Let the Vomit Fly!

Sickness has struck our house in the form of a sweet little two-year-old named Henry.  Henry woke up late this morning, after waking up at 3:00 a.m. previously and staying awake, despite my best efforts, until around 6:30 or so.  This meant he breakfasted late.  When we went downstairs, Rowan and Henry started playing in the living room while I began fixing food in the kitchen.

All of a sudden, Henry started wailing loudly.  I walked out of the kitchen to behold Henry sprawled on the dining room floor next to a trail of vomit.  I cleaned him and the floor up, and put him in his chair.  When I don't eat regularly I get nauseated, and I thought perhaps the same was true for Henry.  He dove happily into a bowl of raisin bran, but it all came back up five minutes later.

At this point, I realized that something bad was going on.  I cleaned Henry up again and snuggled him while I discussed the matter with Grandma.  This time he vomited all over my jacket.  Thankfully that was easily removed, and then I called his doctor's clinic, left a message for the triage nurse, and prepared chamomile tea for Henry.

I got a call back shortly from the nurse, who advised to give two teaspoons of pediatric electrolyte every ten minutes for four hours, with no solids and no juice.  Unfortunately, Henry had by now downed his tea.  Guess what flooded both me and the couch a few minutes later?  But then I started doing the Two Teaspoons Every Ten Minutes thing, which is extremely annoying, I might add, and he hasn't yarked since.  And hopefully it will stay that way.  He was, however, extremely peeved that I didn't let him have any food.

He's asleep now, and has been for the last few hours.  He needed it desperately.  I needed him to sleep, also.  Matthew, bless his soul eternally, has spent the afternoon entertaining Rowan while I rocked Henry--despite having started work at 4:30 this morning.  Fantastic man!

I've been mentally composing a list of What I Could Do With Money, to hopefully inspire myself to write & submit articles and short stories.  Who knows if I'd actually get published, but I'd sure like to try!  The thing is, while money does not buy happiness or eternal salvation, it's a lot easier to do good things for people when you have a ready supply of cash.  Here's what I have so far (no limits or restrictions):

• Let Matthew quit his job and take him on a vacation
• Support various artists who really need it, like Jesse Sprinkle
• get a membership to the Oregon Zoo
• get a membership to the A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village
• renew membership to OMSI
• buy a new dishwasher and oven for my sister
• fix another sister's car
• pay off the house
• get a second car so Matthew won't be dependent on me picking him up late at night
• take my children on a train trip
• go visit all my relatives, especially the far-flung ones

If that isn't a list to inspire work, I don't know what is.  Now to actually do it.