My 100th Post!

Unfortunately this post is not bringing your humorous stories of my hardships as a mother, or news of the latest milestones Emerson has met.  Our poor little man is the sickest I've seen him, which is just terrible for parents to have to watch. He has endured 5 ear infections, alternating ears, has overcome innumerable head colds, survived a bout with a croup-like cough, and has even thrown up on 2 separate occasions. But this time, a full-blown stomach bug has hit, and he has been the saddest little boy over the past 24 hours.

It all started yesterday morning when I took him to Stroller Strides and he kept refusing his banana and oatmeal. This was an immediate red flag, as he NEVER turns down food. After accepting his water, he started to whimper, and then we noticed he was wet and covered in half-digested fruit from his dinner the night before. Poor man vomited a big one. Good things you can hose off a BOB.

Then he seemed ok for the morning until he chugged his water once again, after which he threw up on me and the bathroom floor. We were successful with some applesauce after that and when I limited his water intake. He took a nap after his snack and seemed to be a little lethargic, but not too bad. Then we played with his new ball in the back yard, he had some more applesauce, and we ran some errands successfully. Then he fell asleep for a second nap and it was all over.

After he woke up for dinner, he refused food, refused to drink the Pedialyte I had purchased, (serves me right, having never allowed him to drink juice, he just wanted water but needed the nutrients), and laid in Child's Pose on the couch moaning and whimpering, watching Disney Jr. He doesn't sit still for 2 minutes, much less 2 hours. He doesn't cuddle, much less refuse to be apart from me for even a second. It was so sad, yet so sweet to get some much needed down time to relax with my growing boy.

Then we pushed him over the edge by trying to meet up with his dad for a quick trip to a shoe store. Upon getting him in his PJs and in the car, he made it about 4 miles and threw up all the oatmeal I had managed to get him to snack on plus the electrolytes from his forced sips of Pedialyte. So we washed out the car seat and placed it next to the washed-out BOB and called it an evening after his 3rd bath of the day.

Luckily he slept well and I slept horribly with the hopes of waking to a vibrant (albeit hungry) little boy. Instead we woke to a 100 degree fever and more refusals of food and drink. But I managed to parcel out little liquid and eventually a little food over the course of the morning. After more naps, moans, and many hours of PBS Kids, I still sat under the whimpering 17-month old as he drooled all over the couch and me.

There is a light at the end of this tunnel, after getting a much needed mom break of a massage and hair cut, and getting a lot of help from grammy, his high 102 degree fever finally broke and we got a little piece of our rambunctious son back.  He enjoyed the remainder of a banana, more applesauce, a handful of crackers, water and Pedialyte MIXED, and even begged for a bite of his dad's chicken sausage. He is definitely not 100%, but I put him down with much higher hopes for a better tomorrow. At least we didn't have to deal with pulling him from daycare and taking a day off to be with him since we are on break!

So now I realize how lucky we are for such a healthy baby boy, and how I have finally been inducted into to true circle of parenting that includes being vomited on, cleaning vomit out of 4 outfits, a car seat, a stroller, and a bathroom, and washing my hands with antibacterial soap about 100 times praying this doesn't transfer to the rest of us on my last weekend of Spring Break.

Winding down on the couch (this pose lasted nearly all day)