We Get By...

... with a LOT of help from our friends.

On Thursday Brian and I experienced what has to be one of the worst experiences for any parents of a toddler (although as I type that I find myself imagining far worse experiences and am counting my blessings). After a (what seemed then) nice dinner with our friend, Liz, on Wednesday night, Brian and I both woke up with a horrible case of food poisoning. Brian was definitely worse off than me (I even managed to go into work for about twenty minutes before realizing what a bad idea that was) but we were both in pretty bad shape. I’ll spare you the full details but I will tell you that I think Thursday might have cured Oliver of his habit of following us into the bathroom every time we need to go (he may have seen some things he wishes he could forget). Brian and I would trade off kiddo duty as much as we could and both spent nap time completely comatose between bathroom runs but by the time the afternoon rolled around we were tapped out. Brian was passed out in the bedroom and I was collapsed on the couch while Oliver watched Yo Gabba Gabba. Yes, I resorted to the electric babysitter. No, I don’t feel even a little guilty about it. We were done. We couldn’t keep up with him anymore...

Enter our heroes. I texted Robin to see if he was home with Lydia and, if so, could he come get Oliver. He called back immediately to see what was up. I explained our situation and he agreed to come get Oliver ASAP so that we could get some rest. Just a little over one episode of Yo Gabba Gabba later, Robin was at the door, ready to take Oliver away for as long as we needed. Oliver happily got into the car (I guess he was tired of hanging out with us) and Brian and I immediately collapsed. A few hours later we were feeling a little better but still nowhere ready to be responsible for Oliver. I called Laurie and Robin and they quickly agreed to let Oliver stay over at their house on Thursday night so that we could get as much rest as possible and try to get over the butt kicking Wednesday night dinner was handing us. 

I crawled into bed around 7 on Thursday night and slept until 6:30 the next morning. Brian did pretty much the same. We woke up the next morning at about 75% - tired, weak, a little sore, but no longer nauseous (not quite hungry yet, though). We threw on some clothes and went to gather the little dude who, we were glad to hear, was well-behaved during his surprise overnight stay at Casa Ganser. 

I can’t tell you (or them) how grateful we are that they swooped in and took care of Oliver for us. It is so great to have friends like that and we feel blessed to have not only Laurie and Robin in town but so many other friends who offered help when we fell ill. Sometimes it can feel so overwhelming to be a parent - to be fully responsible for the health, happiness and security of another (pretty helpless) human being - so I am glad to know when Brian and I find ourselves in the position where we need to take care of ourselves, that we have such great friends and family to make sure our amazing little boy is as healthy, happy and secure as we try to make him every day. It’s a great feeling.