Monday started quietly. Megan, Mike and Baby Taco came for a lovely visit with the kids. The kids are so attached to Mike. They call him “Mikey” like Megan does and Sammy told me that next time Mike can come by himself, lol.

The kids were great with Taco. Half interested, half disinterested but always gentle and sweet.

Amaya and Mikey

After nap, Sammy was listless. I thought it was just sleep inertia which happens often with Sammy but about 15 minutes after I took this photo the poor kid puked. My poor Bubba!

He only got sick that once but he spent the rest of the night cuddled on me holding his “puke bucket”. At bedtime he was so sad that Jason and I took turns letting him sleep on us downstairs until we could transfer him to his bed. I think that’s probably a first. We have a very strict bedtime routine especially when they’re in phases where they cry for us to stay with them at night. But sick kiddos call for changes in routine.

On Tuesday Rosie was still sick with the same stomach virus so I stayed home with the kids. Sammy recovered fast and everyone was ready to play! Throughout the day he alternated between running around and lying on my lap but he had no fever and no more stomach issues. Yay Bubs!

10am and need a mommy break? Who wants to play with scissors???

Ms. Sock Hand hard at work building.

After nap we opened up a Hanukkah present from cousin’s Joey & Nicole.

Peek-a-boo!! It’s a house! A big house to play in and color on! All 3 kids played with crayons and markers and yet only Steven was completely covered in marker when we were through.

Wednesday was still a mixed bag for Sammy.

We had the sick Bubba.

And the slick Bubba.

He was certainly well enough for presents and candles on Wednesday night, though.

Thursday morning, everyone was finally energetic enough to check out the awesome new dress up outfits from Auntie and Dod Shuki.

Dr. Amaya! Or, as Jason calls her, Dr. Sweetie Girl.

Dr. Sammy

Chef Steven!

Fire Chief Sammy!

My Fire Chief, Chef and Doctor taking a play doh break. My little loves.

Thursday night Hanukkah fun continued with night 6 and superheroes!

Wonder Amaya!

Super Sammy!

BatBobes!

BatBobes, getting ready to fly with Daddy.

BatDad!! <3

Thursday night, around 1am, everything went downhill. Amaya woke me up crying. When I went into the room she said she needed a puke bucket. I wasn’t sure if she was for real but I sat her by the toilet and got her a puke bucket. Then I put her back in bed. She woke me up again a few minutes later and, sure enough, the poor thing got sick. 🙁 She threw up 3 more times over the next 2 hrs and then finally fell asleep in bed with me.

Jason, in the meantime, was manning Sammy who was waking up crying for me. Not because he was sick, just because. In the middle of that, Steven got sick, too. 🙁 🙁 My little kids are such big kids. Jason was tending to Sammy and when he got back to Steven, in a different bed, Steven said, “I puked in my bucket but I got a little bit on your bed.” My big boy, taking care of it all by himself.

Sorry for all of the puke stories. This is kind of new for us. We’ve been lucky not to deal with this often.

Little Miss Sick

Friday morning Sammy made the most of the chaos and sickness and enjoyed some crackers on the floor with big teddy.

Steven got sick one more time mid morning and was pretty attached to his puke bucket. Even days later they are, actually. I get it. Puck buckets = a sense of security in an uncertain world.

By early Friday morning, I was down for the count. Boy, that was brutal. Jason took care of lighting candles with the kids on Friday night and took care of all of us through Saturday. Best man!

I made it down on Saturday for a brief hour to FaceTime with Grandpa Homey and Grandma Betsy and to open presents/light candles for the last night of Hanukkah.

Fortunately, this morning, everyone was better. Thank goodness. It could have been worse but it was no fun. My biggest fear was that Jason would get sick, too, and we’d both be in horrible shape trying to take care of the kids.

We celebrated the new year with a craft project, also compliments of Joey and Nicole. Everyone had a vehicle to paint and we whipped out our old school bibs from the early days of solid food.

The kids had incredible focus.

Midway through the project – after the painting, before the stickers and wheels.

The final result! Steven’s is the fire truck, Sammy’s is the police car and Amaya is the helicopter. What an awesome project!

We had a calm wrap to the day and week, which we all needed.

FaceTime with Nana!

Cuddles with Daddy!

I’ll wrap up the week with some sweet photos of Amaya and her brothers.

Happy New Year!