Adventures in Fine Dining

Last weekend was a GREAT weekend. We had some family visit -- we refer to them as "The H's, Jr." (to be distinguished from "The H's, Sr.") -- and all the kids had a great time trashing my house.


mini-munchkins

Ha ha, just kidding -- although I didn't realize how much of a neat freak I'd turned into until I had to force myself NOT to be constantly cleaning up! Seriously, it was great fun to be able to spend so much time with another family in the house. You know everyone, we DO have a queen sleeper sofa which we've been told is rather comfy... anyone is welcome any time... free bed & board...

I love the contrast between Katie's & Max's skin in this one. I think this was the expression on Max's face the entire time he was here, too. :)

babes in the tub

Aunt Terri will be happy to know that the kids all loved the "toots," as Miriam calls them:

musical mermaids


bathing beauties

Edy & Miriam got along famously, as usual. When The H's, Jr. arrived, Edy & Miriam went running towards each other, but stopped short, standing and observing each other shyly. Then they gave each other the biggest hug and went running off to play. At one point during the weekend the girls were upstairs in Miriam's room, when we suddenly heard one of them crying. As Rachel & I were going up to check we heard one of them say "Don't cry," followed by that voice weeping (they sounded so alike I had a hard time telling them apart!). When we arrived we found them just standing there, looking at each other, and crying. It was so cute and sad! Apparently Edy had hurt herself, and Miriam was so distressed by Edy crying that she started crying, too, which upset Edy even more -- and they just kept setting each other off! Awww, such tender-hearted girls we have!


Edy & Miriam in their Sunday best

So anyway, things were going swimmingly until after Mass on Palm Sunday. The H's Jr. offered to take us out for brunch, so to IHOP we all went. We were told the wait for 8 people was 15-20 mins., max. 45 minutes later we were finally shown to our table. By this point all the kids were getting cranky b/c it had been HOURS since we'd last eaten anything. Miriam in particular said she was very thirsty, so when her juice finally came, she downed it. After our food came (smiley-face pancakes for the kids, of course), Miriam had a couple bites, but then complained that her tummy wasn't feeling good. Mr. Pickles offered to rub her belly, so Miriam climbed under the table to get to him (we were at a booth), but didn't resurface right away. All at once we heard an odd, juicy, very loud belching noise. Uh oh is right! When she finally surfaced, she was green in the face and her beautiful dress was covered in what had recently been the contents of her stomach. She continued to retch the rest of her lunch all over Mr. Pickle's omelet (fortunately she hadn't eaten too much besides the gallon of juice). I ran with her to the bathroom to get her cleaned up a bit while the bill was paid, and Mr. Pickles was offered a replacement omelet. Miriam felt slightly better once we got home and I promised to wash her dress (she seemed more upset by the fact that her dress was a mess than anything else!). Once The H's, Jr. left, though, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the bathroom floor. Poor Miriam. She was so pale and lethargic and couldn't keep anything down for longer than 20 minutes that I really started get worried. But after sucking on a piece of Pedialyte popsicle, and managing to keep it down, she finally begged to be put to bed around 8. That seemed to be the end of it, although it took a couple days for her appetite and energy to return.

Then of course Katie had her turn a couple nights later -- although now we wonder whether it was the virus or a reaction to dinner. We had had pasta with tomatoes & salmon (yeah, it was fun cleaning THAT up) -- but I've been noticing that she doesn't seem too keen on tomatoes lately. I wonder if she's developing her mother's aversion to raw tomatoes (she certainly doesn't seem to have any problems with ketchup -- although I don't really think that counts as a real food!). Anyway, after that little episode, Katie's spent the rest of the week nursing frequently and throwing tantrums at the slightest provocation -- or sometimes none at all. I think she's also got the rest of her molars coming in -- all her gums are certainly swollen.

So, for those of you who were wondering what had happened to us, now you know why we haven't blogged in a while!