Ha! When will I learn not to boast about good health? The minute after our last holiday guest left, Steve started barfing. Then it was Avelyn’s turn, then Karenna’s, then mine. We spent the last days of 2011 in a dehydrated stupor, wondering what had hit us. It was a pretty bad few days with the entire household falling ill. Brinley managed to escape the bug, but has given up sleeping decently in the night AND the day, so even though she wasn’t barfing, she was howling for hours on end, keeping all of us who were barfing from actually getting the rest we needed to recover. Nice.

I was feeling pretty emotionally low for a few days there; partly due to the usual post-Christmas slump we all battle, and then throw in a dose of cabin fever, a few litres of upchuck, dozens of barf-soaked loads of laundry to deal with and a house that went to pot in no time flat….I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and as though we are living in this endless purgatory of life with young children who are always sick and always crying. I have friends with kids who are older and they were enjoying the local ski hills together as a family, or going on date nights with their husbands and I was just feeling as though we’ll never be there. Our kids are so demanding, so young, so close in age that it’s easy to wonder if it is ever going to get any easier. When will Steve and I have time alone together without a screaming child interrupting our conversation? When?!

Anyways, the fog has lifted and I am feeling better now. The house is in marginally better shape, the kids are back at school (SCORE!) and things are feeling a little more manageable. Oh, the pendulum of emotion has taken me for a ride and for now I’ll enjoy the upswing. We really are blessed beyond measure; sometimes it’s just hard to recognize the blessings when they’re dripping in fresh vomit.

Here’s a photo of us lighting the advent candle at our Christmas Eve service this year. It captures the family quite well: a blur of motion, lots of children, and a fire hazard.