House Arrest

People, we are on Day Eight of the never-ending stomach bug! E-I-G-H-T!!!

My household chores this week have expanded to include:

• multiple loads of laundry each day
• changing vomit covered pajamas and sheets nightly (Jesse has taken the lead on that one.)
• wiping bottoms, changing diapers hourly
• steam mopping at least once a day
• using Clorox wipes and Lysol on every possible surface
• boiling pacifiers, sippy cup straws, medicine syringes, etc after each use
• rocking and cuddling with four needy children 
• washing hands until my skin might fall off

I follow the 24-hour rule before I take the kids out in public. Unfortunately, at least one kid has been throwing up every day over the course of the week. Here's how we passed the time during this tortuously long week at home:

Resting

All four kids had an entire day where they needed to be held or they slept most of the day. Jackson spent almost eight hours on the couch watching TV or reading on Wednesday. I managed to spend a good bit of time reading while cuddling with a child.

Playing with Aspen 
Our new cat has proven to be a great source of entertainment for the kids. She is finally comfortable sharing space with the kids and even goes in their rooms and lets them pet her. The excitement of another baby sized creature in the house has not worn off for the kids. Maddie giggles. Amelia and James chase her under the bed. Jackson is able to pet her.

Going for Walks
The sun did not shine much this week. I took the kids for a walk anytime there was a break in the rain. It's getting chilly so I covered the babies' legs with a thick blanket. (Note: This was the only day we actually got dressed.)

You can't tell in this picture that this was one of James' worst days because he loves being outdoors so much.

The girls stopped to smell the roses, aka pull stems off and shove them in each other's faces.

Arts and Crafts

While the trio napped Jackson and I played with play-doh and painted several pictures. Our favorite picture was of Leonardo. I made a rough outline,

and Jackson filled it in with paint.

He did a really great job. He was so proud of it he took it up to his room and thumb-tacked it above his bed.

Play in the Playroom
Thankfully we have plenty of toys to entertain the kids. They spent more time in their playroom than they have in a while.

Dress Up
Jackson and I spent nearly two hours dressing up in random outfits and role playing an imaginary scene together. I put on my lab coat and we used his doctor set on the trio. He had me put on an apron while he was dressed as a firefighter. He pretended to put out a fire in the kitchen. Here we were as a king and queen. I didn't have anything to resemble a queen so this was my sad attempt at Princess Leia.

Backyard

Again, with gloomy weather, we took advantage of outdoor time every chance we had. The girls were feeling better on this day.

Not Pictured

• Sending frustrated texts to Jesse and sisters
• Receiving kind offers from friends to drop off Pedialyte, crackers, lysol, etc
• Locking myself in the bathroom and giving myself a pep talk
• Cursing while trying to dispose of foul poop on cloth diapers
• Bathing each baby in the sink at various times during the week
• Going out for a late night dessert and drink with friends because I HAD to get out!
• Screaming into a pillow because I was so irritable and disgusted with everything

Next week can only get better, right?