The Old House Saga - Chapter 1

Let me preface this with the following statements.  At the time these events occurred, the stories I'm about to tell were not funny to me at all.  There were moments or temptation, frustration, and despair....  =)  But now, a full 36 hours away from these experiences, I have a fresh outlook.  I now find it just simply funny.  Hysterical, in fact.  So please don't feel bad for me, and please don't take the following post as a complaint.  Not at all.  Just a small tale of our venture to North Carolina that I hope makes you smile.  Here we go...

It all started at 3 a.m. Friday morning.  That's when Will and I had decided to leave so that we could get a few good hours of sleep in our own beds, so we would miss all the traffic, and so the girls could just continue their sleep in the car.  Well, 2 out of 3 I guess isn't that bad.  Despite all my planning ((to have the whole car packed and running, all the lights off, blankets ready and adults (Will, myself, Chris, Ally and Devon) shhhed)) the girls stayed awake the entire drive down.  They were content, but WIDE awake.  We got to N.C. a little before 10:00 a.m.  By that time I realized that Julia had a fever.  A bad one.  Her whole body was burning up.  We stopped to get Tylenol at a convenience store.  And, that's when I noticed the itching.  Poison ivy all on my right hand and my left arm.  Hmmmm... that's a king of a bummer... that's going to make it difficult to hold the girls (thinking to myself)

Okay, so.  We get to the Old House at 10.  Breakfast was waiting for us!  Yea - thank you Ma Mere!  We grab a quick bite, change into swim gear, pack up the diaper bag, and we're off to the beach.  Now, the girls have only had 7 of their normally 12 hours of sleep - and it is starting to show.  Thankfully, Julia crashes on the 30 minute drive to the seashore.  Unfortunately, about 15 minutes into the drive we hit a thunder storm.  A bad one - one of those that you can't really see the cars or the road in front of you.  We all decide to continue on in hopes that it will stop by the time we get there.  Which it did!  So we get a good hour at the beach, all to ourselves, before the rain starts again.  The sun was hidden, and it was a little chilly, but the girls still had a great time.  Mommy is happy; it could have been a lot worse.

Katie fell asleep on the car ride home.  Now at least they've both gotten a good half and hour of sleep since 3 this morning.  We get home and start dinner plans, eat, bathe, and put the girls to bed.  Phew.  One day down.  Only a fever, poison ivy, a storm, and little sleep.  I can handle that.

Then, at 10 p.m. or so, I hear Katie crying.  Pretty unusual for her.  As I go into the bedroom that the girls, and Will and I were sharing, I see her shirt is stained with something.  I think she has a bloody nose, so I scoop her up and hold her to my chest while I run out into the light for a closer look.  Oh no!   Not a bloody nose, but vomit.  ALLLLL over her - and me consequently.  She was crying pretty hard by this point as I rush her to the only bathroom in the house.  We shower her off - although the vomit smell never really goes away, and she sits on mommy's lap for a little bit while the adults play cards.  Daddy scrubbed down her portacrib, and replaces the sheets, blanket and pillow.  Well, suffice it to say that she threw up a total of 9 times that night.  No sleep for Katie, Mommy and Daddy... and lots of dirty PJ's, sheets, blankets and pillows.

Thankfully, Julia never woke up for any of it.  =)

Chapter 2 coming soon....