Day One Without Kris

Kris is presenting a paper at a conference in Atlanta. He left the house at 3AM on Thursday and will be back on Sunday...

5AM: Woke up one hour earlier so I could get myself completely ready before starting on the kids.

6AM: Go to wake up the kids and immediately smell barf. Check Jake- nope. Check Ella- bingo! She has thrown up in the night and is sleeping in it. Get Jake ready and start him on the computer. Ran a bath for Ella so it would be ready as soon as I got her out of bed. Wake up Ella and put her in the tub. Spent the next 15 minutes bathing a crying child. Get her dry and dressed, hair up in her Mickey Mouse ears and out the door.

6:52: Arrive at new babysitter's house (regular sitter is on vacation). Knock on door several times and stand outside holding a limp 3 year old for 10 minutes. Not sure if this sitter doesn't take kids until later, so I decide to take Jake to school first.

7:10: On the way to Jacob's school, Ella starts barfing the 4 ounces of juice she had this morning. Get Jake to school, unsure of what to do about Ella (law says take her out of the car, but she's covered in barf) so I just leave her and pick up Jake and run in. Run back out, get back into car. On the way out of the parking lot, I see someone I work with, so I tell her to tell the office I'm staying home today.

7:30: Get Ella home, get her changed. Made three layers of blankets on the couch with towels in the floor and let her watch TV. She's lethargic and whimpering that her tummy hurts. I spend the morning washing her bedding and clothes until I run out of laundry soap.

11:00: Ella starts crying and wants the TV off. She says she wants to go to bed. Luckily, her bedding and kitty just finished in the dryer, so I tuck her into bed.

12:30: Ella wakes up and wants juice. I give her 2 ounces. For the next 2 hours, I give her little portions of juice. She seems to be feeling better and I think that maybe we'll be able to take Jacob to dance class later.

2:30: Getting ready to go pick up Jake from school and Ella barfs all her juice. I'm out of laundry soap, so I just have to pile everything on the washer. I change Ella again and try to wash her hair without giving her another bath. I notice that she has a fever. I get her loaded in the car, stop by Walgreens and pick up laundry soap and children's Motrin. Ella is hot and limp. Get her back into the car and go pick up Jacob. He's out on the playground, so I leave Ella in the car again and go get Jake. We go home and Ella goes back to lying on the couch.

3:30: Give Ella the Motrin.

4:00: Ella's fever breaks and she wants me to hold her. As time passes, she starts talking and singing and asks for food. She's able to eat some chicken noodle soup and by the end of the evening, she's almost back to normal.

7:30: Put the kids to bed, finish the laundry, do the dishes, clean the living room.

9:30: Went to bed. I'm normally in bed at 12 on an early night, so 9:30 was ridiculously early for me : )