The Under the Weather Report

The flu came raging through here late yesterday like a wildfire and now all three children and three adults in our household are sick.

My sister started feeling ill a couple of days ago and started to realize it wasn't just post-surgery icks but that she'd probably caught what I had.

Bella, who had been coughing occasionally all morning, woke up from her nap yesterday afternoon with a cough and a fever.

By evening Dom had a tickle in his throat and was starting to feel achy. He made a dinner-time run to the grocery store to lay in supplies for the coming, week. And thank goodness he did.

Sophie went to bed early. She didn't wait for prayers and stories. Straight to bed and was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. About two hours after we put her to bed she woke up screaming. And throwing up. Sophie threw up two more times in the night and then woke a fourth time with no vomiting, just needing to be resettled. Bella was great at notifying us when this happened.

At some point in the middle of the night I realized Ben had a fever too and administered Tylenol.

Now Sophie is feverish, though hasn't vomited again. Bella has a runny nose and a cough. Ben has no symptoms so far but the fever.

Yes I'm going into much more detail than anyone else needs to know; but I need to record all the details to keep it straight in my own head and this is as good a place as any. This way I only have to write about it once.

We've got a running joke in our household about the similarities between a toddler and your drunken college roommate. This morning poor Sophie has exceeded herself. She sits glassy eyed on the couch in her pink Red Sox track suit with dried vomit in her wild mane of hair, clutching her cup of water and idly pinching at her exposed belly. (Yes, we'll give her a bath and wash the hair at some point but right now it would cause her more distress than it's worth. I'm picking my battles)

If you can't laugh at your troubles, you might just break down in tears, overwhelmed by it all. Right now we're managing. The kids have all nodded off. No one's going to Mass, of course.

Prayers are greatly appreciated, of course.