Go Fly A Kite!

6:00- I am woken up by Spencer's crying and coughing. I hold him and feed him, and he falls back to sleep. I go back to bed, knowing I probably won't get any more sleep, but still weak from the flu I had all weekend.

6:20- Andrew climbs into our bed. Gary gets in the shower.

7:00- I decide I better just get up and have a shower and maybe that will help me feel better. Spencer wakes up for real. Gary and I say our prayer and he leaves.

7:30- I decide to give Spencer a bath, and he is joined by Ben and Ryan. I wash Spencer and get him out and Ryan and Ben proceed to fight and kick each other, splashing water all over the bathroom.

7:45- I wash them and get them out and get them dressed and clean up the bathroom, while they sit on the stairs, not saying a word! (They would usually have to help me clean it, but oh well.)

7:55- Ryan and Ben can get off the stairs, give each other hugs and say, "Sorry [insert other party's name]. I love you."

7:56- Andrew informs me that Spencer has found a piece of bread someone got out and left on the floor. I run down to get it out of his mouth just in time for him to choke and throw up all over the carpet.

7:57- I clean up the throw up, grateful for his strong gag reflex. I change his clothes.

(I don't even know what happened during this time)

8:30- The boys decide they want oatmeal for breakfast. I make it and it's hot and ready, but they decide they want to finish watching Clifford "because he's a puppy in this one!"

8:36- I decide to let my tummy see how it feels about food. B-a-a-a-a-d idea.

8:45- They decide to eat.

8:47- I feed Spencer and put him down for his morning nap.

8:55- Ben asks for a drink. I grab a glass off the counter, fill it with water and give it to him. It slips out of his hand and shatters all over the floor. I clean that mess up, cutting my hand in the process.

8:57- Andrew brushes his teeth and finishes getting ready for school. I realize I haven't made his lunch yet. I hurry and do that and then follow him around and comb his hair with a comb dipped in water in a plastic cup, while he gathers his things.

9:02- The doorbell rings and his ride is here. Like the good little boy he is, Andrew says his prayer before he gives me a hug and a kiss and rushes out the door. I'm glad I'm not the carpool lady this week.

No more timeline- the rest is a blur.

Ry and I enjoyed some quiet time inspecting the bulbs that are coming up and pulling up the first of the weeds.

Spencer woke up around 10:15 and people were still grumpy and whining. Ryan was begging to go to the park and that sounded like the perfect escape. I was too weak to walk up there, so I packed up everyone in the van, along with the stroller and the kite, got everyone's shoes, socks, and jackets, and headed up.

We took Mary Poppins' advice and flew the kite. (Well, I guess it was Mr. Banks' idea, since he was reformed by then and Mary Poppins was busy packing upstairs. But, she was the inspiration behind the reformation, so it could be argued that it truly was her idea to fly the kite.)

Anyway, we were out there flying the kite (which infuriatingly kept veering to the left and crashing, but whatever) when I heard Ben doing the familiar pre-throw-up gaggy coughing. He ran over to me and I bent him over just in time to avoid another clothes-change. He did a few successful heaves and I decided we were done. While I was gathering up everything, Ry and Ben (who felt better after a good throw-up) ran off to play.

I got Spencer (who had an award-winning runny nose) out of the stroller and put the kite and jackets in there. Having no kleenex, I removed his jacket and used it as a kleenex- Oh puh-lease, you know you'd do it too!- and took off my jacket and put it on him. I tried to push the stroller and hold Spencer while he slipped farther and farther down off my hip. I had to stop to lift him up and then everything would fly out of the stroller. And the dang kite that refused to fly just five minutes before kept flying out of the stroller five feet above my head, pulling the string out of the stroller, which would somehow grab onto everything that was in there and pull it out too. Go ahead and laugh. I'm not ready to yet. . . well, maybe a little chuckle. All the while, my thought kept reverting to the throw-up in the grass and my own stomach would tie itself in knots and my mouth would fill with water.

So, after a surprisingly easy gathering of boys, we went home. I put Spencer on the floor and went upstairs to get lunch ready. After about 30 seconds Ben said, "Spencer's dripping!" I ran downstairs to find Spencer holding a Capri Sun upside down. He and the carpet around him, not six inches from the drying vinegar-and-water mixture I used to clean up the throw-up from earlier, were covered in Pacific Cooler.

I changed him again- this time into pajamas, and cleaned the carpet. It's never a good sign when you're already back in pj's by 11:00 am, after already going through two other outfits.

Well, Ryan is at Preschool, probably very happy to be away from the madness, and my poor little sick guys, Ben and Spence, are asleep. It is unbelievably quiet right now, which makes me wonder if this morning was just another one of my weird, psycho flu-dreams. No, it was real, because I just remembered I have to clean throw-up off of Ben's shoes and get the kite out of the back of the van, which I didn't put in there very nicely because it was annoying me on purpose.

If you need anything or just want to have a tea party on the ceiling, it may take me a while to answer the phone or get to the door because I'm going to be concentrating very hard on snapping magically enough at this mess so it will clean itself up. But right now, I'm going to take a spoonful of sugar and take a nap!