Alaskan Cruise, Washington, Diarreah

We got back from 16 days vacation yesterday. The good thing about being away so long is that I actually look forward to getting back into the day-in-and-day-out routines that I was so looking forward to breaking free from before we left.

We definitely settled right in to our old ways today. Poor Will's got an itchy rash all over his body that began in Washington and has continued to spread. He's also teething, apparently it's his "eye" teeth finally coming through. Therefore, he's back to drooling, and I refuse to put a bib on him because he's nearly 2! The kid's going to get a complex. I believe it's the rash-teething combo that has resulted in difficulty getting to sleep tonight. He just now quieted down in his bed (9:30pm). A little while earlier, Will got up and grabbed the Little Einstein and Rocket action figures and two Matchbox cars to sleep with. I'm sure they made him feel much better. He wanted them just so on his pillow, all the characters (and cars) in the correct places. Whatever works, I'm game. We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning to get his rash checked out. We may need to add Nate to the roster.

Nate was super excited to go to school today to see his teacher's and friends. He had a great day at school, and even Rick came with me to pick him up (a first and very joyful experience for Nate). Rick had to leave for the airport about an hour after Nate got home because he had to go away for a couple days for business. This, in itself, is sad because we had been in Washington the last 9 days without him and Rick didn't get home until really late last night - 10 or so - so he didn't get to see the kids last night or this morning (he leaves for work about a quarter after 4am). However, Nate, though saying "don't go!" to his daddy, was feeling great all day until an hour after Rick left. I don't know if it was his breakfast or lunch or what, but his stomach just went out of control . . . dreaded diarrhea!!!

Nate felt so awful he just kept holding his stomach and saying "I'm sick, I'm sick" over and over again. He had continuous, burning, messes everywhere diarrhea for the rest of the night. He slept from 4-6pm, but woke himself by going in his bed. Not a lot of fun for anyone. I coaxed him into wearing a pull up for the night because I'm too exhausted to be changing the sheets at 2am. The whole house has reeked tonight. I've been an anti-bacterial wiping wonder. I swear diarrhea's still on me even though I've changed clothes and scrubbed my arms and hands. As my parent's neighbor, Barb, who had several children and grandchildren, once told me "water cures everything", so I gave him a bath which made him feel better for a time. Nate kept wanting the water higher to cover his hurt tummy. While Nate was bathing, Will poured his glass of milk all over the bottom two stairs and rubbed it in. What a great support.

I'm afraid this stomach bug thing may have carried over from our stay at my brother's house in Washington. It's also the house I was brought up in. Now it's also the house that has a lovely 1' diameter diarrhea stain on the white carpet by the back bathroom. Almost as bad as Will pounding holes all over the top of my mom's great, great (?) grandparents wood table (that maybe even traveled by wagon, if I can remember correctly), with an electric Thomas the Train controller. On a trip before they broke a 50+ pound jade elephant worth thousands of dollars my dad had shipped back from Asia. Whose kids are these? You'd think they weren't watched constantly. But yes, I was less than 10 feet from Will when he marred the antique table and maybe 15 feet from Nate when his bowels went haywire.

After the boys started to get bored at David's house (about 15 minutes after our arrival) they set to work to destroy the house and get everything out they could. By the end of day two, I went to Walmart and blew $100 on interactive toys to help keep the wild ones entertained. Much better.

We had a very good/bad time on the cruise to Alaska. It was great to see my family and beautiful Alaska. We had great excursions - my aunt watched the boys so we could go on a crabbing boat adventure in Ketchikan, and Will while we took Nate on an amazing train ride (during Will's nap time) in Skagway, Alaska. My dad kept the boys while we toured the Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau. Every break was much needed because it was a lot to be together, sharing two beds, in one room for 7 nights. Nate loved going to the kids zone which was great for him and nice for us to have a couple hours a day to just be chasing after one rugrat (Will was too young by 1 1/2 months - dang!).

One of the last nights the kids were both having breakdowns in the room (typical enough, especially for Nate). It got so stressful because we felt bad our screaming kids were probably bothering other people on the ship who paid to have a nice, relaxing vacation, plus, tantrums get annoying quite quickly, even in a comfortable setting. Finally, after battling Nate to get his pajama's on, them him ripping them back off, I lost my mind and punched him in the butt and said "I hate you!". Okay, I'm surprised I'm even sharing this but I can't hold back. (I didn't punch him hard, I wasn't that crazy but close enough). That moment won the award hands down for "Most Immature Moment" for Beth.

My advice is, if someone offers to take you on a cruise with your one and two year olds, only go if you have a nanny and/or at least two rooms. It's just too darn stressful. There was no way to let off steam because I didn't want to get snockered with the kids and Rick and I had to go back to the room early and miss fun times with the other adults and several of the activities and shows I would've liked to have seen. I did manage to sip a rusty nail while watching a magician show one night just me and the kids and they were really well behaved. That is, if you don't mind having your $20 raffle tickets spread out and shoved down the back of several theater seats.

I apologize now for any weird grammar, etc. I should be sleeping!