Devan and Alex Steele Family: What a day!

I know gross, but look how sweet.

Last night Hannah woke up at midnight and was really smiley and talkative and generally annoying. All of a sudden, a fountain of foamy apple pie spewed from her mouth. We got up, took off the sheet and the mattress pad, I gave Hannah a bath (it took 3 washings to get all the chunks out of her hair), brushed her teeth, and we all went back to bed. 10 minutes later we have another explosion, this one soaking through to the bed. This time I wiped her up with a wet rag and we moved onto a mattress on the floor. A few minutes later she went again, so I flipped over the mattress and put on a fourth sheet. After putting on the fifth sheet, I stopped caring so much. She'd throw up, and I'd just put a towel over the wet spot, wipe her face with a paper towel and lay back down. Once we ran out of towels, I'd just fold the towel over to a clean spot every time she dirtied it. She fell asleep for the night at 3 am and was up vomiting again at 7:30. She threw up 7 times before noon, but they weren't bad because she was learning to get it in the bowl. The only really traumatizing event was when she threw up in her sleep and soaked me. Seriously, every single article of clothing I was wearing had to go in the laundry. We took a nice bath after that one. Then she slept for an hour and only puked 4 more times this afternoon. She's sleeping now and I think she's getting better because she had a cracker a couple of hours ago and hasn't thrown up since. All day long she hasn't even been able to keep water down. She'd ask for a drink and I'd give it to her, but I'd know that it would be coming right back up. The saddest thing is between episodes, she's such a sweet little girl. She's laid in bed smiling all day. Every once in a while she'll say, "Oh no!" and when I ask her what she says, "tummy". Poor kid. I know that this is all normal parenting stuff, but I've managed to go almost 2 years without having a really sick kid, so it's a little shocking.

Devan has had a nice long day of being away, which I don't think he minded much. Except that he had to go to school this morning after only 3 hours of sleep. He's only been able get 60 hours of work so far this year, so we were really excited when they started a new job this week that should take a couple of months. The problem is, the place they're working in won't let them stay past 4 pm and he doesn't get out of school until 1:30 three days a week. So, he found out he could go to his latest class every Tuesday night for three hours rather than three days a week for an hour. And he didn't have class before that class anyway, so really it gets him an extra 7 hours of work a week just to go 3 hours at night. I'm really excited. Still, with him quitting at 4 everyday, I'm not sure he'll be bringing in enough, but it's better than definitely not making enough to live on, which has been the case the last 6 months. So, tonight he's at his night class and I've been counting the hours until he gets home ever since he left at 7 this morning. One more left. And he's going to bring home french fries for me, which I think will make the whole day worth it. Something about seeing everything we at yesterday come back up makes me not so in the mood for leftovers.

That's my little pity party. It really hasn't been that bad and I'm really glad I only have one sick kid and that this is the very first time anything like this has happened. And I don't really mind a day when I don't feel guilty for staying in bed all day. The only thing I really wish was different about this situation is that I had a washing machine. Look at that!