I know I've mentioned this before, but I do not do puke. I can do mucous -- big green boogers and I can do shit -- the stinkier the better, but I do not do puke. So, I got Mike the bucket, the lysol and a scrub brush, so he could get Russell's bedroom. I stood outside the door and got Russell to rinse out his mouth, change his clothes and I mopped the few tiny pools of puke off the floor by spraying tilex and mopping it all up, while Russell leaned off the tub over the john.

Periodically, I headed into our bathroom, where the fan was working to get a hit of fresh air and then I'd pad back down the hall to help Bear and get Mike various cleaning implements.

At 415, we went back to bed. At 530, Genny woke up and needed to be changed and fed. At 730, Russell came in and asked what he should do about breakfast and I asked him what he felt like eating or if he felt like eating. Apparently, in answer to my question, he stood there and puked into his hands. Mike and I both hollered,"GET IN THE BATHROOM, BEAR!" Russell was kind of stunned and Mike hopped out of bed and steered him into the bathroom. Genny was glommed onto my boob at the moment and was on the outside of the bed, so I couldn't have moved fast if I wanted to!

Mike cleaned all the floor spots again. The alarm I'd set went off. I called the doctor's office who told us to go in. The doc said Bear has the stomach flu. I'm hoping that my flu shot will protect me and Genny. We got back at 10 and I packed the car and drove to Hayward to go to a baby shower with Genny. Genny slept the whole way there.

At the shower, I was bored. I was bored a lot. I didn't know anyone particularly and I felt kind of weird without Mike and Bear. I guess I just was thinking about them both at home and worrying.

The nursery theme was Beatrix Potter, so I bought one of those blanket panels, a package of satin and sewed together a blanket. The mom loved it, so it was very appropriate and she didn't seem to notice that my machine ate it every few stitches. I gave her a few other things...it was a bed and bath combo thing...nail clippers, a beatrix potter bath set (brush, comb and Peter Rabbit wash cloth) and of course, Good Night, Moon.

As I started to drive home, the exhaustion hit. I got about an hour into things and the baby woke up just before Fairfield, where I found a fast food place that sold cappucino shakes. I bought one of those and a diet coke and prayed for a caffeine overload. As I hit the highway, I realize that my stomach is hurting. I wonder absently, if maybe I'm getting the tummy flu, too. Then Genny went into full scream.

The highway was packed and there weren't any good places to pull off for a few miles, so I drove down the freeway with her screaming like hell until I pulled off on a place that I knew had a good quiet place to nurse her. So the wind is whipping and I get the baby out of the back and pull her up front with me and I check her butt and she decides she's not actually hungry, but wants to play around.

As I'm sitting there pulled over on this desolate road on a very non-traveled exit, a truck pulls up behind me. I start thinking about every evil frightening scary essay ever written about stuff like that and I lock the doors and keep checking the rearview window until they drive off.

I give her another 10 minutes of booby offering and finally give up and get on the highway again. Half a mile down the road, she starts screaming and just keeps screaming for the next half hour until we get home.

The only good thing about her screaming was that I really didn't have option to sleep, which was a good thing. As I drove up, I saw Mike walking out to go to the store and I begged him to take the screaming Mimi in the back seat home.

I enjoyed my peace and quiet. I'd nearly forgotten what it was like.

Then I walked through the door.

Later that evening, I started with emergency runs to the bathroom.

Yup, I got the flu, too.

I started with that entry on Saturday, but hey, shit happens, as it were.

Today, I called in and stayed home from work. By noon, I was feeling human again. I think it could have been from the hour I spent in the jacuzzi at the club.