The plague

The week before Christmas, we got hit by The Plague.  Well, officially it was Norovirus but it sure felt plague-like.  

I was home alone with the two girls. Sasha was exactly 1 month old.  Lela woke up on a Thursday morning and complained that her tummy hurt.  I didn't think much of it, but got out a trashcan just in case.  About an hour later, Lela was playing with a sticker book with me and Sasha on the floor when she bolted for the trashcan. The poor kid projectile-vomited all over our tile floor while she was in a full sprint...so she stepped in it and flipped up in the air and landed in a puddle on the floor, vomiting all the while.  If it weren't so tragic, I would have been laughing.  But it was pretty tragic.  

Somehow, I got a puking three year old and an one-month old to the pediatrician's office (the photo above is of poor Lela falling asleep in the car with her plastic vomit bag).  A mommying miracle!  

In a horrible twist of unfortunate timing, my friend Becca and her little girl Ella were coming to stay with us the following day.  Lela had been looking forward to Ella's visit for weeks. Remember the last time she came?  See here.  Poor Lela stayed on the couch the whole of Ella's visit and we tried desperately to keep them from interacting too closely.  

We tried in vain.  Ella woke up puking the next morning.  So did Babak.  And the following day, Grandma Connie, Grandpa Rick and Becca's step dad Tom all fell ill.  It was a nasty little bug and spread like wildfire. After Lela and Babak got well, we took a couple of hours to bleach all of Lela's toys, all of the bathrooms, and all door and cabinet handles and STILL Shushu got sick when came the following week!  After that, we quarantined our house for another 2 weeks just in case.

Somehow, Sasha and I escaped the maddness. I think I must have caught the bug because I felt nauseous one evening, but my crazy breastfeeding-mom immune system must have been working in over-drive.

Lela is still sad that she was sick for Ella's visit.  Lucky for us, Becca and Ella will be back in San Antonio in a few short months, so hopefully the girls will get to hang out again.  I'm dying to re-create that adorable photo of the girls clutching the light post!