One More and Then I'm Done

OK, I am sure you are tired of hearing about it ... three posts is quite enough you say, and I hear ya (but I am going for four anyway!!). Barring any unforseen (and THOROUGHLY unwanted) relapses, this will be our last epidemic update.
I just thought I would let ya know that things are getting back to a semi-normal state (normal is a relative term, considering we are ... well ... US) and share some photographic documentation:

This is what happens when you have to keep doing laundry - 'cause Tigger was a victim of a particularly ugly vomit scenario and blankies and clothes have been victims of , well let's just say the diapers have been U*G*L*Y!! - but you have no energy for folding and sorting and putting away the clean stuff, you end up with this:



And when Mother Nature dumps this at your doorstep:



...then, sick or not, a Daddy's gotta do this:



(the sweet thing is that, once again, after ours he did Ms Gerri's next door!!! What a guy!!!)

And when you have enough energy to maybe play, but maybe not, you just gott take some time to ponder the situation...



But don't be fooled by the presumed perkiness of this photo, cause if you look closer you can see the tired, glossy eyes and chapped lips ...



Poor baby!!

And then there is Sophie ... just when you needed something to smile about...

Is That A Light I See?!?!?!

Finally, Praise the healing hand of the Sweet Lord, we can see the light.... still a ways down that tunnel, but light CAN be seen!!!! Hattie finally spoke yesterday evening (after a two day silence - unheard of here at home!!!) and she even cracked a smile right before bedtime! She is eating as I type - pray she holds it down - and has had several cups of liquid this morning. This is a minor miracle in and of itself seeing as how she has not taken a drink by her own power in two days. Sophie seems to be pretty much back to herself and though she still has some flem action when she drinks formula she IS drinking formula again (the Gatorade/Pedialite was really taking a toll on her diaper situation!!!!), she is laughing and talking and doing her best to cheer the rest of us up!!! Hubby took another sick day - says it was to take care of us, but I can tell that he is still not up to par. And I feel like my head would benefit from a swift stab with an icepick to release some of the fluid, but the truck running me over continuously is no longer a semi but more like a member of the small pickup variety. We actually opened up the blinds today 'cause we can stand the light ... over all, we still feel a bit icky, but are on the upswing for sure.... considering that the last few days we felt like we had died and nobody had let our bodies know it yet!!!
Thanks for your prayers - keep em coming!!!!
Blog at ya soon!!!

Sick Day ... AGAIN!!!

Oh yeah, we are still sick here in B Manor. I have thought - more than once - that putting a quarantine sign on the door would not be a bad idea. I have prayed - more than once - that Jesus would come back ... NOW! And I have choked back tears - WAY more than once - when I look into the sad eyes of my sick babies.
Sophie is feeling a bit better today and her fever seems to have passed. I still feel like a large truck has hit me, backed up over me and hit me again but am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hubby stayed home from work today - bills be danged - to take care of his girls. And Hattie, my sweet, sweet Hattie, the only one in the house who actually got a flu shot and she has been hit the hardest. I have actually had to start giving her gatorade through a medicine bulby thing (sorry, I cant spell syringe and the spell check aint working and I am sick so get over it!!!) because it the only way that I can get her to drink anything and I have to keep her hydrated. She has even napped - a phenomenon that has not taken place in almost two years!!! We have had community naps on the sofa - oh so comfortable!! And last night we had to make sure both girls were comfy and cared for so I slept in Hattie's room and Hubby took Sophie. Both girls, THANK THE SWEET LORD, slept all night (although for Hattie I'm thinking it was more like passing out due to all of the puking!!!!!), therefore we slept all night too.
Continue to pray for us - or for Jesus to come back, whatever works - as we struggle through.
And as with all phenomenon (again, I am sick and do not know the plural of Penomenon) I had to capture it on film ...

Heaven Help us!!!

****Let me first preface this by saying that my Hubby is NOT a whiner - even when sick****
That being said, had you asked me last week what could be worse than a sick husband I woulda told ya nothin' ... NOTING is worse than a big strong man reduced to the likes of a needy child. That's what I WOULD HAVE said. Ask me now!!
NOW I will tell you that the only thing worse than a sick husband is a house full of two little girls and one woman (the biggest whiner of all!!!) who are all down with the same thing and depending on a husband/daddy who STILL is not feeling well but must return to work 'cause the bills don't pay themselves!!! THAT is worse my bloggy buddys ... THAT IS WORSE!!!!!
Sophie can't breath, Hattie is a pukin' and I am wishin' I could pass out in the bed!! However, as I said, the bills don't get paid all on their lonesome so the Hubby had to go to work today, so I can't. Aaaaaahhhh, the joys of motherhood. Nothing says love like NOT throwing your child to the floor when she is filling your shirt with the vomit!!
And now that I have given you a nice visual image that will hopefully NOT stay with you for long, I must bid adieu ... Sophie is needing her mommy and Hattie is wanting to eat ... That could be frightnin' in 'bout a half hour!!!
Whoooo Lordy, Heaven help us!!!!

He Giveth ... and He Taketh Away

The last little bit has been a very trying time - oh, no ... the girls are great (yesterday was such a sweet day of fun with both girls in happy, laughing moods!!!) and all is fine and dandy here in B Land. However, last weekend my Sweet Aunt Helen passed away - she was my Mom's Dad's sister and the last of that generation on that side of the family. She was such a wonderful woman and I learned alot from her, not just about our family (she was a WEALTH of information in that area) but about life. She had just a kind and generous and content soul and I loved her so. Then, late last week my uncle Ed passed away - he was my Daddy's sister's husband. When I was in high school and right after he and Aunt Phyllis had an RV and they used to travel across the good ol' USofA a couple of times a year and that is when I got to really know them. He, as well, was a wonderful man. He had a fun sense of humor and was a gentle man with a kind heart. Both of them had been "ailing" for a while so neither was really out of the blue, but are we really ever prepared?
Also last week I learned that my sweet friend Amanda's grandpa was quite ill - he and my grandma (who passed away in November) had taken turns being in the hospital for the last year or so and he was back in there. Yesterday morning her hubby Darcy told me that he had suffered a major stroke and they were headed out to be there after church. I spoke with Amanda this morning and learned that he had passed away.
However, yesterday they had been able to share a sweet time with him as a family ... as she told the story I was reminded of the bittersweet time of goodbyes spent with my sweet Paula...



She had been fighting cancer for a while and had developed Valley Fever. She was put on a ventilator and never awoke. A choice had to be made when it was learned that she would most likely be spending the rest of her life on some sort of life support and, because the valley fever had moved into her brain, would not be herself. We took her off of all the machines and held her and sang to her while she went on to Heaven. It was so beautiful. Her favorite song was The Wonderful Cross: and as we sang it she began to fade. We came to the part that says "The wonderful cross, bids me come and die and find that I may truly live" and that is when she went on to her true home. I was holding her beautiful head in my arms and felt her last breath on my face as she left this world. It was THE hardest thing that I have EVER been through and also is one of the most treasured memories of my life. She was my very best friend and I miss her every single day of this life and am in constant anticipation of the day when I will leave this life for the eternal reward of being with Jesus ... and, now, of being with Paula, Grandma, Aunt Helen, Uncle Ed and Amanda's sweet Grandpa - I can't wait to meet him!!!!!