The very long, very bad day

(Here's the post that explains why we didn't post for so long)

So, while I was sitting at work procrastinating on writing my report cards (my school doesn't do grades, instead we write half page essays on each kid), I decided I needed some motivation. Wesley has been really interested in trains because he hears the whistle from the commuter rail in our apartment as he's eating dinner, so I thought it would be fun to share with him one of my favorite childhood memories--the Essex Steam Train ride with Santa. Mom, Gram and Mary Lou agreed to join us on our last minute adventure! This also happened to be Wesley's 20-month birthday...we had no idea how special this day would become!

Our first stop was at Great Grandma's house, where we decorated her little Christmas tree.

He's got the whole world in his hands!

Wesley ran around and around the world!

From there, we drove to Essex and were joined by Grammie. How lucky Wes was to have 3 of his Grandmas with him!

While we waited for departure time, we enjoyed watching the model train go 'round and 'round.

Well, Wes really enjoyed chasing the train 'round and 'round, followed closely by Grammie.And this was a BIG model train set-up!

They even had 4 toy train tables for kids to play with as we waited.

Then, the big moment finally came! We boarded the train!

Then we watching the Holiday Penguin (yes, that's what they called it) board the train.

And then who else but Mr. Claus! Santa had no idea what he was in store for!

Wesley, enjoying some orange juice as we pulled out of the station.

He was reluctant to hand over his golden ticket.

Or even share it with Mommy.

It was fun watching the Holiday Penguin, Rudolf and Mr. and Mrs. Claus make their way down the car!Mrs. Claus was so loving and kind to him!

I thought Wes might be scared of the holiday penguin, but he was pretty excited about him/her.It was Great Grandma that was a little scared, as the penguin was especially affectionate with her.

Wesley admired Rudolf's red nose.

...still fascinated by that red nose :).

Look! There's Santa making his way to us as Wesley's entertaining the folks behind us.

"Santa's here! Say 'Hi!' Wesley!"
...and boy, did Wes ever say hello. He proceeded to projectile vomit on Santa. Not once, not twice, but three times. I had never seen Wesley be sick like this so I was quite shocked. Santa was too. As Mary Lou said, "I think Santa needed to go change his underwear." For the sake of accurate records, Wes didn't actually puke ON Santa, he did miss him by about 3-4 inches, but it was VERY close.

After Mary Lou and Mom cleaned up the mess (THANK YOU!), and I comforted Wesley, he fell fast asleep. Poor little guy!

Wes stayed asleep until I tried to put him in his car seat, which made him wake up immediately. Not long after, he got sick again. Mary Lou and I decided to stop at Dad and Sue's house, which was very close, to clean us up. While there, Wes enjoyed some cuddles with Uncle Chris and Grampy and was entertained by Jake and Hayley.

As we were walking out the door, Wesley got sick again--no joke. So while this was Sue's first time helping to clean up (THANK YOU!), this is now Mary Lou's third time cleaning up Wes' puke. What a Nana! To be safe, we gave Wes this puke bib for the ride home because I was fresh out of clean clothes. Fortunately, Wesley fell fast asleep during our ride back to Massachusetts.

At home, we broke open the Curious George DVD Grammie got him for Halloween.

After being sick on and off all night, we did manage to enjoy the tree a bit the next morning,

and some more Curious George. This is where the funny part ends and the :( part begins.

However, by afternoon, Wesley could barely sit up and wasn't moving around at all. When we took him in to the doctor's, they sent us to Children's Hospital.

The little man had to get IV fluids, but they were so good to him at the hospital!

They gave him a new teddy bear, a balloon, several new toys, and rolled in a DVD cart loaded with plenty of Curious George!

We wish we could share that our ER visit was the last of this nasty stomach bug, but unfortunately, it continued for the next 6 days, and Phil and I also enjoyed the pleasure it brought. As we've come out of our sick seclusion, I feel like it was just all one really long, very bad day and we're very glad it's over. Although he's a bit skinnier, Wesley is now back to his old perky self and we couldn't be happier. But, we are a bit behind on Operation Christmas. If your Christmas card is late, this is why....