Richards Reflections

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Sickies

Wednesday night at about 11 Bella started crying. We laid in bed for a minute to see if she would stop but then she started screaming. I got up to go get her (in the dark). I reached in and quickly realized there was a little gift for me in the form of throw-up. EEEEEEEKKK!!! I yelled to Terry and yanked her out of her regurgitated shoestring french fry infested crib. Terry met me in the bathroom trying to figure out what all of the fuss was about as I was trying to teach Bella how to aim towards the sink. It is possible that I gagged. I won't say if this REALLY happened or not, but it could have. So we stripped her down and put her in the bathtub which I thought would make her happier but I was given a glimpse of myself as a mom of a teenager and found out that I was stupid. She was not happy to be in the tub at all. I went ahead and washed the fries and whatever else she was saving out of her hair, dried her off, put on clean jammies, and proceeded to watch her flail, throw-up and get it everywhere again. No point in another bath.

I got some towels and headed to our bedroom with the sick one and Terry took her bedding to the washing machine. We decided to make a palate on the floor so we began getting that set up. I then realized Bella had thrown up several more times and Terry was nowhere to be found because he was CLEANING up downstairs. We didn't need downstairs to be clean right that minute. Great timing husband o'mine! We got him back under control and he was a champ. I could not have made it through the night without him! We decided that I would stay on the floor with her and let him get some sleep so that we could switch places later. I kept myself busy on the internet so that I would know before Bella when she was going to be sick. Terry would hear the commotion and jump out of bed to help. It is really hard to teach a toddler how to aim in the bucket. She would try to push it away and then want to take a little nap in her vomit. It took both of us to keep her out of the vomit.

At about 4 o'clock in the morning Terry and I switched spots and I enjoyed laying on the soft cozy bed. Luckily that was also the last time she got sick. I called in to work, as did Terry and we stayed home. We all slept until about 10:30 in our bed (we got brave). Terry and Bella got up and I needed 30 more minutes of sleep. I woke up at 12:30 and ran downstairs to check on things. Bella was playing and being more herself but t one point I looked around and listened and asked Terry where Bella was. He didn't know. Poor little thing was passed out on the floor. We were ALL EXHAUSTED. It is possible that I wore a shirt with vomit on it all day. Just saying it's "possible". About 4 pm little miss puked AGAIN. And then AGAIN about 5:30. We thought it was finally over.

We went to bed Thursday night and all went well through the night. Terry and I went to work and Bella spent the day rubbing her germs all over Nana and Papa. She ran some fever but the Dr.'s office said to just watch her. Her feet literally never hit the ground until I got her home and Terry took her and put her down. She played a little then cuddled with us.

We went to bed Friday night and about 1 am I hear Terry making all kinds of racket in our bathroom. The virus got another casualty. Terry was sick ALL night. I took Bella to the guest bedroom but she flipped out and didn't want to be in there so we came downstairs but she didn't like that either so I put her in her bed (novel idea, i know) and she went to sleep. I went back to the guest bedroom and didn't go to sleep until after 3 am. Terry is a VERY LOUD thrower upper. Neat.

Bella woke up about 6:45 and we came downstairs and cuddled on the couch and watched Disney. She ate a great breakfast. She heard Terry vomiting and laughed. Seriously. I called Mom and Dad to tell them we had another casualty only to find out both of them were casualties as well. oops. We hung out and cuddled and played and I began blogging. She fell asleep peacefully on the couch as I tried to be a little witty about our adventures in the stomach virus. Then out of nowhere she wakes up and throws up EVERYWHERE!! It's possible that I freaked out and didn't know what to do first. I threw the computer and jerked her up. Poor baby threw up all over the kitchen floor. Terry came down to see what the ruckus was. I was not being quiet. All I wanted to do was hold Bella and love on her but I had an enormous mess to clean up. I mopped the kitchen floor with bleach and water and Terry brought her over to throw up on my freshly mopped floor. Cleaned that up again. They both rolled around and moaned in the floor. I told Terry to take her upstairs and just sit her in the bathtub and I would be there in a second. When I walked up he was leaning over the side of the tub. I totally thought he had thrown up in the tub with her in it. He didn't. I gave her another bath got her cleaned up and grabbed all the freshly washed towels and brought us back downstairs. I got everything cleaned up. Bella is now asleep on the floor on a towel. Terry is back in bed. Gabby is sequestered to the garage. And I am blogging away with throw up on my shirt.

I'm pretty sure this story isn't over. If I don't get this virus, It'll be a Christmas miracle.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

21 months


Well a whole month has gone by and Bella is now 21 months. These days and weeks and months are flying by with this precious little lady. She is continuing to mature at lightning speed and she continues to amaze me daily. She is saying new things everyday and I love to hear her little voice. She says all kinds of fun things.
Bella's Words
  • apple
  • choo choo
  • i see you
  • hi
  • hey
  • bye bye
  • thank you
  • milk
  • outside
  • swing
  • slide
  • shoe
  • see
  • wanna see
  • look
  • i eat
  • play
  • love you
  • corn
  • cheese
  • go
  • WHEEE!
  • yeah!
  • mommy
  • yummy
  • Gabby
  • puppy
  • daddy
  • hello
  • sit
  • sit down
  • two, three (who needs one anyway)
I love to hear her little voice. The way she pronounces some of these things is so cute. All juice is apple and all fruit is apple. She has a favorite book that has a bunch of pictures with the words that match. This is her very favorite thing right now. She carries this book every where with her. She learned choo choo and corn from that book. She also loves Chuggington, a Disney Chanel show. One morning she was watching Chuggington in bed with us and her daddy was turned away from the T.V. She hit him with both her hands and said, "Hey, (pointing to the T.V.) See, Choo Choo!". So cute.
Her personality continues to ooze out of her little body. She is quite friendly. We were at Target last week and she literally said "hi" to every person she saw. It didn't even matter if they weren't looking at her. Then she would yell at them. She also started saying bye bye to them as we walked away. It cracked me up.


She still loves bath time! Sometimes the floor is soaked from her splashing the water so much. Sometimes Mommy and Daddy are soaked from all the splashing. She can just hear the water running and she gets so excited and runs into the bathroom.
She is quite the little builder. She enjoys building with her little people blocks. She can sit there for quite a while just building away.

She goes to bed like such a big girl these days. Just another sign that she is growing up.


Best Friends Forever!

Happy 21 months, Bella Grace!! We love you so much!