Dealing with a stomach bug

This morning when I went to get Julian I noticed right away he had thrown up in his crib. The poor thing! He hadn't even cried or called out or anything. He had to deal with sleeping in it, yuck! His temperature was fine so he had no fever. I got him cleaned up and everything and he was then asking me to read Dot the Fire Dog to him. That's his usual self so I was hoping he wasn't feeling too bad and that this would be short-lived. Down at breakfast, daddy gave him some milk while I put his bedding and jammies in the wash. I was thinking about what to feed him when I noticed that he threw up the milk. I remembered the BRAT diet for when you have a bad tummy (bananas, rice, apples, toast) and tried a little applesauce (he ate 2 bites), bananas (wouldn't eat) and toast (wouldn't eat). He just wanted out of the chair so I let him get down. Later, he was able to eat a couple animal crackers and kept those down. Both daddy and I noticed he was definitely lower energy than usual.

Beth Moore (A Heart Like His) reflected that Psalm 51 was a fitting conclusion to the story of David's fall. Today I read 2Samuel 13 which changes gears focusing on David's sons. More tragedy befalls his family. The first born, Amnon, became obsessed with his half-sister Tamar. He committed a heinous act against her which I will leave out of the blog but you can read in chapter 13. There was no sign of repentance or acknowledgment of his wrong. Far from it. His half-brother Absalom hated him for this. His hatred finally caused him to lose control and he had him killed. This is also tragic to return wrong for wrong. Beth reflects that God will provide us with positive outlets for emotions that are painful if we would trust and go to him with it. There also was a lack of authority from their father, David, who does nothing in response to Amnon's injustice. Today's study was a good reminder to take my emotions to God instead of letting them fester.

In my other study (Hannah), the Lord remembered her cry for help and blessed her with a son which was the desire of her heart. She gave him the name Samuel meaning "heard by God". She honored her vow to the Lord and once he was weaned gave Samuel to Eli for a lifetime of service in the priesthood. Then she and her husband worshiped the Lord. What a testimony of faith we see in Hannah by honoring her promise and then worshiping after. We see her relationship to God in it. This also reminds me of a difficult time in my life when I was wanting a child and a couple years had gone by and my heart was really aching. I continued to pour out my heart to God and he would bring me peace, but then my heart would ache again. I just continued to go to him in prayer about it and it was like he was holding my hand and made it easier to go through. Then he blessed us with Julian!

Julian took a nice long nap (three hours) and then I fed him some oatmeal for lunch, thinking that was nice and bland. He wouldn't eat anything else but drank water. It didn't take long and that came up too. This really upset him so I wrapped a towel around him and went upstairs to take him out of those clothes and have bath time. He enjoyed himself in the bath and so we played for a while. We then went downstairs and he kept wanting to be held so I think he was still feeling off. I think I heard him say outside and he said yes so we went outside for a bit. It was good for him to get some fresh air. He seemed to perk up. We did a bit of sidewalk chalk, then chase the ball. Then we filled the bird feeders and just sat in the back yard on the patio soaking up the sun.

I've been able to talk to a friend and a couple of my sisters about my cat Rio. Hearing myself describe how she's doing has had me realize that it's really time to let go. Rio is not herself anymore, I can see it in her eyes. She's a dying cat, not Rio a healthy old age cat. She's not eating and she's having trouble walking now too. I will have to give the vet a call tomorrow. I need to get ready for it.

Julian took another nice long nap. He was just waking up when daddy got home. The pediatrician told me there was a stomach bug going around and this would probably just pass. I gave him some saltines for dinner. He wouldn't drink the Pedialyte so we did water and juice. Everything stayed down! Yea! Right after dinner, he was playing his musical toy and dancing around. His energy was back! He was finally feeling better. We had some time in the basement playing with Playdoh and coloring. He had to get a few hits of the drum in too. Then it was off to bed. I decided not to go to our small group tonight. I didn't want Julian to get sick again and then not have me here. I'm really glad I did that. I don't think we'll go to play group tomorrow in case he's contagious. Not to mention, my stomach is feeling a bit off tonight so it's just as well. I think I'll wrap this up so I can get a good night's sleep for a change.