Out of Commission

I have to apologize for my absence this past week. I wish I could tell you I'd been up to something super exciting and it had been consuming all my time but... I haven't. Just life. Just mundane. We spent so much of February with at least one person in the house sick, that a couple of things piled up - like the laundry. So I spent the bulk of a day last week catching up. Friday, Ethan and I were long overdue for getting out of the house, so we met up with some new friends in the ward for a playdate at the nearby McD's. We picked up another mom and her two kids and I had to get a picture of the three kiddos and their carseats squeezed into the back of the Explorer. You can't really see him, but the baby is on the left. Oh, and Ethan is showing off his latest car obsession. That evening our little family also went to an elementary school Bingo fundraiser {very fun!}. Saturday was ward temple day, so we went with another couple and went to an early session. And then there was Sunday.... Oh my, dare I say, possibly the worst Sunday ever. I woke up slightly nauseated and after getting Ethan settled with some breakfast, camped out on the couch. A spot I was quite familiar with having just recovered from a nasty, week-long sinus-cold-thing. I spent most of the morning there and that's where I was when Sean left to help do fast offerings. By the time he got home, I had migrated to the recliner with my blanket and had added a bowl to my lap... just in case. So I stayed home. And Sean subbed for me in my Primary class. And it was a good thing, because, as if on cue, right at 2:20pm {about the time that my class would be starting} the bowl on my lap {"just in case"} was put to good use. And it was downhill from there. No appetite. No energy. No desire to even attempt to get fluids in my body. Even though I knew I was already getting dehydrated and shaky. When my boys got home at about 5pm I still hadn't eaten and had about 8oz of powerade in me for the day. I attempted a trip to the kitchen for a small bowl of bland cereal. The cereal was poured. The milk was retrieved from the fridge. I stared into the bowl and felt like I was going to collapse. So I stumbled back to the recliner and then stared into my other bowl {the one that was "just in case"} and promptly emptied my stomach of the 8oz of Powerade in my system. And then Ethan pointed out that I was throwing up. And that it was gross. And that it was blue {Mountain Berry Blast Powerade blue, to clarify}. And then he asked me if I was going to die. And then his Daddy told him to "leave mommy alone!" I camped out on the recliner for the next hour and a half or so and managed to get down {and keep down} 2 small bowls of Special K {the absolute only thing in the whole house that sounded remotely appetizing}. And then I relocated to the bed and slept. Sometime in the evening I mustered up all the strength I had to take a quick shower and put on fresh jammies. It took all my energy. I was back on the bed the second I was dressed, which meant I still had sopping wet, tangled hair. And sometime in there my mom called and upon hearing I was sick with stomach issues asked if I wanted a hot dog. And some other random foods meant to tease and induce a gag reflex. Not funny. Cruel, cruel mommy. And then I told her if I got any worse I would make her drive the 2 hours to get to our house so she could take care of Ethan {forget that I have awesome friends up here and already had offers to take Ethan off my hands if needs be on Monday!} while Sean was at work. I got lots more sympathy after that. {You know, not that my mom doesn't want to come visit us!}

Monday morning I was up at about 4:30am. A day full of cat-naps and stomach illness will throw you off your schedule like that. And I was feeling much better. Not 100%. I still spent much of the day in the recliner. And our TV was on way too much {which I hated and Ethan loved}. But I was able to eat a little bit more. And I made an extra effort to drink lots of fluids in an effort to make up for Sunday.

And because of all this, we had to cancel TWO dinner dates. Sunday we had been invited over for dinner with the same new friends {they were super-nice and brought us our meal}. Monday we were supposed to feed the missionaries {and I had a super-yummy menu planned}. :(

By Tuesday {yesterday} I was basically back to normal {only my appetite was still kinda low}. It was a good thing, too, because I was in charge of the cupcakes for a baby shower that night! I got them done, though. Two dozen lemon cupcakes topped with lemony-buttercream-frosting-goodness! Recipe, of course, courtesy of Our Best Bites. And I also made 30 open-face chicken salad sandwich halves to contribute. It was a fun baby shower and miss Emily Jane is due to make her appearance before the end of the month. Maybe even this week since the little princess is breach. She is kiddo number 5 for the family and breaks the tie between boys and girls!

So, anyway, I apologize for my absence. And I promise I already have a couple new posts in the works - which I better get crackin' on if I want to make my blogging goal this month! Hope your family hasn't been plagued with as much sickness as we have. Speaking of which, Ethan has been sneezing all morning and feels a little warm. I sure hope we're not headed toward another round of Kleenex, juice cup refills and temp checks... Fingers crossed!