So, CW and SG are out in SoCal visiting my husband's side of the family. Usually I go on the annual pilgrimage, but this year Matt offered me the chance NOT to go. Did I jump on it? Hell yes!! Do I feel guilty about it, of course - I'm a mom. Did I even foresee that my eight year old would develop emotionally induced GI tract issues because she misses me? Nope.
Let me back up. My eight year old (CW) is frequently irritated with me, mostly I think because I make her do things, and I call Daddy on the carpet for spacing out and letting her slide on her chores. I frequently find that he's let her out to go play when there is OBVIOUS stuff for her to deal with in the living room, and I call BOTH of them on it. (I occasionally let her slide on her chores too, usually because I'm too tired to deal with the situation of trying to explain (for the 4000th time) why she has to do this, whatever it may be.) When she has ANY choice between Matt and I, she chooses Matt, even for something so simple as going with him to the other end of the grocery store. So, to be honest I never saw any of this coming - I was more worried about the two year old (SG) who seems to be completely off balance emotionally if he doesn't get his daily mommy laptime.
Why was I worried? Because somehow while we were booking the flights for them to CA, the week that Matt and SG were going to spend out there turned into two whole weeks. Stupid me didn't say anything about it because I felt guilty about not going out in the first place, and I didn't want anyone else's vacations crimped because *I* am unable to unwind when my children are about. Stupid. Stupid, Stupid, STUPID.
CW went out there by herself a week prior to Matt and SG. We'd shortened it to one week, because she'd had some homesickness, attitude and boredom issues during the two weeks she was there last year. As far as we can tell, she had a great time that first week. She didn't initiate any calls herself, but Grandma would grab her and have her talk to daddy on the phone if she was talking to Matt anyway. I don't think she ever asked for me, and I wasn't surprised (or upset for that matter - I just want her to enjoy being out there).
Matt and SG got out there LATE on Wednesday night after a hellishly long day of traveling, and Thursday was a do-nothing day. Everything seemed to be going fine until Saturday night (EDIT: I totally forgot about the calls AFTER midnight on Friday night). I started getting phone calls around 11:30, after E and I had gone to bed - which meant that I was in the basement, not getting good signal. Two calls from his cell phone, 1 from his sister's sell phone and one from his parent's house line later I figured out that I needed to drag my bum out of bed and go upstairs. Up to this point, Matt had been basically chatty, which vaguely annoyed my tired self, and made me NOT want to answer the string of increasingly irritating phone calls. Finally it turns out that Maddie was upset and wanted to talk to me, which was prefaced by Matt telling Maddie that Mommy was hanging up the phone before. This of course prompted, "I was NOT hanging up the phone you idiot! I had no signal!!" I was convinced by this time that he was drunk, or at the very least had heat stroke, because his brain seemed not to be connected to anything else. 8) So Maddie was upset, missing me and wanted me to come out there. We talked for a bit, and she was a little better, everyone went to bed. I did text him to say that if Maddie needed to talk to me to use MADDIE's phone, so I'd know SHE needed me.
Sunday I talked to Matt and he claims not to have been drunk, but simply forgetful. He thought that Detroit was in the Central time zone, and that it was ONLY 10:30pm when they called. Not that the timing made a difference since Maddie was the needy one, but still. Grr.
Sunday night, 11:08pm Maddie calls.
Monday night, 11:31pm Maddie calls.
Tuesday I was flying back from Detroit (and E's house) and I called them while I was waiting at baggage claim to see how everyone was doing at this point, since the morning had been...eventful. Matt had figured out Sunday that Maddie was, um, retaining, and we talked about what to do about it. I suggested bananas, since they've always moved right on through with her, and to hold the applejuice (our version of an ICBM) in reserve. So Monday morning she apparently still been sick to her stomach, completely not hungry and nothing had moved. So, my husband decided to give her apple juice.
Have I mentioned that they were going to the aquarium that day? No? Hmm.
I got a call Tuesday (late morning or early afternoon - I'm not sure which). Matt was waiting outside of a Target bathroom for Maddie, since they'd decided to stop and let her try. He thought that maybe an Icee would make her feel better and I agreed, thinking that if nothing else it might make her happier, and alleviate some of the symptoms. THIS is when I found out that he'd given her applejuice that morning and that there had been "some" diarrhea before they left for the aquarium. Truly, I married a genius.
Not long after that we talked (I don't know who called whom on this one) and she'd thrown up in the car. I just busted up laughing. They were stopping at another Target to get her some new clothes, at which point I suggested that he get her some new panties too, for insurance if nothing else.
I called from the Baggage Claim at the airport, and she was feeling crappy again, moaning and crying to me that her stomach hurt. I asked her to show daddy EXACTLY where it hurt and to have him tell me where she pointed, because at this point I was starting to suspect that maybe it was cramps. Nope. BUT talking to me for those 5 or 6 seconds made her feel better. I told Matt that I was pretty sure it was stress and being unhappy that I wasn't there. I asked what she'd been eating and it's nothing out of the ordinary. I asked if it had started before or after getting Mommy-sick, and it seems to have manifested the morning after the first time she got upset. Bingo. I suggested that whatever was planned for Wednesday needed to be canceled or extremely low key and close to home. I haven't heard from them yet today. :)
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