Wine tasting night

Yesterday, was an interesting day to say the least.  Of course, I took the girls to school, then I came home and got ready to go to our appointment with Relocation assistants at ACS...its called a Smooth Moves class.  We spent about an hour at the class, most of the things we knew, but we did find out a few things we didn't.  I also got this really cool binder with a moving checklist in it.  I'm a lover of checklists.  After the class, Paul and I had a nice romantic lunch at burger king...hey its all we have over here!  I had to run a few errands, came home, watched some Grey's, and picked up the kids from school.  We cleaned up the house a little bit, I watched Survivor, and started getting ready for the wine tasting event.  I got this really cute black dress at the PX that I decided to wear.  I thought it looked pretty good, although it was a little more fancy than the "Sunday best" attire required, I didn't mind.  Hey, its not every day that Paul and I get to go out without the kids.  He wore this beautiful blue shirt with some black slacks and looked as handsome as ever!  Back to my story, I ended up leaving a little early to help a friend collect money and get people through the door.  Paul came after a while and sat down to wait for all of us.  We all sat at this big table, it was us, and three other couple friends of ours.  Then we chatted, munched on some finger foods, and WAITED...and waited....and waited some more.  Finally, after all of the waiting, the wine was being served, we literally got little sips of wine (hey its not a wine glass drinking party, just a tasting).  We were also supposed to "score" the wine.  I'm NO wine connoisseur, I just like what I think tastes good, but I do like wine.  Not all wine, but some.  The first three wines were...horrible...I compared it to eating ear wax (don't ask).  The fourth wine was very bubbly...and then was horrible, but you noticed the bubbly first, its called a sect in german, and is similar to a champagne.  The fourth wine was drinkable, and was pretty good.  The last wine was too sweet for my tastes, there has to be a good balance.  Anyway-we were all extremely bored by this time, so we decided to head out.  I wanted to stay longer, but honestly, I wasn't getting enough to drink, and we were all listening to someone drone on and on about the history of the wine...so I guess I'm not all into the whole wine tasting idea after all.  I'll just get my own bottles and have my own wine tasting at my house!
We came home around 10 or so, we paid the sitter (my girls LOVE her by the way, and could not stop talking about how much they like the girls that come over to watch them), then Sierra starts in.  At first Paul and I just thought she was tired.  She tends to whine a lot when she's tired...I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, my foot hurts, my elbow hurts, my tummy hurts, blah blah blah...usually.  Last night though, she was saying her tummy hurt.  I figured it was just her wanting attention and being tired.  Paul thought so too.  We were both kind of brushing her off, we got ready for bed, Daddy went to get her some water, and I sat with her and talked to her a little to get her to go to sleep.  She was still complaining of her tummy hurting though, so I started lightly rubbing her tummy a little, and she coughed a little strangely...and I yelled, "GO TO THE BATHROOM!!!!!"  She made it just in time...whew!  Needless to say the poor baby was up almost every hour last night.  Two of our friends came over and hung out, and it was a little embarrassing to have to hear Sierra heaving in the bathroom.  They have a toddler, so they understand, but we didn't hang out long, obviously.
I went to bed shortly after they left, Sierra walked into my room around 3 am this morning, "Mommy??  I think I'm going to throw up...," again, I (this time exhaustingly) yelled, "go to the bathroom."  Actually it was probably more of whisper yell...yeah we'll go with that.  She again, made it just in time.  I held her hair back, rubbed her back, and tried to calm her down.  I got her back to bed around 3:30, at 4 the whole process started over, but I heard her this time, moaning in bed.  Finally it happened once more at 5 am.  Now when I woke up the first time, I did try to wake up Paul...he's just better with the gross stuff.  But he was in some other land because he didn't wake up for anything, but thats okay, because I was able to push past my own gag reflex and get through it.
She felt ill again this morning at 10, and hasn't been sick since.  Her color is back to normal, she doesn't look so green, she was hungry, so we started her on the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast), and she held all of it down.  She's also acting normal, telling on her sister, and wanting to wear a dress.  I've been very lucky, my girls rarely get sick like this.  The last time I can remember us having the flu, was when Autumn was an infant, and I only remember because I was the one who got the most of it.  Autumn was still breastfeeding, and didn't get really get the flu.  Sure there have been occassional throw ups, but not like this, where it was every few hours.  I'm not all that great with pukey things, I know, I know, I'm a Mom, but I'm really not good with things like that.  Bodily functions DO, in fact,  bug me.  I can deal with blood, I can deal with owies, but other things do bother me a lot of times.  It was only a few years ago that I was even able to take pills without gagging everytime I took one...yes its that bad.  But Last night was a revelation for me.  Maybe things like that don't bother me as much as it used to.  Maybe I'm getting used to being around puke.  I know I've cleaned it up a bunch of times...but usually with gloves, and a mask around my face...okay not the mask, but gloves are a must! 
I wasn't worried about the smell, or her convulsions, I wasn't worried whether she would get her puke in her hair, or on me.  I wasn't worried if she was going to get it all over the bathroom so I'd have to clean it up...I was worried about her.  I still managed to clean her up, helped her brush her teeth, and get her back into bed.  I guess this was just the first time I realized that it doesn't bother me like it used to, at least when I'm dealing with my kids.
I will always remember this night, not for the wine tasting, or the fun of being around friends,  not for having a night out sans kids, not for the other few things that happened that day.  I will remember this night because I figured out that I really am, a Mom, not that I didn't know it before, but sometimes you need a refresher.  Sometimes you just feel like the live in nanny/housekeeper/cook/and taxi driver.  Last night I really felt like a Mom.
I will also remember this night as the night that I fell in love with my husband all over again as well.  In the beginning of the night, he was dealing with Sierra while she was sick.  I remember going by the bathroom and just looking at them.  He was holding her from behind, as her little head was right near the toilet, she looked like she was about to pass out, he was brushing her hair back, and she was closing her eyes every time he brushed, he put her hair in a really bad pony tail, just so that her hair would be out of her face.  It was so sweet watching him brush her hair, so gently, and lovingly.  I don't think I'll ever get that picture out of my head.  It was one of those heart achingly sweet moments.  While I realized my worth last night, I also realized what a good Daddy Paul has turned into.  All of this wonderfulness coming from two party animal kids who met, and three months later were married.  Its amazing what happens in life sometimes.  I feel very lucky!