Keeping it all in perspective....

So we are visiting family in Boston for a few weeks and are really having the time of our lives! We love it out here, lots of family, lots of fun and lots of good memories!

Everything has its opposite though, so it was only fitting that disaster would strike...

Monday night we went to the ward building for a Ward Family Home Evening. We had just pulled into the parking lot when Ali vomited into her car seat....all over, and lots of it....eeewww!!!

So, Joe grabs the other kids and the diaper bag and brought them inside. I unbuckled Ali's car seat and brought her and her seat into the bathroom. As the door started to close behind me Quin's fingers were in the way and got pinched - bad. He got two of the worst blood blisters....poor thing. He was pretty hysterical. It was sad.

I spent the next half hour or more cleaning puke off Ali and then sent her out with Joe all bundled up in my coat. I stayed behind and finished washing puke out of the car seat. When I finished I had used about half a can of antibacterial spray and all the paper towels. I walked out just in time for Joe to inform me that Ali had puked again, but not to worry, it all went in my coat. I stripped her down again and washed her up again and put her in Joe's sisters coat. At this point I decided it would be best if we just packed things up and went home.
Needless to say it was an AWFUL night. We got the kids home and bathed and into bed and I put a bucket up in the room in case Ali puked again
...Ali fell asleep and Quin used it to vomit in instead! Between the two of them they puked about 12 different times that night. It was a long night. We finally got Quin asleep and around two in the morning he woke up screaming in pain. His fingers were hurting him so bad he couldn't sleep. Joe had to find the Dremel and drill his fingers to alleviate the pressure behind his nails. I laid Quin on the floor and put his hand on a paper towel and then laid across his arm and started chatting about the cartoons that were on. Joe went to town on his fingers and drilled them until the blood spewed allover. Quin didn't cry. I was so very impressed. He is a brave little boy.

The last vomit happened around three in the morning...then we all slept like the dead. It was a very, very long night.

So, thinking the worst was over, we carried on with our vacation....until last night.

Jack started throwing up in the late afternoon. I ran out of clean underclothes because he would vomit as soon as I finished nursing him. It was hard to believe so much could come out of someone so small...poor little thing. He threw up three times. I had just got him to sleep around 12p.m. when Clay came down complaining of a tummy ache. I put him on the living room floor with a bucket and he started vomiting around 12:30...he didn't quit until after 4a.m.

He counted 7 times he threw up...his were pretty violent. I had to wake Joe up and send him downstairs with Clay because I was worried Jack might start puking upstairs while I was gone and wake up the other kids. No one but Ali and Quin got a decent nights sleep. We're running pretty low on reserves!

But, today is Thanksgiving Day and I am very thankful. I am thankful for my beautiful, albeit very sick, family. I have four delightful children who are energetic and keep me on my toes. I have a wonderful husband who loves and supports me, even when I kick him out of bed to clean up puke at three in the morning! I have the most amazing in-laws whom I love dearly. They are supportive, they love my children and they accept me as a part of their family.

I am grateful for my life. I am grateful for my religion. I am grateful for who I am, what I am and where I am in this world. I am truly blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving.