Sick :(

I'm not sick anymore, but the 24 hour bug I had cycled through the whole family. I've been okay other than an occasionally moody stomach since last Wednesday. Thursday was Christmas eve and Mia threw up shortly before we were supposed to go to Doug and Linda's for the Scott Christmas. Since I had already been sick and it's Steve's family, I stayed home with her. She only threw up one more time and we cuddled in the chair and I did laundry. She seemed back to normal by the time Steve and Ella got home and opened her presents and played with Ella's for a little bit before bed. The next morning she woke up early, so Steve got up with her and let me and Ella sleep in a little. We opened our gifts and then Steve made breakfast. Mia had half a pancake and some scrambled eggs and has been fine since then.

We headed to my parents' house that night and no one showed any symptoms. In fact, everyone was fine most of the weekend. Saturday evening we had the Atherton Christmas and got a lot of great gifts. The girls had a blast playing with their cousins and sledding earlier in the day. Sunday morning the girls were in the nursery when Susan (who was one of the nursery workers that morning) came to get me and said Ella had thrown up twice. Irene (the other lady in the nursery) helped me clean up Ella and her clothes. Ella seemed okay the rest of the day, other than not having much of an appetite. She didn't get sick again and we're still not sure if it was my bug she had or if it was a combination of too many jelly beans the night before (she found a bowl of them and none of the adults noticed until most of the bowl was gone) and leaning over the toy box.

After the Steward Christmas that afternoon, we headed home that night. The family time was great, but it's always nice to get back home and into our little routine. It snowed most of the way, so the trip was longer than normal. We saw two cars in the ditch but we made it home safely. That night Steve's stomach was upset. Sure enough, he got sick in the middle of the night. And then he got sick every few hours after that. :( The last time was 7am yesterday. Needless to say, he stayed home. I got the girls up as normal and he slept for a few more hours. He had chills and nausea off and on during the day but didn't get sick again. He took it easy and I ran some errands while the girls napped. He was able to keep soup down and had a bit of an appetite by evening so he had some peanut butter toast. Today he was okay other than being a little tired and weak from not eating very much. He's at work.

Since everyone had been sick, I thought we were done. I was relieved that the girls had each only thrown up twice and didn't have the accompanying diarrhea. Steve and I can handle the flu a bit easier than the girls can. I was sitting down with my bowl of cereal this morning when Ella threw up again. Chocolate milk and dry Life cereal. All over the living room carpet. She seems fine now. She finished her chocolate milk (I was cleaning the carpet and she drank it before I realized it was still out) and ate more cereal and seems fine. When she had the flu last year she lost her appetite and was lethargic. She's been walking around playing with her new toys all morning. So I'm not sure what to think but I'm really hoping this is the end of it.

As far as I know, we somehow didn't get everyone else sick this time. Last year we had the Atherton Christmas and almost everyone had the flu within a week, if not the next 24 hours. A month later we were all together again and half of us got sick again. This time, Leslie is the only other person who got sick (and I'm sorry we got you sick!). Luckily she only threw up once in the middle of the night and felt okay by morning. I'm praying no one else got our germs and this is our only bout of the flu this year. I do feel more prepared now. We have rolls of paper towels positioned throughout the house. There's a bucket here in the living room in case one of the girls gets sick again. We're stocked up on laundry detergent. We're just low on carpet cleaner, but it's on the list. I just hope I don't need it again soon!