Love. Sick. Remedy.

LOVE.

We're half way into the month of February and I can definitely say it has been the most unromantic month of the year. Yeah, it's only the 2nd month of the year and... I know... half way through means it's not over yet... and luckily for February, in the year 2012, there are 29 days... but still. I'm pretty sure it'll take the cake.

Mark and I made plans to get away... just the 2 of us... Valentine's Day Weekend. Saturday morning we were to pack up, drive Ethan to my parent's, and then drive off to Napa until Tuesday.

Well, Saturday morning, Mark got up with Ethan (Saturdays are his mornings with E so I can sleep in... he's a pretty great Hubby/Daddy!). I woke up around 9. Showered. Got Dressed (in a cute outfit!). Put on my make-up (...a big deal). Walked down stairs and I see Ethan lying on Mark. They are on the floor sitting ontop of a towel and Mark says to me, "This boy is sick."

Dreams crushed. To be totally honest I was hoping to hear something like, "Wow Babe, you look great! Let's go!" Yeah, dreaming for sure!!

The next sentence that came out of his lips was, "He's thrown-up 5 times in the past 2 hours. He took 2 baths and threw-up in the first."

Ethan at this point sees me and says "Mommy's here..." and walks over to lay on me.

My mind switches from Fantasy Weekend to Mommy Mode and I think, "Poor Baby."

Taking in the surprise circumstances, I paused and stared in awe of my super husband.
If it were me I would have woken up Mark and made him help.
Oh, but I would have been nice about it... "Would you like to watch your son in the bath tub or strip the soiled sheets?"
But no... not Mark... he handled it all on his own.

Okay, so that was a little romantic... in a super practical way.

We canceled our weekend and thought... "Okay, we'll just stay home and make a special fondue dinner for 2 on V-Day."
Ethan really needs his Mommy and Daddy...

Well... that night, Mark woke up every other hour to hug the toilet.

Ethan and I, on the other hand, were great! We took a field trip to Nugget Market the next morning, shopped for the week, and even got Daddy a balloon that said, "True Love" (because "we" are learning True Love is looking out for others - Veggietales Pie Wars Lesson... i.e.: we are showing Daddy that we will take care of him).

Okay, maybe that could be romantic in another practical way.

To jumpstart my act of "true love", I put all the ingredients in the crock pot required to make minestrone soup and then... I lost it. Head in the sink.

Yeah... we were all toast (in a super unappetizing way)... but hey, dinner would be ready ;)

The next 3 days we all took turns (Praise God!) being violently ill. We were able to take care of each other when we were on the off-wave of nausea.

Even Ethan took a turn. I faintly remember waking up, while napping on his big bear on the floor, to him putting a Gatorade bottle to my lips and saying, "Mommy's Juice". Sweet baby...

On February 14th instead of Plan B, a fondue dinner, we all had left over soup.

Let's fast forward to today.

(The real motivation for writing this post)

SICK.

Our house is mainly cured from the flu (thanks for nothin' flu shots!), but Ethan still has a lingering cold.

Runny nose, cough, fever, and... of course... breathing issues...

After getting a slow start this morning, I took Ethan to get some more infants' Tylenol.

That, and I needed to return some things at Michael's Crafts (why not? we're out anyway, right??)

Here's how the day went down...

• Ethan had his morning bath in our tub which meant I put on make-up for the first time since Saturday (bonus point!). After E was toweled off and dressed, we hopped in the car.

• Once we got to the Michael's parking lot, I look back at the boy and he is asleep. Darn! What I should have done and what I actually did are two very different things (unfortunately).

