Easter Buckets and Barfing Boys

It wasn't quite the Easter we had envisioned ...

Every year, the Easter buckets (they are a little hardier than most baskets) are laid out in their "spots" on the couch. Five couch cushions, five baskets.The boys went to bed, and the Easter bunny came. I'm not sure what woke me up, it was just after midnight, and I noticed the hall light was on. I wondered if maybe the boys were sneaking out to check out their loot, but usually they would be a little more stealthy (in a previous Easter I did catch them out there with flashlights very early in the morning).

I got up and ran into Landon in the hallway. He commented wryly that he and Keaton were having a party. Turns out it was a "puking party" and Keaton had NOT made it to the bathroom in time. Landon was getting Keaton settled on the couch (moving Easter buckets), giving him a barf bucket (which is different than an Easter bucket), drink and towel ~ and I got to cleaning up the mess. I came pretty close to throwing up myself. It was bad. Landon is a light sleeper and often gets up to help when one of the kids cries in the night. I joked with him, asking if I had stayed in bed, would he have cleaned things up. He replied that he didn't really feel up to it ... and that's when I realized that he was actually sick too (he'd already been up for an hour an vomited twice). 

I was fairly awake by this point. So I stopped by the computer to update my Facebook status, hoping for a little late night sympathy. Before I finished I heard a voice from down the hallway "I throwed up. I throwed up" ... It was Cooper, who had burst into the bedroom (I had closed the door to let Grayson continue to sleep, but no more). Gray cleaned it up, while I got Cooper settled on the couch, moving ALL the Easter stuff up onto the counter and out of the way. 

As this seemed to be hitting fast and furious (usually the kids have a little warning, enough that we get a bucket to them in time), I put precautionary buckets by sleeping Colton and Callahan, just in case. Gray and I finally returned to bed (not to sleep ... it's hard to get back to sleep after that). I thought I heard a door close downstairs, so I went to check ... sure enough, Callahan was now sick too. He HAD noticed the bucket, so there wasn't a mess to clean up. There wasn't room upstairs on the couch, so he just stayed downstairs in his room.

I finally got back to sleep around 3:30. Woke up at 6:00 to Colton crying ... and he threw up. Seriously, all five boys down at once? We've been close to that before, where all five boys have gotten sick, but it was spread out a little bit. I didn't have enough buckets to go around!

Not only was my FB post getting some sympathy, but a neighbor down the street said the flu had hit their house too. Then Courtney posted that Addie was down ... Will too.  Later in the day it hit Maga, and Grandpa. This thing gets around!

So Easter pretty much got shoved aside this year. The vomiting didn't last too long into the morning, then it was recovery mode. Catching up on much needed sleep, after not getting any the night before. Aches and pains ... Callahan had speckled himself again (the blood vessels in his face break when he throws up, leaving him all blotchy).  Trying to tell the difference between stomach pain and hunger pains (as nothing sounded good to eat.) Eventually, the kids even managed to look through their Easter buckets ...

... and I was able to wash and disinfect the other buckets and put them away.