The Plague

This past week hasn’t been a very good one in the Winn house. Well, actually, that is an understatement. The past week has been terrible! It all started last Friday. I woke up bright and early super motivated to go to the gym. I got the kids dressed and we were at the gym by 9:30. I went to a super awesome class where I worked my butt off and was feeling really good. The kids had a great time playing in the fun zone (a fancy way to say day care), and it was all around a great morning. But as soon as we left the gym, I started to feel all achy and was super cold. I just thought I overdid it at the gym, and was maybe a little bit dehydrated. So we came home, I took a warm shower because I was so cold and I couldn’t warm up, and I put Bo down for a nap. I put a movie on for Jenna, because I thought if I laid down for a bit I would feel better. But it just got worse and worse. I was so, so cold, and super achy and I was getting a little nauseous. At this point, I was calling Jarom to see when he was coming home, because I couldn’t really do much but lay on the couch. I managed to survive until he got home at 5 Luckily, Bo took some stellar naps that day. Jarom came home to find me dead on the couch. I was super bummed, too because it was the ward trunk or treat that night and I was definitely not up to going. So I sent Jarom and Jenna, the green m&m, and I put Bo to bed and continued to wallow in my misery. They were gone for about 45 minutes, and came home with quite a bit of candy. Jenna had a great time, so it was still a success, even though it was not the fun family affair I had envisioned.

As soon as they got home, I went straight to bed, and left Jarom to put Jenna to bed. I slept until about 4 a.m. when I was awakened by Jenna’s crying. Anyone who knows Jarom knows he sleeps like a dead person, and it is literally easier and takes less time to sooth a crying child and get back into bed than it does to try and wake him up. So even though I was still feeling pretty miserable, I got up and told Jenna to go back to bed. It worked for a little while, but then she started crying again. I told Jarom to go handle it, so he went and slept on Jenna’s floor. At about 6 a.m. I hear a commotion, and some lights came on so I went to investigate. I found them in the bathroom with Jenna’s puke on the floor. Until this point, I thought maybe I still had overdone it at the gym but when I saw Jenna was also sick, I realized that our family had caught a stomach virus. Jenna proceeded to puke every 30 minutes until about noon on Saturday. It was miserable. She spent Saturday afternoon dead on the couch and saying she didn’t want to throw up anymore. It was pretty sad a miserable. She puked a couple more times on Saturday and Sunday and we skipped Stake Conference. Then on Sunday night, Jarom started to feel nauseous too. I knew that this meant a long night of very loud puking, and I was still a little sick, so I opted to sleep on the couch in the playroom so I could actually sleep. This did not help. Jarom has the Winn gene that makes him puke so loud I heard it from the other side of the house. So I was up with that, and Bo decided he wanted to wake up at 5 a.m. and all around it was a terrible night of sleep.

Jenna, miserable on the couch

Jarom took the day off on Monday and slept all day. I found this to be unfair as I didn’t get to take any days off and I certainly didn’t get to spend any days in bed. Thus is the life of a mother I suppose. Jenna seemed to be feeling better, which was good because I probably would have made her go trick-or-treating weather she felt like it or not since I made her costume and I wanted people to see it. But she seemed to be feeling all better, so I dressed the kids up and headed over to the other Winn’s house for some pictures. Jarom managed to roll out of bed so he could be present, though he still felt terrible and mostly sat on the floor. Trick-or-treating was a great success, and we even got some cute pictures of the kids. We went up and down Nate and McKenzie’s street with Kenna and got lots of candy. The girls were pros at knocking on doors and saying trick-or-treat even before the door was opened. Jenna really like ringing the door bells so it usually went lots of knocking, say trick or treat, and then a couple of rings on the doorbell just for good measure. I am sure we didn’t annoy anyone. But everyone was really nice and told the girls how cute they were. Bo sat nicely in the stroller and watched from a distance. Once we were done with their street, we walked over to our street and finished up there. I was very impressed with how well everyone decorates for Halloween. We passed several spooky houses and a couple of houses even banded together to have a tent with a candy line, and a line of alcoholic beverages for the over 21 crowd. Someone also turned their house into a haunted house, and there was a line down the block to get in. We skipped all of these things and just got the candy and went home.

Jenna and her haul

Bo hanging out in the stroller, and looking oh so cute!

Jenna was still in a pretty good mood, and I still thought all was well, but that night she puked again. And then again on Tuesday on the way home from the park. It went all over the stroller. And then again on Wednesday. I was starting to get worried so I took her to the doctor where I was assured it was just a stomach virus and that it would pass. So after a really long week of cleaning up a lot of puke and almost running out of carpet cleaner, we finally went 24 hours yesterday without any puking. So again, I thought we were in the clear. Wrong again. I gave Jenna a cup of chocolate milk before bed last night because she has been wanting some so badly the past week and I thought she was finally better. But at 11 last night, she puked again. Apparently dairy is not good for a sick tummy, and even one that is on the mend cant really handle it. So, I am pretty sure she is healthy now, just a little sensitive in the tummy still. I vowed to not give her any more dairy until she has not puked for at least a week and we are taking it easy again today. My illness has morphed into a terrible sore throat, and Jarom is slowly on the mend too. The miracle through all of this, is that Bo seems to have avoided all of our germs. I am so grateful for this and hope he continues to be healthy.

Bo's shirt says "Tough like Daddy" which is embarrassing for Bo, based on Jarom's behavior this weekend.