uncle!

So we had a great weekend enjoying our newly ear infection-free, snot-free, diarrhea-free, rash-free daughter. Among other things, Addie enjoyed her first AIA homes tour (outside of the womb) and her first time in the church nursery.

The homes tour was great as usual and got us all very excited about the addition we are planning for our house. The church nursery was really hard for me. I was totally "that mom". I handed Addie off then stood there for a few minutes watching her to make sure she wasn't going to be hysterical once she realized I wasn't around. Another lady came up to me and asked if this was Addie's first time in the nursery and which one she was. The easiest way to point her out was to say, "The one in the green dress that is completely unaffected by the fact that her mom just dropped her off in an unfamiliar place and left." Sigh. I finally peeled myself away, got some tea and headed into church with Robert. But then I had a feeling I'd better check on her again one last time. It could have taken a while for her to realize I wasn't there since there was so much new stuff to check out. Nope... still fine. Alright... I get it... you can survive without me for an hour.

Monday we headed to The Woodlands to visit Grammy, Aunt Natalie & Uncle Mike, and all the cousins. We got there by lunchtime, had a great lunch including Addie's first mashed potatoes. She of course loved them and didn't eat much of her carrots when she could stuff her face with creamy white goodness instead. Played all afternoon with the cousins. Dinner at Rudy's with the whole fam. The visit is off to a great start. It's great to have a healthy baby again.

Then the puking began. It happened without warning when I was rocking Addie to sleep. All of the sudden she erupted and we were both covered in those yummy mashed potatoes & barbeque dinner. Note to self: she ate more of those carrots than I thought. After we both got cleaned up (it's times like these when you gotta love having Grammy around to help), I rocked Addie to sleep again. It took all of 30 seconds because at this point she was exhausted. I stayed in the room with her in case she threw up again. Not 2 pages into my book it happened again. There is something a little terrifying about seeing your baby throw up while laying on her back. I guess it's the coughing, choking thing. Clean up #2 and this time we put towels everywhere to prepare for #3. I decided to sit up with her on the couch for a while. She's so sleepy she physically can't keep her eyes open. #3 - #5 happen over the course of the next hour or so. She basically does it in her sleep. Then the dry heaving begins. This is torture to watch. Around 1:30 am things calm down a bit. She got a good stretch of much needed sleep between 3 & 8 (if only she slept that good when she was healthy!).

She started the morning with a nice, big puke in bed which thoroughly squashed my hopes that she was finished with the throwing up. We called the nurse, got instructions for keeping her hydrated and things to look for that were "bad signs". Excuse, me? My baby is puking her guts up... to me THAT is a bad sign. Things got much better through the day and she has now been puke free for 22 hours. Of course just as the nurse suspected, the diarrhea has begun. She said that it can last for a few days. Oh boy. This morning my mom picked Addie up after she "got the signal" that Addie needed a diaper change. There was a puddle on the floor beneath her. Poor baby.

So now we are officially calling uncle. We surrender. No more sickness, please! I absolutely cannot stand to watch my baby go through this anymore. The ear infection, the massive congestion, the antibiotic induced diarrhea, the full body rash, and now the stomach flu... all in a span of a week and a half. I think that is a bit much for a 9 month old. I can't imagine what it must be like to have a baby with a chronic medical condition. In that regard we are sooo lucky. But still... sick baby, never fun.

Here's to a healthy day tomorrow...

p.s. Somewhere during this mess of sickness Robert turned THIRTY!! We did get to celebrate and I will write about that soon. :)