Getting out

My husband calls me a hermit, and on many levels I believe he is right. I just really enjoy my home; I enjoy the comfort and intimacy that I get from being in a space that I know forward and backward. If ever I have a need, I know that it can be taken care of in my home. But I've been trying to work on getting out of the house at least once a day, and it usually ends up being in the late afternoon around 4:00 when all of the napping is done. I've been going to the park and on days when the weather is bad to the indoor McDonald's play structure. On days that Dan is off, we go on bigger adventures further away from our home. We have made the decision to go camping on our next 3 day weekend the 17th, 18th and 19th. So, yesterday we drove out to the campgrounds at Jordan Lake (about 40 minutes away) to take a look and see what area we'd like to camp in.(there are over 1,000 camp sites)

We left the house at 4:00 and for most of the ride there Charlotte slept and Maddie yawned and acted cranky even though she had already taken her nap. We drove around the campground and picked a spot to park in and decided to go for a walk and see the campsites up close. No one was really "into" this expedition though.....I guess Dan and I were, but Charlotte was grouchy and fussing most of the time and Maddie was slow and kinda whiny and just not herself. After a couple of hours we pack everyone up and started to head home since we were getting close to bedtimes. We drove through Taco Bell to get some bean burritos for dinner and after Maddie refused to eat anything and had not really eaten lunch either, I tried to bribe her with a sip of my soda and cinnamon twists neither of which she would even taste. All the while Charlotte is crying crying crying in her car seat and nothing is calming her down.

I was telling Dan that this was going to be a horrible car ride home, when out of the corner of my eye I see vomit coming out of Maddie's nose and then her mouth. Oh-my-gosh. I of course started freaking out, Maddie is crying and throwing up some more, Charlotte is crying and Dan is trying to navigate through traffic to get off the highway so we can deal with the situation. We strip Maddie down, and thank God for baby wipes, we start cleaning up her car seat and her face and hands. Thankfully Charlotte decides that she is going to be calm and quite through this part because her crying would have made it 100 times worse. Poor Maddie. This was the first time she has ever thrown up and she was so sad. So we get her cleaned up and in the car and get a movie started and back on the road and then Charlotte starts crying again.....and she just won't stop. So we pull off the highway again and park behind a gas station and I spend 15 minutes feeding her. Maddie looks like she's going to either be sick again or pass out. Charlotte finishes and we strap her back in the car seat and drive home.

This was one outing I wish we had never taken. I mean the scenery was beautiful and it was fun seeing the camp ground, but the drive home was horrible. And that wasn't even the end of things. We got home, got Charlotte down, I cleaned Maddie up and got her jammies on and gave her some Motrin because she had a fever, and put her to bed. I went to bed, Dan stayed up to do homework. Around 12:30 Maddie threw up in her bed and Dan striped her blankets off and put towels down for her. Around 2:00 I heard Maddie making noise and got up to find her up and walking around the house. I got her some ice water, changed out the towel on her bed because it was wet and put her back to bed. Around 3:30 she was up again acting like she was totally fine although she still felt hot, so Dan put her back to bed again. Needless to say the three of us didn't get much sleep last night. Charlotte slept great and only woke up around 7:00 am to nurse....Dan let me sleep till 9:00 and went into work late.

I feel so, so horrible when my kids are sick. It's hard to know that your child is hurting and there really isn't anything that you can do for them and they just don't understand what is going on. I would take away every hurt and every injustice throughout their lives if I could just so I wouldn't have to see the sadness and pain in their eyes. Today Maddie still has a low grade fever and seems to be feeling okay off and on. She is napping right now and hopefully stays down long enough for it to be restorative. I'm hoping this won't last long and that when we go camping in a couple weeks everyone is feeling well and can enjoy our time living in the forest. Pray that we all get through this illness with as little loss of sleep as possible, we're already at a deficit with an infant in the house, and pray for my sanity since there is no preschool or trips to the park with a sick kiddo.....that means I get to be a hermit this week!! woo hoo.