All Joseph got for Christmas was...

a stomach virus! And his two front teeth (yup, in the course of 2 days Joseph's two front bottom teeth magically appeared!)

Joseph's First Christmas.....what a Christmas it was. I wish I could say it was a joyous event filled with wondrous, exciting moments for Joseph. Unfortunately, for Joseph (and Mommy and Daddy) it involved more vomiting and diarrhea than anything else.

The stomach bug was circulating through my in-laws before we ever arrived in Kentucky and unfortunately, we did not escape it by coming at the tail end of the circulation. We arrived on Saturday and I woke up late Sunday night completely sick. I spent all of Sunday night and Monday throwing up every 30 minutes to an hour. Somewhere near the end of the day Monday, I was pretty sure I was going to die laying in Rich's old bed curled up in the fetal position and wrapped around a vomit bowl. Luckily, I survived the night and woke up feeling somewhat better on Tuesday. Richard got a milder version on Tuesday and Wednesday and we both just had little energy to do much more than lay in bed. The whole time we commented on how lucky we were that Joseph wasn't sick and what a tough little guy he was. All that changed Thursday morning (aka Christmas morning).

Joseph slept surprisingly late (like 6:30 am) which is unusual and always gives rise to worry around our house. Rich gave him his bottle and 2 minutes later was yelling for me because he had thrown up all over (all over his very cute "Joseph's First Christmas" embroidered PJs). We were worried this was the start of the stomach flu but Joseph seemed perfectly happy. We stuffed him with some pedialyte to be sure, but by noon without further incident, we thought maybe he had just chugged his 8 oz. bottle too quickly that morning. We got ready to head to Rich's grandparents, about an hour ride away. I dressed him in his white polo and $50 monogrammed Pottery Barn Kids corduroys. We got about 5 minutes from his grandparents when Rich's sister, who was sitting in the back with Joseph started yelling, "Guys, he's throwing up all over the place". We pulled over and by the time I could get to him in the back seat, the poor little guy (and those $50 corduroys) were covered and he was still throwing up. After a 10 minute clean up job and some crying from Mommy and Joseph, we got back on the road, headed in the opposite direction. He threw up again about 5 minutes before we got back to my in-laws house but by the time we got home, he was completely happy! We gave him a bath, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

He acted completely normal the rest of the day but was miserable on Friday. He slept 5 -6 hours during the day and was just not himself. The stomach virus with the aforementioned teething were not a pleasant combination. We still continue to have diarrhea incidents and occasional vomiting. (I actually had to stop in the middle of writing this to go change him and rock him back to sleep after a minor vomit incident tonight in a hotel somewhere near Dollywood in TN). He has clearly lost weight and we just want to get him home where if it doesn't get better, he can at least see his own pediatrician (who has received numerous calls over the last 4 days).

Here are some pictures from his less than stellar 1st Christmas:

A shot of his special Christmas PJs - before he went to bed on Christmas Eve

With Great Nana, Cilla and Daddy on Christmas Eve

Joseph's version of opening gifts (notice the very non-Christmas PJs he is wearing due to his vomit incident in the morning)

And a video of Joseph's favorite Christmas gift. I don't let him watch hardly any TV with the exception of Yo Gabba Gabba! everyday at 4:30. He loves this show and gets so excited by the dancing characters. I also let him watch it because it makes feeding him dinner easier. Joseph doesn't really like vegetables (which is dinner every night), particularly green vegetables and he'll scream the whole meal...except if he is watching Yo Gabba Gabba!. Then I can shovel green beans or peas into his mouth while he sits transfixed. His Aunt Kipling bought him a large dancing Brobee, which he quite enjoyed dancing with, until Brobee hit him in the face, which Joseph did not appreciate.

I'll post more pictures from our week in Kentucky over the next few days but I am exhausted from dealing with his sickness, the 5 hour drive today and the thought of another 3 hours of driving tomorrow.