It’s just that kind of week, apparently.

Few things will get a sleeping mom out of bed as quickly as a cry of "Mom, I'm going to throw up!"

That is exactly how I started my morning today. I still use the room monitor- for these and similar (potty) emergencies; so I clearly heard Juliette tell Cosette, "Cosette call mommy and tell her I am going to throw up." And then I heard Cosette shout "MOMMY! JULIETTE IS THROWING UP!"- only I was already up and running, so the shout was unnecessary.

Later Cosette was complaining that Juliette had woken her, and Juliette looked at me so sadly; "But mommy, I couldn't shout because I didn't want the throw up to come up."

I did get her to the bathroom almost in time; she got to the toilet for the bulk of it. But, you know how it comes in waves? Juliette didn't believe me; she was crying for me to hold her, while I was trying to get her to stay put. She wouldn't, so wave two and three did not make it to the target.

After we both changed out of our soiled pj's, I carried the girls downstairs, sat them on the couch, wrapped them in blankets, turned on Dora, gave Juliette her throw up bowl just in case, turned on the coffee maker- which wasn't set to go on for another 30 minutes- and stumbled back upstairs to clean up the mess.

What is it about throw up that makes you want to throw up yourself? It was a relief to spray the Windex and inhale that sharp antiseptic clean smell instead. And in the spirit of camaraderie, Teddy helped. Guess how. I wasn't pleased, because- well, that is gross and besides, knowing Teddy, I'll just be cleaning up after him later.

Sigh. The good news is that after that Juliette seemed OK. But the only reason she got sick is because my mother is away on vacation. One or both of the girls always gets sick when my mother goes away on vacation. But the silver lining is that Juliette was already staying home from school- it being vacation this week- and I already had the nanny coming over for the day, so I had coverage and was able to make it to work and to my weekly meeting, with time to buy a cup of coffee and a bagel.

Let's just pray that Cosette isn't next.