Couldn't she wait just 6 more days?

Sami fell asleep in my lap during Emily's gymnastics practice tonight, then decided to start puking. Luckily she made it to the bathroom. Then the poor thing fell asleep with her head in the bucket when we got home as she said she still had "more puking to do".

Six days and the kids are all Matt's. Maybe I will book myself on a plane to las vegas nv. (A girl can dream, right?) In the meantime, I just pray Emily and Chris do not get it. And even more so myself. I don't know how I would manage to drive down the street with a bucket in my lap.

Back from MIA

Saturday the whole family flew from NC to Ohio to visit family and friends until Tuesday. Sunday Jamie and her two girls drove from Illinois to Ohio to stay overnight with me and the girls in a hotel. A fun "girls only" shopping and overnighter. On the way her youngest (Hannah) got "car sick" once and that was it. But no big deal.

Fast forward to Monday. We had an awesome trip thus far. It was 8:30 pm and we were getting ready to leave my SIL house and head back to Matt and Kate's house (where we were staying). Sam had been laying all over me and refused to play with her cousins. When I told her to go play and stop being such a whiner she started saying her tummy hurt. Whatever Sam. Go play. Two minutes later she came up to me, took one look and projectile vomited all over me, the floor, the couch, herself, everything. I felt like such a bad mom. I asked her why she didn't tell me she wasn't feeling good and she reminded me that she did and I just said "go play".

She puked 6 more times between midnight and when our flight took off at 6 am. Then she puked again in the plane. At 4 am Emily started puking. She also puked on the plane. Jamie told me Tuesday that her oldest kid started puking in full force on their drive back and the lead story on the news is the flu in Illinois.

Since then I got sick as well. And the lead story today on the NC news was the flu epidemic. Apparently this strain was not part of the flu shot and it is everywhere.

Chris and Matt so far are fine. Thank goodness because Matt leaves with the chickens on Saturday for Japan. The girls are much better and back at school. And I think I am finally coming off my Imodium overdose. Lots of Lysol, antibacterial gel and air cleaners going on here.

I hope to get caught up with everyone's blogs soon. I promise.

Cough... Cough... Cough

It started as a cold. Then last night it was a constant, all night cough. Chris, who has been striving for the perfect attendance award at the end of the year, actually said he felt too bad to go to school today. Just last night he had told us that he would go no matter what and if the teacher thought he was too sick she could just call for me to come get him.

Since I am usually the overcautious mom and take my kids to the dr at the first sniffle, I told myself it was just a cold and to ride it out. However the cough got progressively worse as teh day went on, as did his ability to breathe. My neighbor heard his dry hacking and said maybe I should just take him in to be safe. So off to the dr we went. And boy do I feel like crap for not taking him in sooner. My poor boy has walking pneumonia. Pass me the bad mom award please.

Apparently there are two kids of pneumonia –– bacterial and viral. This one is viral. So we got a script for Zithromax and an albuterol inhaler. The doctor (whom I love) said this could be a sign that Chris's asthma is coming back (he had it when he was younger and then he grew out of it). Sigh... I hope not. However considering both Matt and I have asthma, as does both of his grandpa's and other great grandparents I think Chris may be doomed to join the "puffer club".

Luckily we caught it before it turned into anything too serious. Pneumonia and asthma do not mix well. However the part that the doctor did forget to mention is that viral pneumonia's take longer to go resolve completely. Like possibly 4 to 6 weeks compared to a week or 10 days of bacterial pneumonia. (God bless the Internet) No wonder we got 3 refills on the inhaler.

Operation Press Conference a Success

And I can breathe again. All of the media relations and press kit and magazine writing over the past 3 months led up to today –– The launch of X's new poultry division. I have been the person in charge of the PR, which all became unveiled to the media at a press luncheon today. And I am very, very very excited to say it went over better than I hoped. The media were very receptive, the clients were extremely happy and the press materials were awesome.

I left the house early yesterday and drove with 3 people from the marketing agency I am working with to Atlanta for the 2008 International Poultry Expo. We helped with a few things for the trade show booth and then headed to our hotel in downtown Atlanta. It was definitely different from the plain old Hampton's I usually stay at when traveling. We then met one of our clients from Pfizer and went to dinner at Trader Vics. If you ever have a chance to eat at a Trader Vics it is a MUST. It has to be one of the best meals I have eaten. They cooked my steak in a big basket! Drinks, an awesome dinner and a nightcap –– I could get used to this treatment.

Today we made our way to the Expo early and while the others set up the room I made my way to "smooze" with the media. Then came the big press conference. The food was perfect, the speakers did awesome (with the outline I provided of course) and we have already gotten interviews completed and more scheduled. We also have several requests for some prewritten articles. So between that and some other PR work it looks like I will be playing with chickens and eggs a bit longer. That's okay. I've missed the ag market.

No sooner did I get in the car to head towards Greensboro, NC for the evening I started to sneeze. And sneeze and sneeze. I went through 2 travel packs of Kleenex in the past 6 hours and now I can't get my nose to stop dripping. So I am at a hotel and sick and on the verge of a migraine. I really shouldn't be surprised. Between getting all the work done for this project, some Cat work, the holidays and my trip to Vegas I have been asking for it.

So tomorrow I should take it easy and just relax until I have to meet Kate and Matty at the airport and then make the 90 minute drive back to Fuquay. Maybe hit the bookstore. Maybe hit a few stores and play with some cameras. Maybe grab some lunch and just veg out. Yeah... wishful thinking. After not checking my email for 36 hours I fired up the computer to find 4 (yes FOUR) projects for Cat (including a conference call for tomorrow morning) and an email asking for a new business proposal for a company in California. **thud** This weekend is booked full with Kate and Matty visiting, Matt leaves Monday for a week and I have those frightening 6 shots. I'm not complaining. Really I am not. I'm just for once, well, tired. Not physically because we all know I don't sleep, but mentally I am just exhausted.

Thanks for all the well wishes for this Atlanta project. I know the big man upstairs was listening.