A Friendly Note to a Pair of Unwanted Visitors...

Dear Stomach Flu,
I just want to say, very funny and I am sorry I underestimated you.
I now regret two days ago, feeling rather easy about your seemingly short stay in our home. Hiram didn't enjoy it much (throwing up every hour through the night is no kid's idea of fun) but he took it like a big boy and even let me sleep for the most part. Not so bad- barely two loads of extra laundry, a bit of interrupted sleep and a fine happy boy in no time. Again.. I am sorry I underestimated you. I get the whole making people sick thing.. you are "illness" it's what you do. But inviting your buddy "injury" along for the ride is a little much don't you think? So Hiram got back to school and right away I received a phone call from the school nurse. Naturally I thought "illness", no infact your friend "injury" decided to bless our week. So, a kindergartner with a big fat split lip and loose tooth came home to me and I thought... "What bad luck these last two days!" Then when Jonah jumped on Noah- nose first and started bleeding profusely I thought.. "Wow isn't that interesting". I guess I should have realized you were just looking for a little attention, a little due credit, because what followed...Just plain showing off.
Seemed like an innocent enough evening.. Hiram lost his loose tooth, Mark and I had a great night out, even got to sleep early. Not bad. Not until about 1 am that is. Noah moaned and I realized I was about to do a whole lot of laundry. "No problem, we can handle that". I (we) got him to the bathroom (not without a big mess along the way), cleaned him up, cleaned the bathroom, started the laundry, took him back to the bathroom for round two, cleaned again, put Noah in a sleeping bag by the bathroom, changed my pajamas and fell into bed. Nice. I like my bed. I think I got to sleep again before more moaning... Lucky I had a bowl ready to go. Just needed to wash the sleeping bag as soon as the washer was free. "That's okay we have a back up". Okay Mr. Stomach Flu, you had my attention then. So was the rest really all that necessary? I next woke up at about 3 am to coughing.. very suspicious coughing coming from the babies' room. Uh oh. .. Poor Jonah. So into the hamper went the crib bedding. Joe and Luke (who woke up with Joe) and I head downstairs with Daddy for some laundry switching and baby party time. Once we decided it was safe to put Joe back in his crib I got to change my clothes again..we all headed back to bed, again.

Until.. Cough, moan.... more laundry, More Joe. And finally bed.

Until... Cough, moan... "Good morning ...Luke (6 am)- Let me introduce you to this nice white bowl we've all seen so much of tonight". Great, and let me change my clothes AGAIN. So at this point I had been puked on by three different children in one night. One for the blog right?
Well, fast forward to afternoon. No more puking, still behind on laundry. So, remember Hiram's lip? Well, apparently things like that run in the family. I watched Jonah trip and smack his face into the entertainment stand... cue blood. Poor Jonah was covered in blood crying, I am watching his lip swelling like a water balloon, Luke decides to get in on the attention and pulls on my leg crying to be picked up. So, Noah is sleeping off the stomach flu on the couch, Luke is crying and Jonah is gushing blood. Mark is over an hour away and I am wondering if I need to get to a Dr. Lucky for me one of my good friends is a dentist and only minutes away. So, She comes over and looks at Joe and says he should be fine- no stitches.
So right now Luke and Jonah and Noah are all asleep, Mark and Hiram are home and I am holding my breath. So Mr. Stomach flu and friend, Injury, while I would like to say that I am confident the worst is over.... I would hate to underestimate either one of you.
On suggestion though...
Next time you want to visit us, please consider instead a nice tropical destination. You'll love it.

Jonah's lip when things were cleaned up (as much as he'd let me) Hard to tell from the pic but it was really swollen.