Where have you been?

The last post mentioned us going to the beach for Labor Day weekend if Jack was healthy enough, so why the long time between now and then? Sickness! Full out, go through all 4 boys but take 2 weeks to do so, sickness. I have come to the conclusion after this experience that while it makes life even more miserable at the time, I would prefer all the boys get sick at once. This form of the stomach bug took multiple forms depending on the child and lasted over 2 weeks! I spent over 48 hours trapped in the house with kids who weren't really too sick to be happy and play (which was nice) but weren't healthy enough to go out in public for fear of spreading this yuck to others. The only good news is that near the end of the self-imposed sabbatical the sun was shining and we all went outside for several hours. But, I digress.

We actually did make it to the beach for about 36 hours before Jack relapsed and we headed back home. He was symptom-free for about 18 hours so we decided to head to Oak Island. We left around lunch time on Saturday. This is important because Notre Dame kicked off the football season by playing Navy in Ireland so the kickoff was at 9:00 AM East Coast time. We all got up and got dressed for the occasion and watched with intensity as the Irish played. We hoped to catch a glimpse of Grandma since she and family and friends were there but we never saw her.

Getting ready for the Irish kickoff in Dublin!

 With a comfortable lead at half-time we loaded up and hit the road. I listened to the second half on the drive there and we made it there for some afternoon play on the beach.

He is READY for the beach!

So are we! Lots of space to run free!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We had a lovely dinner at home with family that night and then the next morning the fun began. Jack got sick on Popi (Jason's dad). I mean literally on Popi. It was my fault. I gave him his normal cup of milk and it didn't agree with his stomach and his stomach won. Of course, we debated whether to leave right then and there but he literally laughed and played so we chalked up it to poor decision making on Mommy's part and decided to stay. We were okay for the rest of the day and decided to head back to the beach for some more fun.

 

 

 

 

Anthony's idea of fun is to dump wet sand on his head. He did this several times and loved it. Hence the nickname - PigPen. Love this child!

Chase racing Popi on the beach. Chase spends 90% of his time of the beach running. No joke.

I should have known Jack still wasn't 100% when he fell asleep like this on the beach. He drew quite a crowd with this stunt, including beach patrol on a 4-wheeler!

 That night we planned on to go to a local seafood place for dinner. Well, Jack's stomach had other plans when we arrived and he christened Daddy this time around. I headed back to the house with the triplets and a messy Jason. Chase stayed with Meme, Popi, Uncle Marc, Aunt B and Milo and Jason changed clothes and went back to join them. Again, Jack was fine. Ate dinner and everything but at this point I was done! I just wanted to be home where I could deal with this in my own space. We made it through the night without incident, packed bright and early and were back at our house by 10:00 AM on Monday.
 
 But the fun was just starting as I learned. Chase started preschool on Tuesday and Jason had taken the day off so he and the little guys stayed home while Chase went to the dentist and then I took him to school. Another day without incident.

First Day of preschool 2012 - it was sunny everywhere we tried to take our picture so this is the best you get!

Wednesday morning seemed okay until I went to pick up the triplets from the nursery at the YMCA and they mentioned that Graham had a bad diaper. Oh boy, here it comes again. And boy did it...except Chase came home from school and took a nap which meant even more trouble. He gave up naps before he turned 2, so I knew he was next on the list. He ran a low-grade fever for 2 days while Graham had lower stomach problems. Jack was finally healthy, Chase and Graham were sick...so what about Anthony? Tick, tock, tick, tock. It was during this time that I decontaminated the house and went on a self-imposed quarantine of us all. Lysol was sprayed, bedding was washed and changed, toys were cleaned and hands were washed until they were raw. My house hasn't looked or smelled this clean in AGES! By the weekend I thought we were safe. But come Monday, Anthony started to battle the lower intestine bug. The good news is that he didn't have nearly the battle that the others did which was a nice change of pace for all of us, but for me in particular. While I hate that the kids were sick, the nice thing about this age is that they really don't know that they are supposed to be miserable so it was just me who truly suffered!

This is how Mom decided to entertain us when we were quarantined! When all else fails get out one plastic pool and 500 plastic balls and viola - fun times are had by all, mom included!

From there we tried to find our rhythm of school, the YMCA and the perfect weather. My birthday was the following Monday and we had an amazing day. The trips and I took Chase to school and went to the YMCA where they moved out of the nursery (infant room) and up to the next age-room (playhouse). The move went fairly well considering that my kids live for structure and routine and don't deal that well with change. We came home and I worked for a couple of hours while Whitney stayed with the boys. When I got back from work we all went outside and that is where we stayed until dark. My mom and grandparents came over for burgers and dogs on the grill and we ate on the back porch. It was an awesome day.

Since then we have all seemed to be healthy with the exception of the random head cold from the start of school, but that is normal around this house from about now until March! We are simply enjoying the great weather (love NC when the fall is like this - temps in the 80s, sun shining and no excuse to be inside!) We are still trying to reschedule Chase's 4 year old pictures (yes, I know he turned 4 in July - work with me people!) and take some updated family shots - now that in and of itself could be an entire blog post!

My mom and I head to Boston this weekend for a girl's trip while Jason stays home with the boys. I know I am excited but I am not sure I can say the same for him! Then a couple weeks later Jason, Mom and I head to Chicago to watch Notre Dame play Miami at Soldier Field. Good times ahead that is for sure! Here's to a wonderful fall for everyone.....