Of course, those of you who know me, know that I am your classic overachieving mormon girl supermom wannabe, so I did them all! But you may not want to try this at home!
Idea number one:
Drive your husband to the airport. :( It was nice to spend a few hours together as a family this weekend! Vaughn sent me this great picture of an airport cop on a Segway (Paul Blart?)
Idea number two:
Take your son to the ER for IV fluids due to hyperemesis, otherwise known as puking up your guts every 30 minutes all night long. Actually, you won't be taking your son to the ER, since you are on your way to the airport (see Idea Number 1), so you will have to call one of the three people you know to have them come and rescue your son, who you thought could hold out until you were back from the airport, but alas, got sicker and sicker. Thanks so much Carol (our bishop's wife) for dropping everything to spend part of the day with someone in the ER that you AREN'T EVEN RELATED TO!
You can tell Andy is trying to be positive but he was pretty darn sick.
Idea number three:
Give your daughter a bath in the jacuzzi tub to try and break her fever, which she is on day 6 of, due to influenza, not the stomach kind, just the good old make-you-and-your-mom-miserable-for-10 days-kind. Rebekah was also a participant in this fun, but was just starting to get better. (On a side note, do you give the ibuprofen to help them feel better, only to have them run around like lunatics and not get any rest until the fever hits again? Or do you just have them stay feverish and feeling yucky until bedtime, but at least holding still? All these years being a mom, and I still don't know which is better.)
Idea number four:
Wash everything you can get your hands on with the sanitary setting on your washer. No explanation necessary. Also, Clorox wipes, Clorox hard surface spray, baking soda, peroxide, flamethrowers, and just torching the house are great options for cleaning.
Idea number five:
Enjoy a piece of cheesecake from Olive Garden.
I know, I know. Who would even think of Olive Garden on a day like this? Well, it was on the way to the airport, and we ate very quickly. No matter which way I cut it, I wasn't going to get home to take Andy to the ER for about three hours, so 20 minutes for lunch with my hubby before he left us for another month didn't seem like asking too much. 
I will admit that I was stressed about the kids the whole time and it wasn't even the black tie cheesecake, because they were OUT! (Could this have anything to do with me? See previous post--Hmmm.) And I think you will agree, that after a straight 8 days of feverish kids, plus the puking, plus all the driving, medicine giving, and nursing around the clock, I deserve some chocolate!
Luckily, we are all on the mend. Although Vaughn came down with strep about 2 days later, and Andy is in the throes of influenza as we speak. Not the stomach one! However, due to my previous experiences with Ellie and Bekah, I figured it out much sooner and got him to the Dr. today. He just started showing symptoms last night, so they were able to start him on antivirals.
I plan on blowing up the house tomorrow. I can't think of any other way to kill all the germs. Amazingly, I am still relatively healthy. Sane, no. But still in one piece.
I actually feel really blessed that we live in a time where we have ibuprofen and popsicles, or things could have gotten really bad! Perhaps you can see why I haven't posted for a while? Hopefully, things will get better and I will be able to send all of my children to school next week, every single day. *Sigh* It really is the little things that make us happy, isn't it? :)
Hope you are all well. If you aren't, I hope you get better soon! If you are, I hope you stay that way!
