Laying Low

A weekend of nothing just happened. Cripes. It started off on Friday when Anna was turned away from daycare. 14 months old and she's suspended from nursery! In fairness, the nursery has a "48-hour" policy when children can return from a bug and she was nowhere near that threshold...

Anna had been sick on Thursday morning (snow day), so I picked her up and brought her home. We had just got in the front door when I lifted Anna from her buggy. She looked at me in the eye, swallowed once and puked all down the front of me and her. I'm not particularly on squirmish, but the sheer volume of vomit tested my resolve. I smiled weakly at her and pulled her tight. She was clearly distressed and I wanted to minimize the puke hitting the floor. As we bounded up the stairs to the bath, poor Anna nearly squirted out of my arms we were so slimed.

A short bath and a change of clothes and Anna was suddenly herself again. There were no more accidents though the naps were longer than normal, which was good because I was able to get some work done. Being that she was so well, Ange tried to take her into nursery on Friday. They were having none of it and Ange phoned me to give me the update when she returned home. I jumped back in the car and did the return trip to Reading in rush-hour, having successfully avoided rush-hour on the trip in (I leave pretty early). Anna was lovely all day and she started to building on her first steps... almost a walk! It was very, very exciting and there was a lot of cheering. One of those gold medal (or silver medal, eh Alberta--that was just as sweet!) moments. Rightfully, Anna was very proud of herself.

Friday night was quiet. A movie, a nice dinner and some pleasant French wine.

Sadly, the weekend took a turn Saturday morning at about 2:30am. I woke up with a start. "I feel ill," I thought to myself. "How much wine did I drink?" was the immediate second thought. "Not nearly enough to feel this bad." So, it started. The most brutal 20-odd hours of flu that I've endured in a very long time. Field hockey was thankfully cancelled due to snow on the pitch, which was good for me because I wouldn't have been there.

Ange and Anna escaped the house while I lay on the couch. I was very sad that I missed Anna's first haircut, which was on the to-do list for Ange and Anna. Apparently, the novelty of the event was enough to keep Anna seated though she was somewhat perplexed that the cookie she knew to be in her hand couldn't get to her mouth. When, with the help of mum, she was able to work out how to get her hand from under the cape, the cookie was slowly consumed with a healthy dose of hair as well. Hopefully this little trim will help the hair grow in thicker. That is Ange's thought on this matter, though I remain skeptical. Cutting my hair hasn't exactly helped it grow in thicker...
As I started to turn the corner on the bug, it became clear that Ange was not going to escape it either. She took over the position on the couch only hours after I had been able to get off it. We were unable to go to Dorset to visit "Aunt" Dorothy as had been the plan. It was a shame, but this was a nasty little bug. Aunt Dorothy, at 96, certainly didn't need to catch it and I'm certain the drive down would have been truly unpleasant for Ange had she been able to get out of bed... We'll re-group and look forward to next weekend! It is one of the last we have 'free' until sometime in June. Fast times ahead!

We'll leave you with a photo of Em and Stella. Not surprisingly, Armando is a photographer. So this photo is probably copyrighted or something. Though I have used it without permission, I implore you not to do the same!