The sad tale of April.

Doris Ogilvie, 1919-2012

I had planned to have a blog post up long before now.  April was promising so many great events and milestones that I envisioned multiple posts about all the fun we were having around here.  Obviously, that's not how things panned out.

The fun was to begin with Easter weekend.  Liz, Pat, Deborah and Yvon were all coming for a visit.  The Easter Bunny had been very organized and was set to go for Easter day. I had also bought multiple eggs for decorating, some special Easter cookie cutters (for which I had pre-made the cookie dough), and had planned yummy meals and activities galore.  Juniper was soooooo excited.  In fact, that's a direct quote.  The night before everyone arrived, Juniper exclaimed "I'm sooooo excited!" before she went to sleep.  Unfortunately, however, a few hours later, she woke up and started throwing up.  That was the beginning of a stomach virus from HELL.  I have literally never seen Juniper so sick.  On top of the 48 hours of vomiting and diarrhea, it was like she had no will to live.  She didn't want anything - no videos, books, popsicles, or any of the other perks she usually demands when she's sick.  She didn't want to sleep, but didn't want to be awake.  She couldn't even bring herself to say "hi" or acknowledge the existence of any of her greatly anticipated visitors. 

Juniper, so very very sick.

So the weekend happened, and we were happy to see everyone (Linden was the star of the show, keeping everyone entertained), but mostly Clark and I were just tending to poor, sick Juniper.  And Easter, of course, just didn't happen at all.

Pat, giving Linden the adorable dinosaur that Liz made for him.

Fun times with aunt Liz!

Then, four days later, when Juniper was finally eating again and was more or less back to her normal perky self, Linden started throwing up. He was not quite as sick as Juniper, but just as lethargic, and had bouts of the vomiting and diarrhea as well.

Look at that sad little face, and the single tear. I've never gotten so many snuggles from Linden.

Then, in the middle of all that, we got news that my grandmother, Doris, had passed away.  The opening picture from this post was her, when she graduated from law school back in 1963. I won't write pages and pages here, but I will say that Doris (we all called her Doris), was a remarkable woman.  The first woman judge in NB, she also sat on the Canadian Council on the Status of Women, and was the Chair for the International Year of the Child.  I grew up with her house as a second home - even into my undergraduate years, I would pop by all the time (often multiple times a week)  for a chat and a bowl of ice cream.  She was so very kind and so very intelligent that when she started showing signs of dementia 7 years ago, it was at once scary and completely bewildering.  By the time Clark and I got married (summer of '06), she had no idea who we were. So the news of her death left me… terribly sad, of course, but also so very grateful and relieved that she was now rid of such a terrible illness and, hopefully at peace.  Here is a link to her obituary, if you're interested. http://www.inmemoriam.ca/view-announcement-289419-doris-ogilvie.html

The most recent picture of me and Juniper and Doris, from about a year ago.  She never met Linden.

What it meant in the short-term was that Clark and I had to somehow wrap our heads around getting our newly recovering kids packed up and to Fredericton.  Though we were both feeling pretty miserable, neither of us had caught this terrible stomach bug, and I prayed that it would escape us, if even just so we could make the trip.  We were both trying to paint a positive spin on the experience - we would get to see so many family members (including people like my sister, Andrea, who lives in Vancouver)!  I would bring all the Easter treats, and we would have a grand Easter there!  Linden was going to be celebrating his big 6 month milestone - we could have a celebration! Maybe we'd stay a little longer and Clark could get a bunch of work done while I had help taking care of the kids! 

Linden, sporting the Che Guevara hat my parents brought back from Cuba 

Sitting at my parent's table. Do you get any cuter?

So we went down with a positive attitude, and made the journey in one piece.  We got ourselves to the funeral the next day, and the kids were as good as gold.  Here's a few shots from that day:

Juniper, in her funeral clothes, just before we left. Apparently she  "really needed to pee".  In the driveway.

Juniper and Grandpa

Linden and Grandma

Juniper with my brother Paul, my s-i-l Linda, my nephew David and my niece Taylor.

Juniper and her cousin Ali. Juniper LOVES Ali. Look - Ali knit that dishcloth!

Then, literally a few hours after we got back to my parent's house, the virus hit both Clark and me like a hundred tonnes of bricks.  I have literally never been that sick with a stomach bug in my whole life. 27 straight hours of throwing up, every single hour. Diarrhea like I've never had, and hope to never, ever have again.  I was so dehydrated that my milk dried up, and we had to supplement Linden with formula, which broke my heart.  Clark was not quite as bad, but still completely miserable.  That was Friday.  By Monday, we still weren't well, but I managed to hide the eggs and put the easter baskets together.  Juniper had a very pathetic "Easter morning" with me and mom.  I was barely able to move, and mom was not herself at all. 

I had enough presence of mind to snap some proof that Easter "happened".

 Shortly after Juniper found all her treats, we found out why - mom was sick.  And, lo and behold, my sister Faye was also sick.  So, despite the fact that we could barely function, Clark and I made the decision to pack and get out.  There was no one left to help with the kids, and no bathrooms to spare. I have no idea how we managed it, but somehow we got packed up and were out the door before 1pm, and made it back to Halifax by bedtime.  Needless to say the drive was hellish - so hellish that we decided to never ever ever do a road trip again.  Ever.  We'll see how long that lasts :) 

Anyway, life is now at least somewhat back to normal.  We're all eating again, at least - including our newest little eater, who started some baby-led weaning about a week ago.  

Loving his prunes - just like Juniper at that age!

And despite the pathetic Easter that I managed to pull together, Juniper had a super fun Easter party at pre school after we got back, so all's well that ends well (thank goodness for Cheri!)

Juniper, all dressed up for her Easter party , sporting her adorable new dress from Andrea.

OK, anyone who has stayed with me and read all of this deserves a treat.  How about a video or three?  You earned it!  Hopefully I will be able to offer some not-so-epic, and much more positive and upbeat posts in the near future.   And maybe I'll be getting more than an hour of sleep at a time by then, too.  Hah!

VIDEOS!

1. A montage of Linden's eating escapades:

2. Linden's head-shake maneuver.  It's one of his favorites.  You have to be well aware of it, because I think he means it as a show of affection and happiness, and will do it with incredible enthusiasm when you have your head next to his.  When this happens, we call it the "head butt", and it HURTS.  

3. Some random goodies from the last month: