That one week when all three kids got sick, Aaron was out of town, and we lived to tell the tale. March 2013

Did you catch the title of this post? "That one week when all three kids got sick, Aaron was out of town, and we lived to tell the tale." After a good dose of medication (5 different ones for Calvin), and a solid two weeks later, I am here to tell the tale.  I'm a surviver (thanks, Beyonce).
After we found out Aaron's Grandma Petty had died, we decided he should make the trip to California to help with the funeral preparations and to be there with his family. (another post is coming with much, much more on the matter.)
The timing was perfect for him so he wouldn't have to take time off work, so he flew to San Francisco late on Tuesday night.
As luck would have it, the next morning at 5am, three year old Calvin woke me up to tell me his pjs and bed were soaked (he wet the bed).  So, I stripped him down, stripped the bed down, and gave him a bath.  As I was washing him, I noticed his arms were super red and splotchy so his little ears were bright red.  Weird.  I lotioned him up, had him climb into my bed with me, and decided I'd call the pediatrician when their office opened in a few hours.  Just as I was laying back down, Bensey decided he was ready to wake up (5:40a.m.) and was screaming his guts out.
Looks like my morning had officially begun.
Luckily, Benson had his 6 month well check already scheduled for that morning, so I called and asked Cal to be put on the appointment too. Since I had planned the appt thinking that Aaron would be around, I had scheduled it for the exact time that Tillie's preschool started. Whoops. We split the difference and got Tillie to school a few minutes early, and got to our appointment across town a few minutes late.  :)
Both boys did great during the appointment.  Check out the chompin' cheeks on our chubby Bensey:

6 month stats: babbles & sings, can roll easily front to back & back to front, starting to pivot and scootch around, sits up on his own for a few seconds, does solid foods like a champ, and is a great sleeper... not to mention the happiest baby on the planet.

29 inches (98%) and 19.5 pounds (85%)

Here's another shot of Cal's bright ear and arm:

I had already been giving him allergy medication each morning (his allergies are bad here, just like Aaron's), but she upped his dose, declared he had mycoplasma pneumonia and prescribed four more medications.  :(

This kid is a champ at taking medications and really is such a good sport.

We made it through the day... everyone survived.  Too bad the kitchen didn't.

Here's what it looked like in the morning:

Knowing there were several messes to clean up, I did what I do best... procrastinate.  

The kids and I had a lovely morning creating our faces on my phone app.

Can you tell who is who?

Eventually, we rolled out of bed, got dressed, and started plugging away on the day.  This face of Baby Bensey is a great way to start the day, wouldn't you say?

Here's Cal happy as a clam b/c he was able to watch a show while doing the nebulizer.

Obviously, Tillie was pretty happy at the amount of tv watching she got to do, by default.  Here they are finishing their show on the ground. I told Bensey to lay down with them so I could attack those dishes, but he didn't love that idea.

Darn. Guess those dishes had to wait.  

That poor baby had a mega diaper rash, so he needed extra love in his life.  

Let's take a time out and marvel at our fore-bearers and their ability to survive CLOTH DIAPERS.

How they did it, I do not know.  Here I am giving it a whirl so I could "air out" Benson's little bum, but still be protected in case of an emergency.

Mad skillz.  Looks like it would stop any leak. oh, wait...

After a while, I put him down for a nap, grabbed a quick shower, decided to ignore those dishes a bit longer, worked on Grandma Petty's funeral program for everyone in California to edit, and then did some laundry (remember how there was pee-pee bedding awaiting me? Oh yes. Delightful).

Guess who promptly woke up?

Cal decided he wanted to take pictures of us all (see folded laundry and dirty dishes din the background?)

And then our photo session commenced...

Since the kids were in a picture taking mood, I took full advantage of the moment and we got these gems:

 uh oh, looks like we lost the baby... man down! man down!

And here is my personal favorite series... 

I entitle it "So Sad, Yet So Funny, Yet So Sad."

For the record, the baby is not a fan when the kids scream-sing.  I wonder why?

After I calmed him down, he let me take a few sweet shots:

His favorite snack these days are his toes---his big toe, in particular.  I love his face on this next one.

Check out the big boy sitting up on his own!  Woot woot!

The next day was a blur. I think I finally did get some of those dishes done, Calvin's bedding got washed and haphazardly put on his bed just in time to go to bed that night---but the clean laundry never did get put away, and wouldn't you know it? Tillie and Benson both caught the same cold bug.  

Snot, snot, more snot, and sneezing. I kid you not, we went through three boxes of tissues. There is a reason I have zero pictures from this day.  

Biggest victory of my life? Both Tillie and Cal know how to TRULY blow their noses!!!

I've been working for YEARS at this... and finally, Calvin figured it out and helped Tillie figure it out.

LIFE CHANGING!

I have no greater joy than when I hear my kids TRULY blow their noses.

forever and ever, amen.

And then, Aaron came back.
The heavens sang. I cried. And suddenly, all was right in the world.
Even though he was at work all day, just knowing he was back on Texas soil and 12 minutes away if I needed him was such a relief.

And, my awesome sister, Becca, was able to come up over the weekend to hang out/help.  It is ALWAYS a treat to have her come... for a million reasons!  For some odd reason I have no photos of her up here this weekend, but it was a blessing for SURE!  I LOVE THAT SHE LIVES HERE!!!
Since Aaron is Tillie's soccer coach, he scored cheap tickets to the FC Dallas/SL Real soccer game and took the kids to the game.  Even though they were still sick, it was a nice excuse to get out of the house for them (and for me!).
And, yes, we couldn't find Cal's other boot.  :)  When my dad saw this picture, he said, "Who is that little homeless boy?"  hA!

Super hero poses, always.

Obviously, they had a ball.

This little guy had a nice time too, at home with Becca and me.

::: Since both kiddos were still contagious, we decided to stay home from church.  Check out the Mickey/Koala bear pancakes we whipped up.  Fun for all.

Aaron read them a few books.

Tillie drew some new pictures on the chalk board: heart, flower, spiral (which she calls a "gentle") and butterfly picture. 

Cal was feeling much better, but now the rash had spread to his face.  It made me so sad to see him so splotchy!

It was a lazy morning... just what the doctor ordered.  (errr... doctor wood... the dentist.)

Since we're pretty close to the Oklahoma border, we decided to go on a Sunday drive and cross the state line.  Woot! Woot!  The kids were thrilled to be in Oklahoma.  

I took a picture of them right when we crossed the border:

Oklahoma was THAT exciting.

Later that night, Cal requested Aaron to hold him during his nebulizer time.  Aaron was happy to oblige. (In case anyone was curious, Cal ADORES his dad, and vice versa.)

::: The next morning, I kept Til home from preschool.  She wanted to do a few jumps on the trampoline, so here's how she geared up for it.  Cutie girl.

Someone was feeling MUCH better.  I don't know if it was because of the chocolate milk, or that he was finished with his antibiotics.  We'll never know.

Yes, Calvin was feeling much better.  Here he is in the bathtub sporting a new hair style.  He looks like a 12 year old version of himself.  Amazing.

So, there you have it.

We really did live to tell the tale.