Poor Cole, Poor Josh, Poor Me

I forgot to set my alarm this morning and woke up 40 minutes late.

Dang.

But perhaps the Lord new I needed those 40 extra minutes, because as I was making breakfast Cole walked into the kitchen, said  "Hi Mommy" and then promptly threw up all over the rug by the kitchen sink. 

Silver lining: since he hadn't eaten anything all night it wasn't too... chunky... if you know what I mean. Plus, everything was on the rug, which made for easy clean up.

So I scrapped my plans for aerobics and errands that morning, but knew I still needed to get Josh to preschool.  It was Pancake & Pajama Party day, and it would have been unthinkable to miss it!

We got everyone ready and loaded into the minivan.  I bribed Cole, who was not so keen on going, with watching Dumbo.  Josh complained, but I told him it was either this or not going at all.  He wisely kept silent after that.

The ride to preschool was uneventful.  Unfortunately, once we got there Josh realized that he had left his snack and drink at home.  (He had been horsing around with Spencer and I had reminded him several times to get his snack.  Humph.)  He was UPSET.  I rummaged around and found a snack in my purse and told him he could have that and that his teachers would give him some water or something.  Don't worry!  Everything will be okay!

Only it was not okay.  His day was plainly ruined.  And he showed this to me in a very Joshie fashion: by lying on the floor in the middle of the hallway.  I tried to be nice and cheerful about getting him up (there were witnesses around), but I started to lose my patience fast.  I had a sick toddler in the car, probably ready to blow at any moment!  I literally drug Josh into his classroom and explained the situation to his teachers.  They told Josh not to worry, they had lots of snacks and drinks.  Joshie decided to lay down on the floor in the room.  And wrap his arms around my legs. 

Not cool, Josh.

I left a Josh wailing and trying to get out of his teacher's clutches.  I ran back to the car and found Cole just fine.  We drove home without incident as well.

I decided that since he made the whole trip without throwing up that he would probably be okay if I worked out at home.  Which he was - for about 25 minutes.  So I cleaned him and the floor up - again - and gave up on working out.  I took a quick shower, got dressed, and did a few things around the house.  Soon it was time to go pick up Josh. 

Cole decided it was time to throw up again.

I decided he was no longer allowed to have anymore Sprite.  Obviously, his stomach couldn't handle anything today!

I got a grumpy Josh from school.  On the way home we had to stop - twice - for poor Cole. In the end he still threw up in the car.

All afternoon, about every hour, the poor child would throw up.  Even though he hadn't drunk or eaten anything, he'd still throw up.  Poor, poor Cole.

But I survived.  In fact, I got quite a bit done.  I think it's because during those times that he wasn't throwing up I felt like I should be as productive as possible because I didn't know when I'd have another chance to get everything done.

After dinner I took Spencer to Cub Scouts and ran a few errands.  I brought him home and Lance left to go play basketball.  Cole was already in bed and had been sleeping for about an hour.  I figured he was probably so exhausted that he'd sleep through the night.

Lance hadn't been gone more than 15 minutes when Josh came out of his room and said "Cole threw up.  A lot."

Boy, was he right.

Apparently, while Lance was home with them, Cole snuck an apple from the fridge and ate it.  And now it was all over his and Josh's bed, because of course Cole sleeps on the top bunk.

YARRRGGGHHH!

As I stripped and remade both beds, and cleaned a crying Cole up, I tried really hard to: a) not throw up myself, because it was pretty gross, and b) not be mad at Lance, because it wasn't really his fault, but sheesh, technically this was his mess to clean up!

As I cleaned, Cole snuggled himself up on a comforter on the floor and promptly fell asleep.  I had set up the air mattress in our room, thinking that it would probably be best for all of us (especially Josh) if Cole didn't sleep on the top bunk tonight. I decided to let Cole just sleep there.

And there he still is.  I have no idea how long he'll sleep there, but if today is any indicator, he'll be up in a little while, and I'll have another mess to clean up.