"Mommy...mess."

Yes, that's right. For the first time, our little ball-of-fire, bundle-of-energy, into-everything-guy is sick. I'm talking curled up into the fetal position sick. It started on Sunday. Normally a chatter box, especially in the car, Ethan was eerily quiet on our 45 minute trip to Kings Island's Howl-O-Fest. We hoped that once he got out of the van and into his penguin costume he would perk up.

Nope.

He was miserable 85% of the time (the 15% was when he played in the bubble machine...see pictures in the King's Island and Farm post on the main page).

The next morning he was running a little fever so I alternated Motrin and Tylenol as told, but come 5:30 in the evening he was whipped. He wouldn't let me put him down. I felt guilty loving the fact that he was letting me hold him (something very rare nowadays), while knowing he was not feeling good. We took his temperature and it was 102.8. He definitely wasn't himself - he didn't respond to our questions or even our tempting him with suckers. We called the doctor, who open until 7pm, couldn't squeeze us in. They said to continue the Motrin/Tylenol and if he hasn't vomitted, to call back in the morning. Ricky called back and pleaded - letting them know that our other son (now healthier than he's been since his first bout with bronchiolitis in July) was preparing for surgery in Dallas 3 weeks from now and we didn't want to risk him getting sick. They said to come on down.

I peeled him out of my arms and strapped him into his carseat. At the bottom of the hill, I heard an odd noise and looked in my rear view mirror to see some of the apples from his lunch making their way back out...in smaller chunks. (Gross I know). Poor thing didn't know what was happening as he's never thrown up before. I pulled the car over and tried to comfort him. "Mommy," he groaned, "mess."

Turns out he has a double ear infection and probably a small stomach bug on top of that. We've had to keep the boys away from each other as much as possible. Please say some prayers that Ethan will get better fast - I want my tazmanian devil back! Also, throw a couple in there that Aiden (and the rest of us) stay healthy so we can keep his surgery date.