cami.  She's only 18 months old!  She had no idea what was going on, and it was just so sad.

Around 2, it hit me.  I like to call what Cami and I were doing, "tag team puking."  It was interesting, to say the least.

I was supposed to babysit my friend's kids that night, so obviously, I had to cancel.  And on top of that, I did the unthinkable - I asked Grant to come home early, yet again.  With his job, it's very hard for him to get off early, but he did.  He's awesome.

Cami finished throwing up around 5?  6?  I don't know.  To be honest, most of that day is a blur.  I had my last episode after I had gone to bed that night.  Which brings us to...

FRIDAY - I was still feeling a little nauseated, but mostly just tired and weak.  Cami was back to her normal self, which was great.  And Kendall's sickness was a distant memory.  The only problem was, I was supposed to go to the Annual Southern California Regional Women's Retreat for the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church).  I needed to leave around 3 or 4 pm, so I had a sitter set up to watch the girls until Grant could come home.  Could I even go to something like that feeling the way I did, and having just gone through what I went through?

Grant was encouraging me to go, and I tossed around the idea of going up Saturday morning.  I mulled it over, prayed about it, talked about it with my friend Michelle, and since I started feeling better as the day progressed, decided I would go Friday afternoon, like I had intended.  But what about the sitter?  I couldn't bring someone into this pukey house!  So, for the third day in a row, Grant got off work early, so I could go on my retreat.  Husband of the year, anyone?

The retreat will get a post by itself, but for now I just wanted to recap what the last week was like in the Spear household.  Not a fun one, but definitely one to remember.