Skipping Thanksgiving

Yup, you read the title correctly: we are skipping Thanksgiving this year in our household. It's not that we aren't thankful for many, many things in our lives. We could go on and on about God's blessings...this year has definitely been filled with them.

Nope, it's not that.

It's because of a silly stomach virus that has hit our family.

It went something like this (warning: those with weak stomachs probably shouldn't proceed):

* Monday morning, 4:00am: I wake up vomiting, ending the toilet tirade around 8:00am. Hubby stays home from work, takes care of the kids, etc. while I battle the bug in bed.

* Monday night: more vomiting on my part.

* Tuesday at lunchtime: Our little Peanut starts spewing. This continues throughout the day. So does the laundry. So does my fever and nausea.

* Wednesday morning, 1:30am: Hubby joins the ranks. He and Peanut continue vomiting throughout the early morning, sometimes together, but most of the time taking shifts. Because of every child's inability to correctly aim vomit, the washer and dryer take a beating all night long.

Thank God that my fever broke in the middle of the night and I was able to take care of Danae and the laundry...if not, I'm not sure what we would have done. Besides the comforter on our bed, there are no clean blankets in the house!

And thank God, too, that the baby has not gotten this virus. I think it would be rather scary for a 4 month old to go through this. I'd be going straight to the hospital with him.

Needless to say, I've completely ramped up my germ-killing powers to super-high mode. EVERYTHING gets Lysol-ed after being touched, the bathroom gets completely wiped down after EVERY vomit-fest, things are getting washed in hot or warm (I don't care if they shrink), I change my clothes after every vomit clean-up, my hands are slightly raw from being washed before and after I touch the baby, and we are going through wipes like crazy because I keep wiping Danae's and the baby's hands. I decided "crazy" was the way to go in order to get rid of this thing.

So, in your Thanksgiving Day prayers, please keep us in mind. Pray that this will pass completely and that we won't infect anyone else. We are now planning on staying home and not taking our trip to NJ to see my family. As much as this hurts, we know that's what we must do in order to get healthy and keep others from getting this.

Enjoy your turkey...we'll be thinking of you as we sip water and Gatorade and nibble on saltines. :o)