I was so excited that my best friend from home (Columbus, OH) and her little 18 month old girl were coming to visit us in IL this past weekend. I had high hopes of 2 days worth of play dates at the park, the Children's Museum and even a really cool indoor ball factory/play cafe for the kids since the weather was supposed to be a bit chilly. I was going to make an egg breakfast casserole, and maybe even cook a meal for us one night!
Well, Friday started out all great. Camden was so excited to see his friend from Ohio! We played in his playroom, even took a trip to the park near by. Then, around 4:30 he started acting really whinny and all of a sudden started throwing up. My baby had the stomach flu! I thought maybe it was just a one time thing, you know these toddlers just get so excited some times. Nope, about an hour later, he threw up again and I knew we were in for a long night. We ordered pizza, Bill took Camden up for a bath around normal bedtime. He ended up getting sick in the bath. So, we laid towels down in his crib and just watched him for a bit while he laid down. Luckily, he was done getting sick and was just exhausted and fell right to sleep. The grown ups ate our pizza and watched our monitors before heading to bed for the night.
The next morning, Camden seemed almost back to normal. We just gave him a bland breakfast and water to drink and after that he was up and playing again like nothing had happened! It's amazing how these toddlers bounce back from these little viruses! I wanted to keep things a little low key that morning since Camden was still getting over his stomach bug, so we nixed the children's museum and just took them to Target around the corner just to get out of the house (aka, mommies' play ground). Of course, the dollar spot caught their (our) eyes with all of the fun and colorful Halloween decor! My friend had a great idea to put together a little Halloween picnic for the kids with some fun plates, glass bottles with straws, fuzzy ball garland, a 'boo' banner, Halloween stickers, balloons and Mickey Mouse cheese balls! She even decorated our fireplace with the goodies while the kiddos were napping and I was taking a shower.
The kids were so excited after they woke up from their naps to see their little Halloween picnic set up! Camden was very excited about the cheese balls and now keeps asking for them by name lol!
That afternoon, I had plans to take them to an indoor ball factory play cafe since he seemed like he was back to normal. We headed out even though I was starting to feel a bit queasy. I just decided to be in denial about it and thought it was just going to pass. Well, I was feeling worse while we were in the car on the way to the cafe, but just decided to push through it. I really wanted these kids to have fun! So, we made it to the ball factory playground and Camden was in heaven! His favorite thing right now is BALLS! There were balls everywhere! Lots of fun little areas to play in for all different aged kiddos.
About 30 minutes into playing, I started to feel really nauseated. I told my friend to watch the kids while I ran to the rest room. Sure enough, it was my turn for the stomach flu... So, we had to leave the fun ball factory play ground right when the kids were having so much fun. I felt horrible! Luckily, we made it home without me getting sick in the car. Once we got home I went straight upstairs to our bathroom and was there for the remainder of the evening. Bill had to take over taking care of the boys and entertaining our guests. I felt so bad!
Luckily, by morning I was starting to feel better. Of course right when our friends had to leave. So far it seems the plague has been contained to only Camden and myself (knock on wood). Those stomach bugs are awful! But, I'm really glad we were able to make the fun memories for the kids while it lasted!
*This post was not sponsored by the Target dollar spot... But, if Target would like to contact me for future dollar spot collaborations, I would be open to that! ;)
