My Weekend

This weekend, Brett and I hosted my 6 year old nephew Nathan, my almost 4 year old niece Ali and my almost 5 month old nephew T.J. This is probably going to be my last time seeing them in God knows how long. And oh, what an adventure it was!

The weekend started off badly, when Brett's car wasn't out of the shop on Friday, as originally intended. He couldn't get a loaner car until Saturday morning, either. My car is too small to fit 3 car seat typed things...and I don't have a back middle seat belt. Also not feasible for 3 car seats. For some reason, this sent me over the edge. I was BAWLING. BAWLING. In my mind, it equated never seeing them again. It equated having to disappoint the kids...and I couldn't have that. I called my sister, hysterical, and she volunteered to drive the hour to drop them off here at our house. Problem solved. Yay!

Friday night was good. We had pizza, played video games, did all sorts of fun things. That night, Brett and I went to bed around 1 AM (out of habit). T.J. woke up around 2:30 AM to eat...and that's when the fun began. As I'm putting T.J. back in his crib, I hear Ali coughing. I look over and see weirdness around her face. I see she is vomiting in her sleep. I'm obviously not prepared for this. Nathan is sleeping right next to her, I'm trying to keep him from being thrown up on, I'm trying to keep the floor from being a mess, trying to not wake anyone but Ali up...it was a MESS. So there I am, trying to catch the vomit in my two hands, all the while, needing to grab her and rush her to the bathroom. I end up in the bathroom, completely covered. It was so gross. So, Ali and I both had baths at 3 AM. We come out of the bathroom and there is my poor husband, trying to clean up the mess. (He SO hadn't volunteered for that!) After the clean up, Brett reolcated to the living room with Nathan and I keep Ali in bed with me. Lo and behold...at 5 AM....another round of vomiting. This time, all over the bed. Fortunately, I'd put towels down, so, the clean up was a lot easier. After the clean up though...guess who wakes up? Baby T. J. So, that left Brett and I with about 2 hours of sleep each. Fun fun.

Saturday morning, Nathan wakes up shortly after T.J. He was oblivious to the happenings of the night, so, he was a bundle full of energy. Brett and I tried the best we could to entertain him....even though we were zombies. Ali wakes up a couple hours later. I give Nathan cereal for breakfast and want to give Ali toast. "Little Miss Attitude" or "Tornado" as we so affectionately call her now, was NOT happy with just having toast for breakfast. Sorry little girl...I'm not having you get sick all over again. I called my sister at a reasonable hour, let her know of the nights' events and told her I'd be happy to keep Ali, but, if she gets sick again, it might be best to come get her.

Ali was fine all day. Thank goodness. Unfortunately, T.J. seems to be cutting his first tooth AND was starting on a cold. So, he would NOT let me put him down. He'd scream if I wasn't holding him. And it wasn't just that he had to be held. He had to be held BY ME, not Brett. And he had to be STANDING. I couldn't sit with him or he'd scream. Good God. Ali is full of attitude, so, when she doesn't get exactly what she wants, she's fun too. And Nathan has horrible allergies, so he's coughing and sneezing all over the place.

Saturday night rolls around and Ali starts telling me she's feeling sick again. One more round of sickness and I remembered we had bananas on the counter. Those seemed to do the trick. Hooray! We watched the Blackhawks game and went to bed that night without any events...other than Nathan talking in his sleep. "Brett, Brett....GO BLACKHAWKS!!!" Ha ha. That morning, first thing Nathan told me?

Him: "Aunty Katy, I know the Blackhawks won last night."
Me: "You do hunh? How do you know?"
Him: "I heard them hugging."
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Poor T.J. still isn't feeling well, so he was either sleeping or being held by me until Brigid came to pick them all up that afternoon.

All in all, in the midst of things, all I could think was, "This is hell." On Sunday after the kids left, my knee went out, probably because I'd been on my feet for so long all weekend. Brett and I talked afterwards about how we think it might be best to just have one child. How do you have a baby, yet still find the time and energy to play with your older children? How do you deal with the noise of multiple children??? We just don't get it. I started doubting my want for children at all.

And then I remembered. This was just a bad weekend. I've been around this many children before without incident. I think I still might want only one. But seriously? How can you NOT want at least one when you go to sleep and smell the baby smell on your comforter? I don't think I'll be washing the comforter any time soon. How can you NOT want at least one when that toothless grin looks up at you from his Pack and Play? How can you NOT want one when you hear, "Aunty Katy, I love you. This is the best time ever." How can you NOT want one when you have this little thing in your house all weekend?????