On Thursday I was talking to a friend, and we noted all the kids missing and sick at the school. “There sure is a lot going around,” I said to her, “I just hope if we get it, we get it right away and get over it before the book fair.” That very night, Mark woke up vomiting and continued vomiting every half hour for the duration of the night and well into mid-morning.
It’s good to see the universe is listening to me.
Mark is on the mend now, and no one else has come down with it so far, a phenomenon that seems mysterious, lucky, and ominous all at once. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. I also think I’ve gotten soft. The morning after the all-night barf fest, I pulled myself out of bed with very little sleep and was hardly able to function. When the kids were small, that would have been an average night’s sleep. Evidently when they were small I was in a zombie state all the time; after one bad night I felt completely inebriated. I walked into the wall not once but twice. How did I function back then? I guess it is something you get used to.
The weekend has therefore felt very disjointed, what with Mark in recovery mode and me obsessively monitoring everyone else for possible illness, and also the evil, accursed time change, which I complain about every year and yet it exists still.
So I have decided, this month, to participate in the Fairy Blogmother’s Knowing Me, Knowing You since my creativity has been sapped from all the BARFING. And worrying about barfing. And being indignant about time change and how it still exists even though I want it not to. How rude!
1) What’s on your Christmas Wish List?
My Christmas list is exactly the same every year: books, pajamas, and yoga wear. I also am planning on asking for gloves this year.
2) Do you have a handheld video game in your house?
No. We’re Luddites. Although I’m not sure how much longer that will last given the boys are all aware of video games and whatnot.
3) Are you participating in the 25 Days of Christmas challenge?
This is the first I’ve heard of this. So maybe? I’m not sure I can think of 25 Christmas themed family activities, offhand. But it does sound fun.
4) What is your favourite kind of cookie?
Gingersnaps! Chocolate chip! Oatmeal chocolate chip! Gingerbread! I love cookies.
5) Coffee or tea?
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. I drink a lot of coffee. I was over at a friend’s house with Jake for a playdate and she asked if I wanted some tea. I requested something herbal, since I had already consumed eight cups of coffee that day. She turned around, and gasped “PARDON ME?” I felt like I had just told her I prostituted myself out for a hit of heroin right before the playdate, and if she didn’t mind, I would just drink my wine out of the bottle in the paper bag that I brought along. So evidently I should cut back on the coffee, just to fit into society and all that. Like that little boy who dressed up as Daphne for Halloween! But the boys are getting hungry and my housewifely duties are calling, and so that is a topic for another day.
Most of the people I know pride themselves on their profligate and uninhibited coffee consumption, so I’m guessing your friend is in the minority. SO sorry about the barfing — god, kids and barfing — (visceral shudder). Profound hopes that no one else gets it, although, realistically speaking, dude, you’re totally screwed. Sorry.
8 cups. EIGHT!? Is this 8 cups from Starbucks? 8 cups of home brew? 8 cups deliver intravenously to your blood stream? Regardless — that’s crazy! When you look at moving objects do you see tracers?!
…Moving along: as my kids get older, they’re being sick is harder to take. Mostly because they like to play archaeologist as the stomach flu progresses. “Oh. The cookies we had an hour ago.” Then, “Wow that hot dog from lunch looks just like it did going down.” And then, “Wow! I forgot we had porridge for breakfast.”
And I’m going to steal your meme.
While I cannot fathom the thought of pouring 8 cups of coffee down my throat, many of my fellow teachers would go through that much in a morning. Especially the young moms as we only got 6 weeks unpaid maternity leave when I was in texas. They needed that coffee just to make it thorough the day.
Hoping you make it through the book fair unscathed.
Oh I remember those sleepless nights. Coffee for me too…
To clarify…that’s 8 cups of home brew. So it’s not as bad as it sounds. Eight cups of Starbucks and I would be spiralling right off the planet.
And LadyHash – yes. I know. “Wow, look, carrots!” God help me.
My kids just had a barf-fest a few days ago. There’s nothing quite like a puke-a-rama to remind you how freakin’ hard it is to be a parent.
Never, ever allow the thought of puking children to enter your mind! If you do, the universe will make it happen. I refuse to acknowledge the existence of puking sicknesses because I lack the patience and stomach to deal with it.
8 cups of coffee?! Holy smokes!
(Though I must admit, I usually drink that amount of green tea. Whatever.)
“…there is nothing we can doooo…knowing me, knowing you….”
I heart Abba.
Hey there – long time since I commented – but I have to say that when my kids were little I drank an ENTIRE pot of coffee in the morning before 8am. I am with you. The thought of facing three preschoolers with only a cup of green tea between me and them…makes me think that people who drink green tea either have a) no children, b) grown children c) a tenuous grasp on reality due to other “organic” pharmaceuticals. Drink away. (Red wine too!)