Spending Quality Time with the Remote

The past few weeks have tested my skills as a mother to the limit. Montezuma’s Revenge has taken on a new meaning as Tom and I chased between the beds of vomiting children. Of course, it doesn’t help when mommy is down. There is no euphemism to describe my husband driving with the windows down on a cold Midwestern evening while I sat in the passenger side losing my lunch. Thanks to the advent of modern medicine and a couple of days, it is hard to believe I was ever that ill. Our ER doctor was wise enough to prescribe wonderful anti nausea medication and gave us enough for the whole family with the exception of Sidney.

Of course Eli and Sidney have both been struck. As always, Tom and I continue to laugh about the situation. We have paralleled it to a combat situation. This all began when I woke up at 3am to Eli leaving me a surprise on his bedroom floor. This was only after waking up at 1am to find Sidney leaving me a surprise in her bed. Unconsciously, I screamed down the stairs, “Eli’s down.” Tom was sleeping apart from his already sick wife. We refer to Tom as “the last man standing.” Better days ahead!

Sidney is tough and a little trooper. After about an hour of getting sick, she quickly fell back asleep and slowly worked back onto foods the following day. She has been found spending many an hour hogging her half of the couch, inhaling pedialyte and saltines. Eli, on the other hand, was the recipient of a small dose of medication and is relaxing in mom’s bed watching cartoons. One of the many qualities I love about Eli is that he is the constant optimist. He might be sick, but he gets to eat popsicles in mom’s bed while school is going on!

Meanwhile, Sidney’s fingers are healing beautifully. We head down to Iowa City on March 1st for the surgeon to have a final look. One finger is completely healed with no scabbing and the other is well on its way to the scabs totally falling off. Another mother asked recently if she tries to take off the splint. I can report she has done beautifully. She knows it is supposed to be on, and I wonder how she will react when it is totally gone. Dr Lawler said six months for the other hand, so we will continue to ask more questions during the next visit.