Challenge Day 8- Fun with Friends

On this day I had 5 kids, ages 5 and under in my house. Needless to say I'm exhausted at the moment. I was watching the children of a dear friend, so she could go on a retreat with the youth ministry she leads.

I had NO idea what to give the kids as an invitation. I WANTED to take them all outside, but about an hour after we woke up, it started snowing. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to play in. Just enough to keep us indoors.

Bell looks thrilled

I knew the kids would all love cloud dough, but I didn't know how her children would do with it. They're great kids, don't get me wrong, but I would probably lose my cool if flour was ground into my couch or was being thrown. I don't know. My kids are messy with it, so it probably would have been fine. But, my mind went to like worst case scenario. I'm learning to allow the messes, but you've got to crawl before you can walk. I also, was not comfortable bathing her children (b/c they WOULD have needed it), without her permission.

I decided to play with something clean! Shaving cream paint! I made two trays of paint and put it in the middle of the table and told them to go at it. Jeremiah immediately dug in. Isabella, as always, wouldn't touch it. Lily and Ali had a little bit of a reservation, but in the end had fun.

WHEW! That was a fun 5 minutes. You know kids... monkey see, monkey do. Lily decided she was done after 5 minutes, so the others followed suit. ::sigh:: OK, let's get cleaned up.

The kids washed up and ran off to play. Later on we tried another invitation, one I've been DYING to try. Home made Play Dough! It was a recipe you cooked and then I kneaded color into it. I let each of the kids take turn putting ingredients into the pot and stirring. They quickly lost interest and went off to play again.

Once the dough was made, I kneaded in the coloring. I divided the batch into quarters and made blue, red, yellow, and green. I divided each of the colors into quarters as well and rolled them into balls. Each kid had a small lump of each color. I set it on the table and didn't say anything. It took them a couple minutes to notice it, but it finally piqued their interest.

They all climbed up to the table and started exploring. "What IS it?" Jeremiah asked. "Well, what does it feel like?" I replied. He said it was soft, warm, pretty, round, and of course, squishy! Once I was like "Yes, it is. Just like play dough!" You could see the light bulbs turn on and they all immediately started squishing and molding like tiny artists.

Why is it hard for me to watch my kids play with something in a way that I would not? For example, Jeremiah squished all his colors together until it looked like a hot mess. I was thoroughly annoyed by this. How could he? I JUST made that? Now he doesn't have 'colors'... just a nasty mess. I had to step back and breathe. There's NOTHING... I repeat... NOT. A. DANG. THING. wrong with what he did. But, why did it annoy me so much? Then I realized, it's b/c it was not the way I would have done it. Learning that about myself will definitely help on this journey. He's just a kid, and to him, the possibilities are endless! He isn't limited by not having separate colored dough. He now has a NEW color and the biggest blob of dough on the table! He proceeded to make a snowman :)

Lily, again, lost interest. She went and sat on the couch, kind of moping. I went and sat with her to talk to her. She wasn't feeling well, and she was obviously missing her mama. I took her temperature and with a low grade under arm temperature, I gave her the tylenol her mom had left for her. I pointed out to her, that her and Jeremiah do not get to see each other very often and she should play AS MUCH as she could. With that, she seemed to perk up a bit and went off to play with the other kids.

Not long after this, we started getting ready for Breezy to make her way back and get the girls. We gathered their things and deflated the air mattress. Breezy came, we made dinner and they got on the road to go home.

Daddy and I were enjoying the silence after 2 days with 5 kids. Mia was playing with the kids earlier in the day, so she fell asleep about 5 o'clock, maybe sooner. Around 9, I had Daddy go get Mia so she could be awake for a bit (so she would sleep tonight), and to eat her dinner. I gave Mia her bowl of carbonara and she gobbled it down.

Unfortunately for us, about a half hour after Mia ate, she projectile vomited all over me and the couch. We quickly cleaned her up and made sure she was ok. I got the little machine and cleaned the upholstery on the couch. She nursed and drank some water and stayed up for a bit longer, until she started rubbing her eyes. I called Breezy and asked about Lactose Intolerance.  The carbonara had Parmesan cheese in it. We normally avoid giving Mia dairy b/c she was sensitive to the dairy I would eat, when she was younger. She has had trace amounts of dairy before. And even had Mac & Cheese the other day, and was fine. But I could not think of what else it could be. Luckily, we happen to have an appointment with an allergist on Thursday, for Mia anyways. I'll talk to them about it.

I crawled into bed around 1 and no more than 30 seconds after I crawl into bed, I hear couching and gurgling from her (she's about a foot from me). She is vomiting in her sleep. I sit her up and it just keeps coming. All over me, all over both of our beds (our crib is sidecarred to our bed), and all over her. Daddy rushed down stairs to get some towels. I clean her up the best I can. Daddy, trying to not get sick himself, picks her up out of the bed, so I can strip the bed and wash everything.

Anyways, Mia and I ended up on the couch. No more instances, as of yet. Thank the Lord. So, I'm EXHAUSTED. Truly...  just a walking zombie at this point. Hopefully, the other kids won't get it, if it is a bug. Time to go make some coffee!