The morning of Christmas Eve, Owen came down with the stomach flu. All day we just rested and I tended to him. That night he was feeling well enough to open his presents from Grandma and Papa Blue Eyes and Aunt Tammi, but he was still pretty pitiful. At least by then the vomiting had stopped.
After reading bedtime stories, we heard Santa and his reindeer on the roof! We heard bells jingling and the reindeer were stomping all around! Owen wanted to go outside and check things out, but after assuring him that he needed to go to sleep so that Santa could come inside and leave presents, he encouraged everyone in the house to immediately go to sleep. He feel asleep pretty easily.
Within about 5 minutes of Rick and I going to bed, Lexie started throwing up. Rick went to work washing the blankets and sheets, and I got to hold Lexie in the rocking chair for most of the night. She would not let me put her down. I covered myself and the chair with towels and had a bucket nearby, which came in handy. Needless to say, it was pretty uncomfortable to try and sleep.
At about 4:30 a.m., I was awakened by Owen. He said, "Santa's coming tonight, Mom." Then he climbed into the chair with me, too. So there I was, with Lexie on one arm and Owen on the other, afraid that at any moment either one of them could barf all over me and/or each other. Not to mention that I now had about 50 pounds of baby sitting on top of me and was totally exhausted from waking up every 2 minutes to every little noise Lexie made, panicked that she was throwing up again... I was very comfortable.
Luckily after about 5 minutes, Owen decided that he wanted all of us to "go back into the room with dad". At this point I was so tired and Lexie had finally settled into a deep sleep so I thought I'd chance putting her down to get at least a few hours of shut eye. She didn't stir one bit when I put her down, and I was able to sleep for a few hours. It was a Christmas miracle.
When Owen woke up for good, he was very excited about opening his presents from Santa. He woke all of us up - Rick, Tammi (who was also sick with the stomach flu), Grandma and Papa Blue Eyes, and me. He was still not well, but at least his stomach had settled down.
He was most excited about his Disneyland Train that moves all by itself and his Avengers watch. He had been wanting a "clock for his wrist like Daddy's" for quite some time. He immediately put on his watch and kept telling us what time it was. Usually it was, "Thirty-six o'clock."
Lexie as still not feeling that great and hadn't quite caught on to the whole opening presents thing so she was pretty neutral about it all.
As per tradition, we were supposed to go to the Araiza's for our gift exchange and then out to Torrance to celebrate with the Farish family, but because the kids were sick, we missed out on all of it. We really enjoy participating in those traditions so we were bummed. :( I had even made the most delicious marshmallow caramel popcorn for the adult gift exchange. Oh, well. Next year we won't be sick! (I hope!)
A few days later, I came down with the stomach flu, too, but mine wasn't quite as bad as the kids'. Somehow, Rick managed to avoid it all together. I seriously do not understand... that boy never gets sick! Although I'm a bit jealous of that, I am grateful because he was able to take care of the kids (and me!) when I was down for the count.
