All is well

Yes, we're still alive!!  It's been a rough winter (not as far as weather is concerned, but our health), but I'm happy to report that everyone is still breathing.  Tom started everything rolling for us the Thursday after Christmas.  He began coughing and coughing and coughing and....coughing and coughing and coughing.  Get it??!  He coughed for about 2 weeks before he finally went to the doctor.  He was diagnosed with bronchitis and given a whole bunch of medicine.  He was on those for awhile and seemed to slowly improve.  Towards what we thought was the end of that...oh, wait a minute.  I forgot to mention that all 8 of the kids ended up with some sort of cough, too.  Some were worse than others, but coughs, nonetheless.  One of the things that absolutely drives me crazy is someone coughing all the time.  I was insane. 


 So, back to Tom.  Some where along the line, a few of the kids picked up a mild cold.  It was mild for those older than 2.  For Haven, it was faucet city for about 2+ weeks :(  Babies with runny noses are gross...even your own sweet babies.  Well, good ole Tom finally picked up the cold, too.  Just as he was recovering from that (still with a mild cough going on in the background), Haven and Ethan decided it was time to introduce the barfing flu to our family.  


Tom's parents had come to visit for Christmas (yes, it was late, but it was the first time we were healthy!).  I took Ethan and Haven to Krogers to pick up some food for dinner (they have great fried chicken, btw).  We were there for quite awhile because they were backed up with orders.  Anyway, on the way home, I heard Haven coughing and sputtering but didn't think too much about it...until she kept doing it.  I looked back and noticed that she was spewing all over herself.  GROSS!  Two things I was thankful for...1.  She didn't throw up at the store...that would've been awful.  2.  She only got it on herself and the carseat.  None in the van!!  I called Tom, told him what was going on and he met me at the van and took Haven!!!  Wonderful husband :)  He got her all cleaned up and we ate (not Haven) and visited for a bit.  We thought maybe she gagged or something.  About an hour later, Ethan said his stomach hurt and threw up.  Fun times ahead.  We pretty much shoved his parents out the door, politely, of course, and went to cleaning that up.  They were both assigned a bowl and told not to move without it.  (Much easier to enforce with Ethan!)  They both threw up a couple more times and went to bed...and slept all night :)  We weren't expecting that.  Ethan was fine in the morning.  Haven barfed once or twice more, but it was my fault because I gave her too much water.  She was so thirsty, but I should have known better.  Anyway, after that, she was fine, too.  We went very slowly on the food and drink.


That was Saturday (started Friday night).  Everything was fine and dandy until about 3am.  Peter's turn.  He made it in the bowl (we had given out bowls to everyone!), mostly.  Tom and I cleaned up that and were going back to bed around 4 when Tom looked at me and said, "I'm next."  Oh, yes, what fun on a Saturday night.  He continued to barf on and off until about 7, I think.  I kept hearing the door open.  **Side note:  Tom discovered the best way to barf with no clean up.  We line a small bucket with a plastic garbage bag.  Make a deposit and then take it to the trash can outside.  Wonderful.  No bowl to clean.  Toilet, you say.  Sure, that's great, but what if it splashes??!?! (tmi, I know, but think about it)  Sometimes you have to clean the toilet, too.  YUCK!  This really worked well for us this time.  Anyway, Tom and Peter stayed home Sunday and recovered and I barely stayed awake at church.


Again, all quiet on the Weadock front until about 1am (normally, we're awake then, but we were exhausted and asleep).  Sarah.  Then at 3, Rachel and Sarah.  This was really fun.  At least they decided to do most of it together, but it was like every 1 1/2 to 2 hours for the next 4-5 hours.  Then, thinking he was missing out on all the fun, Daniel joined in somewhere around 4.  Thankfully, we were able to sleep in between barfing spells, but it wasn't terribly restful, if you know what I mean!  They settled down and rested Monday.  I was really hoping that Nathan and Andrew would just get it over with.  They both moaned and moaned about stomachaches for awhile.  Nathan finally gave in and barfed...only once, but that was enough.  I even got to take the bag out.  Lucky me.  Like he couldn't have walked 10 feet to the trash can.  "I'd rather not."  Like I *want* to take a bag of your barf outside?!?!?  Oh well.  I survived.  Andrew continued to mope around until about 7.  Yeah!  Finally produced some barf for us.  Now, we're all recovering.  I've never had the flu so I'm safe.  Immune.  Thankful beyond belief.  The rest of the week was fairly quiet except for the "I've just had the flu so please cater to my every whim" syndrome.  That gets old.  Fast.  


Saturday night about 7, I started to feel weird.  Queasy.  I lay down for awhile and didn't eat dinner.  We were watching a video together and I realized that it was finally my turn.  I'm not exactly convinced that it was the flu, but I did make a deposit in the bag!  I even took out my own bag.  I really wanted to give it to Nathan :)  I felt fine afterwards, but stayed home Sunday morning just in case. I've been fine ever since.  Eating and doing all the bazillion things moms do.  (I'll try to list them sometime!!  Just kidding--not enough space on my computer.)


So, here we are, Monday night...well, I guess it's Tuesday now.  Oh, and Tom told me that Saturday night (he slept on the couch so he wouldn't get spewed upon!) he had to take cough medicine to get to sleep.  What's up with that?!  It's been like forever with that cough.


Maybe, we should not pray for mild winters again.  I'm thinking that the cold temps might kill some of the germs that have been attacking us.  I don't know.  I just know that we're ready for health.  I'm also very thankful that nothing is worse than it is.  I know compared to others, this is a piece of cake.  I'm very thankful for the health we have...it's just fun(ny) to think and write about it now that's mostly done.


Here are a couple of pictures from January.

Ethan pretending to talk on the phone and work on his computer!

Ethan in the snow...that minute we had some.  Remember?!

Ethan and Haven eating crackers.  I don't know why he has his coat on.  We do use the furnace.

Ethan got a new sleeping bag from Grandma and Grandpa W.

I caught Haven on the kitchen table--she had climbed up herself

She thought it was pretty funny!

Hope you enjoyed that lovely 'little' post!  Thanks to all who prayed for us during some or all of this.