What a long two weeks...

If there were two weeks we could just wipe out...I choose the last two.  I have been up to my elbows in snot, vomit and tears for two weeks.  Ugh.  Its kept me from doing almost anything productive and exhausted me in the process so now I'm struggling with a cold of similar proportions.

We can't seem to get rid of the cough...Bella seems to have inherited my chronic cough after a cold.  Poor kid.  I'm actually trying some allergy medicine.  Its only been 2 days, but I do sense a difference in her.  Hmmm...allergies...something you don't think about unless you have them.  (it was a suggestion from my allergy ridden neighbor.)

And so there is the end of the last two weeks...may they never be repeated again.

Space A Part 4 - Three things

So...you want the good news or the bad news first?  Bad news first?  Thats the way I like to do things...that means we end on a positive note!

While we were in Washington DC, my sister read an article about the top 10 ways to get motivated to spring clean your house.  Well, we managed to whittle the list down to three.

1.  Vomit.

2.  Diarrhea.

3.  Lice.

Part 4 is going to focus on the really awful part of my trip to DC and then I'll follow it up with Part 5 - and all the GOOD parts of our trip to DC.

Poor little Bellina.  During the two weeks that we were there she developed some kind of crazy stomach thing that caused incessant diarrhea and nighttime vomiting.  Of course it always had to happen in the middle of the night...all over the bed, floor, walls, frame, sheets....  Is this too much information?  HA!  Too bad.  This is for posterity...right?
So...after 4 days of her keeping down the equivalent of about 1/2 a banana we ended up in the emergency room...

Poor little girl.

Turns out that the emergency room docs have NOTHING on a motivated team of sisters who need sleep. 

We realized that the only thing that was different in Bella's diet were almonds.  Sure enough...eliminate the almonds and wahlaa!  Ok...so it didn't happen magically like that, but within a few days she was back to "normal" and now I need to have her fully tested for an almond allergy of some sort.  It may also be that she's just intollerant.  Those nuts are hard for her little mouth and teeth to chew.  Either way...we're off almonds completely and we've had no problems ever since.

In the midst of all this...and on the same day as the ER visit we discover that my sister's two little ones have lice.  Gaaaaah!  Neither she or I have ever had to deal with lice.  I don't even know what those little buggers look like...  Either way...Dad and the two older boys spent 4 hours and all the spare change in the house plus some at the laundromat cleaning all the sheets/pillows, cases, comforters, towels etc. in the house.  UGH.

Mayonnaise hair treatments!

Between the barf and the lice their laundry machines got quite a workout.

Needless to say...I think it was a relief when the lice was gone and everyone's tummy was back to normal.

Still talking about snot.

I know...I know...there should be more interesting things going on in my life than mucus, but the sad truth is that its what I am dealing with more than 70% of my day.  Between Maddie, Bella and I we've cornered the market.

I just can't believe HOW MUCH SNOT any one person can have during a cold.  Although, research suggests that even at the peak of a cold you are only truly producing about 14 grams or maybe 1/2 ounce of the stuff...

I don't believe it. 

Guess what else I found out in my research?  Somebody actually did a study on the effects of chicken noodle soup on mucus.  Drink up folks...those little bawk bawks and noodles vapors loosen it all up. 

Who would have thunk it?

Now, a quick shout out to the man who gave me all this great information - Mr. Cecil Adams, the self proclaimed smartest man in the world.  He's got the lowdown on anything you've ever wondered such as...

Can Coca-Cola be used as a contraceptive?

Is the Swiss Army Knife really used by the Swiss Army?

Did the inventor of the Slinky join a cult in Bolivia?

Yes...you can find answers to all these questions and more at http://www.straightdope.com/

Commercial is now over....and I need to blow my nose.

Aaaaachooo!

You know that you love someone when they are 2 years old and sneeze all over your lunch and you laugh about it instead of freaking out...

**Grossness alert**

This truly happened today and no, it wasn't just a small 2 year old toddler sneeze...it was the loud, I've been sick for the past week and still have a bunch of snot up my nose that I'm going to shoot out all over mama's lunch plate sneeze.

It was truly disgusting.

And it made me laugh really hard.

And then I ditched my pasta in the garbage can because it was truly unsalvageable...and had salad for lunch. 

Its been a long week...

...its just been one of those weeks. One of those weeks where I should have stayed in bed. all. week. long.

Sunday night...Maddie barfed 4 times...fell asleep in my room, finally, then woke up in the AM insisting she go to school and that she felt fine... (she did and she was fine...go figure...)

Various craziness all week long (I'm giving you the cliff notes version so you don't have to sit through serious whining...) And, I haven't spoken to my husband for 4 days now...

Last night was what I hope was the grand finale...Bella was barfy and fevered and finally fell asleep at 4AM. I'm exhausted.

She's wide awake now singing a song about being "barfy girl" (apparently I used that term a lot in my exhausted state) and eating toast.

Mama needs a nap.