• I got out of the car, flipped his stroller out, reclined the seat back all the way, and transferred him (-1 points). ---> Hey, I've been house ridden for days!
• I quickly got in line to return my items as Ethan - who did not stay asleep - ate some snacks (+1)
• Luckily, there was only one person at the register (?!) and we were 3rd in line, so Ethan got bored of sitting (-1). My "sick" boy ran in and out of the store's automatic doors in between reaching for the "impulse candy" (-2).
• Finally, after 8-10 minutes, I got to return $47 to my credit card (+1... although Mark would say it's worth more points...) and when I tried to pay for the candy Ethan tried to eat through the wrapper (-1) the lady insisted that it was "just damaged merchandise"(+1).
• Now onto Costco. Ethan was in high spirits talking about "pizza pies" and playing with the umbrella we keep in the car. We actually rolled into Costco with a fully opened umbrella and a huge smile on my toddler's face (+1... the smile trumps all).
• We cruised the aisles collecting samples and crossing off items on my grocery list - Yogurt, Cottage Cheese, Starbucks K-Cups, Soap, and even a fun Adidas windbreaker outfit for E in addition to Infants' Tylenol. (+1) 
• I added something to the cart that I usually pass up every time Costco samples it... Hoodia. The 2 ladies that were promoting it said, "You can work 9-5, come home and cook dinner, play with the kids, and even have enough energy to please your husband." (no joke). I said, "Really? I'll take 2!" (still not joking). But I really only took 1. (Still wondering if this is a +/-). Free sample (always +1).
• After checking out, we stopped at the eatery to get our "pizza pie" and Mommy a diet coke. I asked E if he wanted some. He took a piece of sausage, ate it, then refused anymore. He started coughing so I asked him if he wanted some juice. He drank some. He didn't look so great though, so I figured the pizza was "to go". Ooooh was I right on! Seconds later Ethan full out lost it and everything else he consumed for all to see (did I mention this was prime lunch time, so the eatery was packed. I bet they were all happy they chose Costco for lunch today!). Poor baby (-1).

• This wasn't a quick and easy process. Nooo. I was literally standing there catching puke in front of spectators and grabbing for napkins as it kept comin'. (-1)
• I was so worried that Ethan would get embarrassed and kept trying to encourage him by saying, "It's okay sweet boy... it's okay...". Magically, napkins kept appearing in our shopping cart as out of the corner of my eye I saw people dropping them off. (+1)
• After the excitement, Ethan sobbed as I stripped him down to his diaper and socks. I also took off my sweatshirt so we both weren't covered in it. During this time, I must have had at least 3 people stop and say, "Can I help you? Is there anything I can do? Poor guy..." (+1)
• Ethan, once out of the shopping cart and nearly naked, was on a post-barf high (+1) which means he was smiling and... running around the store dancing. Remember - diaper and socks. (-1)
• Thank you God for the impulse Adidas purchase minutes before! Turns out I didn't pack E extra clothes so he wore his brand new outfit out of the store (+1).
• I was pretty fast at cleaning up... I used napkins, wipes, and the girls working the eatery gave me a trash bag to put our clothes in. Thankfully none of it got on our food and you couldn't even tell the damage had been done by the time we left (+1).

REMEDY.

"A glass of wine kind-of-a-night" probably wouldn't touch today as today was one of many like it this week (just more public). When Ethan went down for his nap... #1, I took a shower. It's amazing what a warm, long, peaceful shower will do. It literally helped wash away the day... and my make-up. Oh well. No use in covering up anything today!

In my head I started to justify my "Me Time". I had spent every nap/ "me time" this week doing endless laundry for our sick household... but today... today was going to be different! I really thought about it... what makes me happy? Being creative, trying new things, and... baking! Also, the outcome of baking ain't bad either.

I logged onto Pinterest and made these incredible cookies. Also, in addition to baking, I made myself a cup of coffee and turned on Glee... my go-to "guilty pleasure".

One of the episodes I watched had a Madonna theme where the cast performed a handful of her songs including, "4 Minutes" (with Mr. Timberlake). I couldn't help but smile because this was one of the songs I would listen to on my iPod as I worked out at the gym when living in Boston. Just listening to the song gave me endorphins as it brought me back to my care-free days when I could workout and leave the kids in the classroom... ahhh pre-parenthood!... after catching myself living in that memory, I smiled even bigger at the realization that I now get my "endorphins" fantasizing about working out. Making cookies and eating them has taken it's place.

Is this what it's like to "let go" of yourself? 

If it is... today I don't care.

I just baked 4 dozen Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and I feel great!!

This is the Remedy!

... or do you think it's my sample of Hoodia that just kicked in?

Going to Costco Under Cover...

The Remedy.