We dropped like flies

Here you see a picture of us at the Hawkeye Oral Surgery Clinic in North Liberty, Iowa.  We made a little visit there last Saturday as it is a special day for all the faculty and staff in the OMS department to get treats and see Santa.

Little did we know that 30 minutes later we would all start dropping like flies.

We were so excited last Saturday because it was day one of Ryan's long awaited first December vacation in the last 3 years.  We had our week planned with excursions to the Nauvoo temple, family photos, dental exams, painting our bathroom, and a trip to Wasserbaun Water park in Amana.

But that all came to an end when Jace threw up in the car on the way home.  We had Eryn with us. She is Jace's friend from church.  Her Mom is single and was sick with bronchitis so I offered to take Eryn with us for the day while she rested.

Unfortunately that ended when we returned her home an hour later exposed to a virus. I felt so bad.

The bug he got was vicious.  So, so vicious. He threw up for 48 hours -until Sunday night.  He was not up and going until Monday.  Monday evening, within minutes of each other Gracie and I started vomiting.  By Tuesday neither of us had stopped throwing up and Ryan was exhausted from tending us both.  I was so weak I couldn't lift my head off the pillow.

Gracie kept throwing up until Thursday morning.

Just as I was starting to rally on Wednesday night, Ryan went down. He NEVER throws up but this bug got the best of him.  He was down for about 30 hours.

So now it is Friday night, and our whole week is gone.  But this virus did give us a chance to let go of everything this year.  I usually send out 80 or more Christmas cards, do tons of baking, and spend several hours looking at toys with my kids.

But this year, we have huddled up together by our fireplace downstairs and Ryan has read the Wind in the Willows to us, and we have watched movies, eaten more Popsicles and chicken soup then I thought possible, seen a blizzard blow through on Thursday, and really it has been lovely. Despite the excruciating pain I went through on Tuesday and Wednesday, it has given me time to just think about Christmas and what it means to me personally, and most of all given me time to hold my children close and breath in their sweet smell. The events in CT have left my heart full and I have felt so blessed and grateful to have them safe and sound.

This is what Christmas has really been about for me this year.  No hustle and bustle as I dropped all my personal expectations and deadlines.  We are together and now we are all feeling happy and are almost completely healthy.  And it only took us exactly one week.