Reports from the Poulas grandparents were inspiring. The girls were sleeping 12 hours through the night. Good as gold. Perfect angels. Our anticipation grew with every glowing report. The weather forecast was equally inspiring, an unseasonable 60 degree February weekend awaited us. Thoughts of long neighborhood walks and a trip to the National Zoo filled our heads as we drove the 4 hours from NJ to MD.
We arrived about 8PM and after a quick review of schedules and emergency phone numbers, and a report on Tilda's runny (but clear) nose the Poulas GPs hit the road.
All was good for the initial 3 hours of our tour of duty. We got ready for bed around 11PM. That's when the real fun began.
Annie woke up crying with a diaper full of, well let's just say it was unpleasant. Tilda needed to be re-bobbed (pacifier inserted). Well, that really wasn't too bad, we slept through the night. Actually until 2:30ish. Annie and I repeated the disgusting diaper removal routine. Back to sleep. Uh-Oh!
Babies awoke around 7AM, breakfast went by the book. Annie and Tilda ate then played. Tilda napped well although the emission from the nose was changing from clear and runny to green and crusty. Uh-Oh!
Annie played with her toys and pointed out all of the potential problems around the house with a point of the finger and "Uh Oh!" Lint on the floor, overturned bottle, opened cabinet door, "Uh Oh." Dog food spill, outlet uncovered, toilet lid up, "Uh Oh!"
While Tilda napped we offered Annie a snack, one of her favorites, a fruit cup. It went largely untouched, with a shake of her head signaling "no" but she seemed happy and we thought little of it.
Tilda woke up, happy and smiling and we took both girls and Murphy for a long walk around the neighborhood stopping at the pet store and farmers market for a few items.
Weather and girls-beautifully behaved!
This babysitting stuff is nothing!
After the walk it was lunch time, cheese, strawberries and yogurt for Annie. She waved them off, shaking her head no and staring questioningly into my eyes. And that's when it happened. "Uh Oh!"
Stomach virus. Puking. Non-stop for the next 6 hours.
Christina had planned to come spend the afternoon and then have dinner with us, we warned her about the medical alert in the house. She is brave, however, and was not to be deterred.
Annie would sleep for a few miutes, wake up asking for juice (water in Annie speak), take a few tentative sips, scream unconsolably, puke, scream again and fall back to sleep.
Each of us got drenched at least twice, which was problematic since we had packed sparsely. We did laundry between pukes. Uh-Oh!
I swear Tilda was laughing at all of this!
Once Tilda was bathed and down for the night, Steve and Christina went to pick up pizza for us and the prerequisite foods for toddlers in tummy trouble (pedialyte and jello).
The fun continued, they had called the pizza in to the wrong branch of Vace (best pizza ever) and now had to drive an extra 20 minutes to pick up our food. On the way Christina was nabbed by the infamous Chevy Chase, Connecticut Ave. mounted traffic camera, ticket to be delivered later! Uh-Oh!
At 6:45 Annie gave in to the fatigue that follows a day full of no eating and lots of puking. "You ready for bed?" I asked her and she nodded yes. 2 squirts of Tylenol and a pacifier (Bob) in her mouth, she went down without a sound.
This babysitting stuff is exhausting!
The pizza finally arrived, the wine went down easily and we were ready for bed. We fully expected that we would be woken at least once for a booger clean out and once for a puke clean up, which of course would require a full changing of the sheets and pajamas. But no! They slept!
Well mostly. Annie woke about 2:30 crying for juice, I gave her about 5 ounces of water and a redose of Tylenol and she was back asleep. Tilda woke about 4:30. Steve gave her a quick bottle and she went right back too.
They both woke around 7:30 and we started all over again. Annie ate a light breakfast and kept it down so things were looking up. Nose and belly cramps continued throughout the day but we seemed to have weathered the worst of it.
We spent most of day 2 walking around the block and watching Disney Channel.
So much for our plans for the perfect weekend!
This babysitting stuff is unpredictable!
What time tomorrow does that flight land? And...someone remind me to pack extra clothes next time!
Funny, no puking and 12 hours of sleep since the Dad got home...hmmm.
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