A Perfect Storm

I haven't shared my hideous night before last.... mostly because, as much as I wanted to vent it, I was thinking that it was just too gross to immortalize on my blog - I'd rather forget it.

But I gotta get it out.... so my apologies in advance.

We've been under a storm watch since the weekend.... freezing rain, blowing snow, blizzard conditions. (I wish Colorado would just keep their "lows" to themselves already!)

So it wasn't a huge surprise when my late night blog-hopping was cut short when the power went out at 11pm Tuesday night. I saw the power come back on across the street about a 1/2 hour later, so assumed ours would be back shortly too and just went to bed.

It didn't come back on again until 6:30 Wednesday morning.

I DID take the time to check in on the kids and toss an extra blanket over them in case it was a while before the heat kicked back on again.... thank Goodness.... and all I can say is I'm glad it was only - 8 outside and NOT - 30! The house got down to 16 degrees by morning (which is surprisingly warm considering no heat for 7+ hours.... sorry, I don't have the energy to convert to F - it's not as cold as it sounds.... we normally keep the house at 20 or 21).

I wasn't in bed long before I was roused by the sound of my oldest getting sick in our main bathroom upstairs.... I guess he woke up feeling like he was going to puke but, with no power, their bathroom downstairs was too dark and he made the mad dash upstairs to ours. Our main floor bath has a much larger window - and a comfortable amount of light comes in.... between the city glow and snow reflecting it back, it never gets truly dark at night in the winter - even in the middle of the night. It's still not enough light to really SEE stuff though.

So I rubbed his back, helped him wipe his nose and rinse his mouth when he was finished and got him comfortable under a quilt on the couch upstairs. That was just shortly after midnight.

Back to Bed.

Only to be roused an hour later by my poor boy getting sick again. Repeating the routine, stumbling around in the dark.... feeling like a zombie....uggg.

He wasn't settled from that stint but minutes before the girl woke up screaming - "Momeeeee! Momeeeee! My room's too dark! My room's too dark! (damn power was out still... her night light was gone). So I opened her window to let some light in but by that point she was wide awake and needed to go pee. And I led her to the bathroom where she went to step up on her stool... and slipped in a puddle of puke!

Apparently my little man had missed the bowl during his first race to get up here and, of course, I couldn't see it in the dark! Eeeewwwwww.....So I had to fumble in the dark to wash her feet, AND the stool and give the front of the seat a quick wipe just in case (still can't see a damn thing), and she did her business and I just wanted to get back into my damn bed..... And then she was too scared to sleep alone. And I was too exhausted to argue, so into our bed she came.

Only now I had to go before I could get back to sleep.... so I headed back to the bathroom and took a seat.... only to feel the wet and squish on my skin.... OMG!!

Apparently the boy had missed a little worse than I thought.... I guess, what I couldn't SEE in the dark (but could unfortunately FEEL) was that the back of the toilet seat was covered too. Talk about a complete gross-out!!

I know I shrieked... I won't cop to the words that came out of my mouth, but I was NOT happy. (I think I even questioned my decision to be a mom at that moment). Nothing like having to spray off to wake you right up in the wee hours. And the FREAKING power was still OUT. GRRRRRRRRR....

I eventually got back to bed, but not really to sleep again.... having the girl tossing around in the bed makes that next to impossible.

So I finally resigned myself to get out of bed sometime around 6am. My husband left to go buy coffee.... because no power means we couldn't make any and neither of us was capable of going without after that night.

While he was gone, the power came back on... and went off again shortly after... and then finally came back to stay.

And when I went back to the bathroom, with the lights shining bright, I kinda wished we were still in the dark..... it looked like something had been massacred in there! I have no idea why my son's spew had dried to a dark red color but it was all over the toilet, back of the toilet, floor around it, the stool in front AND splattered on the wall to one side and the side of the counter to the other.... along with a couple of cute footprints from my daughter's middle of the night escapade through the whole mess.

Apparently it had been projectile..... and to say he didn't quite make the bowl was an understatement.

So my helatious morning began with me scrubbing the toilet and walls and floor. Never a good way to start a day.

And then we got the call that the girl's daycare was being closed for the day because their power was still not back on.... and with our boy sick anyway (he might have been able to go to my Grandmother's so neither of us would have to miss work, but she couldn't handle the girl too), my husband had to miss a day of work and stay home with those two.

I was actually a little jealous... at least he'd have a chance to nap after our sleepless night. I have no idea how I didn't fall asleep at my desk yesterday.

I just hate the "perfect storms" of parenting that we all get slammed with at some point or another..... when everything that can go wrong does - and all at the same time.

Still, I lived.... and had power and got sleep last night, so I guess I can be over it now.

Venting is good.