3 years 4 months 28 days

Day 1245. Last night I was so exhausted I fell into bed at midnight without finishing my report. Little did I know what kind of night was ahead of us. Tammy woke up vomiting and came running to us, and she did that several times throughout the night, about 4 or 5 times. I had to take her pj’s off, and we light her sleep in our bed, where she also vomited. In the morning Emmy lay down next to me, and then he vomited as well, and I also had to take his pj’s off. At 7:50 the alarm went off, as we had swimming class this morning, which is on every two or three weeks. Were we even gonna be able to go? Randy started changing Tammy and Emmy. Surprisingly our alarm clock of last week, Sammy, was still fast asleep and stayed asleep for quite some time while we were all already up. That’s not typical for him at all. But then he got a new diaper as well.

Obviously they did not feel like eating anything, but they still wanted to go swimming. We gave them water to drink, but even that was vomited back out. When it started staying down and 9 am was approaching, we decided to give it a try to go to swimming class. And so we left the house just after 9 am. It was snowing very hard, harder than where we were last week, and there was lots of snow. Because of the wind, the kids did not the snow hitting their faces at all, and so we pulled the stroller roof over them. It did not take us long to get to the subway building anyway. We walked in and then on to the train platform, where we took the 9:20 train that arrived just after we got there. It was nice and warm inside the train. They all wanted out of the strollers, and so we sat down with them. After we got off, we waited for the tram to ride it two stops. When we got off, the sidewalk was covered with deep snow that we had to walk through. We crossed the street and walked to the swimming pool. We were glad once we were inside.

We parked our strollers and took their coats off to leave them in them. We paid the entry fee and were given keys for lockers, then walked to the changing room. I was glad nobody had thrown up since we’d left home. We changed them into their swim suits, showered off, and went inside to walk to the pool, where the class was taking place.

It wasn’t quite 10 yet, but it was still strange not to see the teacher and all her equipment. Where was she? What was going on? I’d had no messages saying that the class was canceled. We went into the water anyway, but we had no swim rings with us, as the swim school provides those. So we had to hold on to the kids. They were still having fun, even though the water was a little chilly. Then we went into the baby pool that was just as cold and played in there. We hadn’t really been there long, when we decided it was time to leave. The water was just too cold.

The whole time we were there I was wondering why there was no class. Later I went through my emails to see whether I had missed an email about the cancelation, but there wasn’t anything. Then I discovered that there was never a class today, but that it had always been scheduled for NEXT week! You cannot imagine how annoyed I was with myself, especially since it was correctly written on the calendar that I had not looked at once since our return, even though I had planned to do so. For the past two weeks I had been convinced that there was a class immediately after our return. Given the situation with all the vomiting, it annoyed me even more that we could have stayed home, sleep in, rest and let them rest.

We changed them back into their street clothes, bundled them up again and went back out into the snow and cold. We had planned to go to McDonald’s, where we had not been in a while, as there was one nearby and we did not have much at home. The kids were excited about it, even though I was not so sure about how smart it was for them to eat that food given the vomiting. We walked to the tram stop in the snow, then got on the tram and rode it for four stops, arriving at the McDonald’s. I was pushing Sammy, and Randy the other two. I was very surprised to see that both Tammy and Emmy had fallen asleep in the stroller. That alone was a clear sign of them being sick. I ordered the food, and we picked it up, then left to return to the tram stop to ride it back to the train station. However, the subway was there too, going the same direction, and so we decided to leave the elements behind us. We rode it for one stop and arrived at the train station.

Emmy had woken up, and I gave him and Sammy some fries, as they were both hungry. Both boys threw them up pretty much at the same time. Tammy was still asleep. We got on the 11:57 train and were home by 12:10. I got the boys out and let Tammy sleep. They wanted to eat, so we sat down at the table, and they did just that. Sammy never threw up again the rest of the day; in fact he had thrown up the least among the kids, just twice. While we were eating, Tammy woke up and joined us.

After we were done eating, Emmy said he wanted to go downstairs to play. It was really close to nap time, but they did not want to sleep again, which was understandable. Sammy, however, had not slept, and he did not want to be the only one to sleep. Emmy and Tammy went downstairs, but we decided to put Sammy to bed anyway. I was gonna sit by him after all. I hadn’t sat there long, when Tammy surprisingly joined us, saying she was going to bed as well, and she did. Soon they were both asleep. I then went downstairs and asked Emmy if he didn’t want to join his siblings. At first he said no, but then he suddenly agreed. He must have been tired after all. He walked upstairs with me, went to bed, and was soon asleep as well.

I was really tired and wanted to take a nap myself, but ended up working instead. I had so much to catch up on. After a while I heard Sammy wake up first; he had slept his usual about one hour. We got him out and on the floor to play, as Randy was not ready to go downstairs with him. He had played there for a while, when Emmy came. Randy told me that he had said that he wasn’t feeling well. I had told the kids to go to the bathroom, when they felt like throwing up, so they could throw up in the toilet bowl. Emmy walked to my side of the bed, I asked him how he was doing, and then he threw his lunch up, including the pacifier in his mouth. It went on my bed and all over the floor. What a mess! I asked him to go to the bathroom, but by the time he got there, he was done vomiting. It’s the last time he vomited; all three kept their dinner in, unless they still throw up some time during the night.

We had quite a mess to clean up. I had already changed all the kids’ beds today, now it was our bed’s turn. Emmy felt better; I changed his clothes, and then he went downstairs to play, and Randy and Sammy followed him. I continued working. After a while Tammy walked into the room, and she then also went downstairs to play. Normally we go to church Sunday night, but that was out of the question today, and I was sure glad to have that additional time. I continued working in peace, with Emmy coming upstairs at times. Around 4:30 they all came upstairs to stay. Randy said that because they were sick, they were allowed to watch videos, while I felt like they’d watched enough for a few days in the train yesterday and were so excited about being reunited with all their toys that they should play with them. Tammy and Emmy then started watching videos, while Sammy was watching children’s songs, and then playing with the light switch, one of his favorite things to do. Especially when I interact with him in the process. He was in my room, and so every time he turned the light on, I asked him to turn it off, and then I’d say thank you, but right away he’d turn it on again, and that would go on and on like that. The other two came to me frequently so I could start the next video, since videos for 3 year-olds tend to be short. I was still able to work, however. Then Tammy started playing games on the tablet, while Emmy was watching videos on the Alexa device.

It was after 6:30, when I finally went to the kitchen to make them an omelet and cut up some fruit. We then sat down to eat, and they ate a little bit of everything. However, they were eager to go into the bathtub, so they did. They played in there as usual, then got out one after another, so we could get them ready for bed. Tonight there was finally time for a bed time story, which they enjoyed, then I prayed for them and put them to bed. It was already about 8:40 pm, so close to the time it’s been this past week. Thankfully it did not take too long for them to fall asleep, and I walked away before Tammy was all the way asleep. I got myself something to eat, sat down to eat, then continued working. Now it’s 1 am and time to go to bed after I’ve cleaned up the kitchen. Thankfully the kids have been sleeping peacefully so far, and I hope it stays that way.