On Sunday my friends and I went out on a boat for a day of swimming and fun. I never know how I’m going to do on boats because I get pretty severe motion sickness. Luckily, a very strict regimen of Dramamine kept me illness-free and we had a great time.

When I got home from the boat ride, I felt like I was still on the water – that unsteady, swaying feeling, especially when I closed my eyes. I kept waiting for it to go away, but as the evening went on the swaying progressed into dizziness and I started to feel nauseated. Luckily the kids were asleep because Mike was at the Paul McCartney concert. I texted my mom that I felt like I was seasick on land, and then I spent the next twenty or so hours battling intestinal disruption.

Thankfully, my mom was able to help me out in the morning and take Annabel to her swimming lesson, but I was on my own with the kids for the majority of the day. I had to pull out every last distraction trick I knew to make it through the hours until Mike was able to come home. It was…not my favorite day. But I did learn some things:

~Annabel is a great kid. I mean, I already knew that, but she was just such so helpful when I was at my sickest. She would play with James when I was in the bathroom, offer to get me water, and she even brought me a cool washcloth and rubbed my hands.

~James is already trying to climb out of his crib. I had to toss him in there a few times on my way to the bathroom, and when I’d go to retrieve him he’d often have a leg up on the railing. I don’t know what to do about this other than scream internally.

~I limit how much children’s television we watch, not because I’m anti-TV (I’m definitely not) but because most of it drives me insane. But when Mommy is sick that TV is on and hoooo I’d forgotten how much I hate Caillou. Just writing that name put the theme song in my head, DAMN IT.

~Speaking of children’s TV, Older Dora freaks me out. Annie had never seen the Tween Dora and was like, “Mommy, Dora is older!…why is she older?” Um, I dunno, Annie. Market Share and merchandising?

~Mom laying on the floor = Let’s lay on mom!

sick moms make good pillows

~My phone is now full of Toca Boca kid apps. They are worth every penny.

~If it was possible for me to be even more done with having kids, this did it. There’s no way I could be that sick every day for nine months with two other kids at home. My hat’s off to everyone who’s managed HG with older children because DAMN.

I don’t know if I ate something that didn’t agree with me, or if I had a 24-hour bug, or maybe I overdid it on the Dramamine, but about an hour before I started writing this I managed to have some soup and water and kept it all in. Hopefully the bug is on its way out, whatever it is, and this will be the end of Intestinal Distress 2014…at least until school starts and Kid Germs find their way into my house.