This is the Everything is OK Alarm

This weekend just didn't quit. The aforementioned rhinovirus was upgraded to full-on stomach flu (or food poisoning, either way, it involved much gastrointestinal chaos) for two of the three of us. Luckily the bug was contained to those of us who are more than 3 feet tall, which pretty much meant that the third member of the household got free reign, while us sickies wearily watched the destruction of the house unfold at an amazingly rapid pace. Actually, we were lucky enough to trade off our sickest days, so that while I laid around moaning and dying on Friday, Steve was on Bryson containment duty, and on Saturday, as Steve managed to sleep for something like 23 hours, I kept our trash cans from being upended and all of the tissues from being pulled out of their cozy box.

Not helping matters was the fact that the battery in the smoke detector in Bry's room started dying Saturday night. It was apparently on its final throes at about 4 am Sunday morning when it started emitting a shrill cheeping noise. Kind of what I imagine a loud, wounded bird being repeatedly poked with a stick might sound like. I first heard Bry fussing and waited with my fingers crossed, hoping he'd fall back asleep. Then I noticed the sound coming from the smoke detector and in my half-asleep, hallucinatory state, wondered if there really was a wounded bird outside. When it didn't stop and Bry obviously didn't fall back asleep, I stumbled into the nursery and localized the source of the noise to the smoke detector. Then I started looking for the fire that I figured better have been burning in the corner so as to set off the smoke detector, wake up Bry, and worst of all, wake me up. Finding no evidence of anything burning, I set out to change Bry's diaper. I must have been sicker and weaker than I thought because about 10 minutes into a 2 minute task I finally called for Steve's help because I could not for the life of me get his pajamas back on. Steve found me sitting on the floor with Bry in my lap, looking defeated and exhausted. Probably because I had been trying for the last 8 minutes to get Bry's right leg into the left leg of his pajamas. In case you were wondering, this does not work.