What a Week

The week so far :

Saturday :

While Dabriah was so sweetly rocking Braden and had him all wrapped up in his cozy blanket, it hit. Neither she, the rocking chair, nor the cuddly blanket were spared. My poor baby had a high fever, was lethargic, and had been taken over by a bug of the projectile producing kind.

Sunday :

More high fever. Less projectile. 
In the midst of it all, Lexxi leads the boys in a play of "Cinderella". Who designated Levi to be Cinderella? Lexxi. And she is the fairy godmother, Deacon's the prince, and Isaac is the pumpkin carriage. Oh for the love of big sisters.

Monday 1:17 pm :

Levi gets off the bus, and it is quickly obvious it has hit him too. 102 degree fever and a painful earache. 

Braden is more energetic, and making up for two days of quiet with constant high pitched excited shrieks. Then all was too quiet and I found him here :

Tuesday :

Levi's down for the count. Still high fever, still painful ear. His best friends are ibuprofen, his blanket, and PBS kids all day. He took 4 naps and didn't even want to play wii. (He really was sick.)  

Braden is much better.

Tuesday 10:27pm : 

While I sit up in bed enjoying the long awaited peace, the silence is suddenly broken by the dreaded cough/gag combo that can only mean one thing. Into the boys' room I go to find my poor Deacon had been rudely awakened by his dinner. I survey the mess and don't think he chewed one single rotini noodle.

I carry him to one tub and his bedding to another, and take turns hosing them down.  Then on down for a late night rendezvous with my washing machine, only to discover I am completely out of laundry soap. I dump in vinegar and 1/2 cup of dish soap, and call it good. 

Deacon and I are up repeatedly through the night, him filling, and then I emptying the puke bowl. 

Wednesday :

Poor Deacon is still at it.

Levi is feeling well.

By 10am Deacon is finally able to nap, the poor boy is exhausted. I run to the store for some laundry soap and disinfectant wipes while Briah watches the little guys.

Back home, I throw in some laundry, wipe down the house, and decide to confront two clogged toilets. The one in the boys' bathroom has been clogged for like 2 months, but since there were 3 other toilets to choose from, we sort of ignored it. This is another thing only a mother of a Levi would fully understand...

So... with sleeves rolled high, rubber gloves on, and plunger in hand, I take on the toilet in my bathroom. After a few minutes, I win.

On to the boys' bathroom. This one puts up a fight. I flush and plunge till my arms ache, and after 10 minutes I finally get the satisfying swirl and gurgle. Then slowly, something long and blue appears. Huh? I look closer and extract the source of this toilet's illness. As it turns out Isaac, Levi didn't steal your toothbrush, he fed it to the toilet.

Could there seriously be no better design for the common household toilet? Something that folds into the wall and locks perhaps?

Anyway.

It's now Wednesday night. All is quiet so far. Deacon is on ibuprofen to help with his fever and is asleep on his mattress by my bed.
The laundry pile is daunting. There are couch cushions cleaned and drying in the dining room. The whole house smells like laundry soap and disinfectant cleaner.
But while I was in the midst of cooking dinner, scrubbing furniture, and carrying armfuls of laundry, I stopped to look at this.

Levi's birthday is on Friday, and I so hope everyone is well for it. In every spare minute I've been able to find over the last few days, I've been working on his birthday gift. One of my goals this year is to do homemade gifts for the kids. Kind of a fun challenge.