Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Thanksgiving in Barfsville

You can't say we're not consistent. This year, we kept with our tradition of getting sick on major holidays by all getting sick for Thanksgiving. We had a great weekend planned and were really looking forward to it. It was Madelyn's first Thanksgiving and, well, you only get one of those so we were pretty excited. The plan was to spend Thursday morning and afternoon at home as a family and just relax. Then we were going to go to Aunt Ellie and Uncle David's with the Flowers for Thanksgiving dinner. Friday, we were going to head up to the Suskay cabin for the weekend to have Thanksgiving dinner and time with Great Grandma and Grandpa Stuck.

All that changed when, mid-Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Madelyn's breakfast came back up all over my lap and the floor. So, Madelyn's first Thanksgiving was also her first time being sick. She seriously handled it like a champ though. We didn't really even know she was sick sick till the afternoon. We just thought her reflux had come back with a vengeance. But by the afternoon, she was very tired and just laid on Angie's lap and tried to sleep. Patrick and I managed to make it over to Thanksgiving dinner though while Angie helped Madelyn rest at home. Patrick had an awesome time with the family and created a special bond with our cousins Chelsea and Lindsay and got to hear some great silly stories from Uncle David that still puzzled him the next day :)

However, Friday, the puke potato was passed to Patrick. Followed by Angie and me on Saturday and Sunday. Being sick is no fun. Having sick kids is even worse. But both of us being sick AND having sick kids was THE worst. In the spirit of  Thanksgiving though, we kept trying to remind ourselves of things we were thankful for over the weekend (in between our sprints to the bathroom). Here are a few we came up with:


  • We're actually kind of thankful that it happened over a four day weekend. This way neither of us had to take off work to stay home or leave just one of us trying to handle both of our little geysers. 
  • We're thankful for Pedialyte. Seriously, this stuff is like child re-animator. Once Patrick felt good enough to keep a little liquid down, we gave him some Pedialyte and his energy level skyrocketed.
  • We're very thankful our kids are independent. It was so nice that while one of them was getting sick and Angie and I were focused on them, the other just kept on playing by themselves and self-entertaining.
  • We're thankful our illness was spread out over the weekend (kind of). It really would have been terrible if we were all full-on sick on the same day. Ugh.
  • We're thankful for Resolve carpet cleaner. I'll leave it at that.
  • We're thankful for the Thanksgiving dinner Patrick and I got to eat with the family and all the food they sent home for Angie. We're also thankful for the wonderful Chicken Noodle Soup Meme sent over for us.
  • Personally, I'm thankful for Angie, even though the word "thankful" doesn't begin to cover it. Saturday, when we were both sick, was our six year wedding anniversary. It's not really how we had envisioned spending it but we did vow "in sickness and in health" at the start of all this. Watching Angie this weekend take care of our children, fill their every need and still remain positive all while not feeling well herself reminded me again how blessed I am to have her in my life. And not just have her in my life, but get to spend it with her and experience every day by her side. That is truly something to be thankful for.
  • We are thankful for our kids. The only upside to kids being sick - as any parent who's had sick kids will tell you - is that they're extra cuddly. Patrick would get sick every time he moved so to keep him still we put on a movie, which meant that I got to cuddle with him for the entire length of a movie. That is worlds better than any cranberry sauce out there. Our sweet Maddy would crawl over to one of our laps, smile at us and lay her head down on our legs when she wasn't feeling well. We would have been happy to stay like that the entire weekend if she had let us. Being sick also reminded us how much fun we have playing with the kids. After just four days of not playing, getting to tickle them and chase them and hear their giggles was the best thing in the world.
  • We're thankful that this happened at Thanksgiving because hopefully that means we won't all be sick for Christmas this year :)
There were a lot more but this post is long enough already. Obviously, it wasn't the Thanksgiving we had planned but it was still four days in a row together, as a family and that doesn't happen all that often. We were even able to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Stuck on Monday at the Suskays when we went over for a great dinner. And now, we're all feeling much better. We hope everybody had an awesome Thanksgiving with tons of food and family!

2 comments:

KBBean said...

So glad you're all feeling better, and looking forward to you spending the rest of the holiday a vomit-free!

meme said...

we are thankful for you Toby and how you love Angie and what amazing parent you are---and how you both love your family. such blessing to see you grow as a family. happy anniversary! love, meme
PS-Papa made the soup!