Barf Fest 2008

I thought I had missed this year's event. While I was in Myrtle Beach Kennedy and Jesse had the barfs. I figured I was in the clear, at least for a while. But no, a month later here we are again. So this morning I had to take Devon to an eye appointment 40 minutes away. His appointment was for 9:30. He is a new patient so I knew I should arrive 15 minutes early. My target departure time was 8:30. Monday mornings are a pain in the patooty anyway. Lincoln has to be at work an hour early so I have to take the girls to school. Unfortunately, Lincoln's car is a piece of junk and it occasionally gets upset with us or something and decides not to start for a couple weeks. I think it's the car's way of getting into the shop for some TLC. Cuz here's the thing. We get it towed in, they look it over, they call us with a list of 426 things that need to be fixed, we pick a couple, they do the work, we pick up the car and then drive it for several months or so with no problems, then it does the exact same thing again. So they can't be actually fixing the problem. Yet it works fine after its rejuvenating spa week at the shop. I think right now maybe the car is sulking from me backing into it a couple weeks ago. Whatever, it was an accident and I apologized. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "high-maintenance friend."
So anyway...

Lincoln left a little before 7. I got the girls ready and sent them down to ride to school with some friends. Then I started getting the little ones ready. (Lincoln was planning to come home and get us and we would take him back to work so we could have the car. Have I mentioned how grateful I am that we live a mile from work?) I was planning on bringing the other two kids with me until I reread my info this morning and realized that we were to "expect the appointment to take a couple hours". Ugh! With 3 kids? So I called my friend Bethanie and she graciously agreed to take Jesse. I figured Renie would be more of a pain for someone to watch, but I would be able to entertain her easier while we waited. So we dropped Lincoln at work and Jesse at Bethanie's and jetted off toward Platteville. We were just pulling up at the hospital when Renie barfed. (We were gonna make it on time too.) She threw up on her clothes and her carseat, making sure to drench the buckle area so it could dry and harden in all the little crevices, and of course make me want to vomit myself when I had to touch it to unbuckle her. As luck would have it, my car is like a junk drawer. You know, a junk drawer that you throw french fries and soccer cleats in. So I found a towel to mop up the puke with and a jacket to put on Renie after I stripped her down. The rest of the appointment was pretty uneventful, I mean, besides chasing after Renie the entire time and making a quick trip to Walmart while Devon's pupils were dilating so we could buy Renie some nonpukified clothes to wear.
Renie had a quiet afternoon, but I did have to go get Julia from school. She showed up in the office with a bucket in hand and they called me immediately. She never did throw up but played all afternoon, becoming an invalid only when there were chores to be done. We went to pick up Lincoln at 5:30 and wouldn't you know it? Just as we pulled up at work Renie puked again. I needed to stop at Piggly Wiggly on the way home and sure enough, she threw up a couple more times in the car, just for good measure. (I had spent the afternoon cleaning the car and her carseat so this time there was nothing to sop up barf with, not even a soccer cleat.) So after throwing up 3 more times around the house (and once actually in the toilet!), she finally fell asleep on the couch and I'm praying that barf fest is over.

And I'm sure Bethanie is thanking her lucky stars that I chose to leave Jesse with her and not Renie.