60. Our favourite room and D&V.

When these houses were built, some of them had a garage built with them, separate to the house. Our garage is at the side of our house, and the previous owners turned the space between the garage and house, into a utility room. It's a long, thin room, narrow at one end and a window at each end, and a door out to the garden. It is brilliant! 

When we first moved in we had originally planned to knock our kitchen into the utility room, and create a little wash room off the garage. It didn't take long for us to realise that this room will actually be one of the most used and practical rooms in the house. We are both very outdoorsy people, and the garden here has turned us both into keen gardeners. Me, not so much since becoming pregnant with Jack, but I will be back out there in a few years. 

As well as a sink, which is just the best, we have storage for coats, boots and even kitchen overspill. Mixers, baking stuff, bottle steriliser etc. We also have our washer, drier, a maiden and a fridge freezer. It's the perfect room to kick off wet boots and pants after hosing yourself down at the back door. Stuff that needs a scrub goes in the sink, and wet clothes can go on the maiden or straight in the wash. I use this sink to wash a lot of my brushes and rollers from work if I need to. 

D&V

This week, this room has really come into its own. All 4 kids have had the dreaded sickness and diarrhoea bug. We have stripped beds and babies, soaked their clothes in the sink, and gone back to it when we have had time to rinse them and put them into the machine. No drama if it's 10 minutes, or 10 hours until we get there.  I think our bath would've been full and stinking if it wasn't for the utility room this week. 

The bug itself is one we have really been dreading. 3 babies puking and leaking poo everywhere is just the most horrible image. We knew it was coming, because Albert, their cousin, who they go to nursery with, threw up when we were on a walk together. Emily instantly knew it was a bug and we regularly see them pinching each other's dummies all the time. Inevitable. Jack was first down and, as always, he was the perfect patient. He started on Saturday night, was sick twice, didn't eat for a couple of days and when he did, it came straight back, but after that, he gradually started nibbling bits of food. On the Thursday he started eating well, but had a diarrhoea nappy at nursery. After that, gone. William started throwing up on Tuesday after tea and had most of it out of his system by bed time. He was sick after any milk or food for a day or two and was very clingy. Rob was sick in the night, all over his bed on Wednesday. On Thursday, James was at home with them, and their diarrhoea started. Sam seemed to have skipped it. Sam was his usual jolly self and kept wanting to play with his brothers, but his playful whacks were greeted with screams from all angles. Everyone seemed to be getting back to nearly normal, except for the smelly bums by Friday night. Interested in food and managing to keep milk down. But then, of course, Sam started, with an epic bed covering puke. He was asleep when he threw up and as I hung him over the bucket while he got the rest out, he would then lean back on me and just sleep again. Just as he seemed to be empty and ready to go back to sleep for the night, Rob woke up and was really unsettled. He was scrunching up in pain. I could only assume it was stomach cramps, so I reluctantly gave him calpol. James had tried calpol when his temperature went up the day before, he brought it straight up and filled his nappy at the same time. Anyway, thankfully, he was fine this time around. My attention was now on Sam. His diarrhoea started the following morning, so the poor boy was having a double hit! At least the other two had got past the worst of the vomiting before the other end started. The other end only bothered me of course, they quite literally, couldn't give a ......

Needless to say, the utility sink and the washing machine have been in overdrive. Not only have we had multiple outfit changes each day, our wipes have been hit hard! Hanging out dozens of little wipes with every wash!! We have also been washing a lot more of our own clothes. It's not until you have changed, cleaned up, and re-dressed the baby that you realise that there is some on you too. Usually on my forearm where I carried them or flailing, s*** covered legs kick me. So thats my jumper in the wash, my shirt, another jumper etc. Then there was the vomit, usually on our pants, so lots of outfit changes for us too. Plus the bedding, towels, clothes and muslins we were reaching for to mop up and wipe faces. 

When we were bracing ourselves for the inevitable, we got out piles of towels and muslins to put around the cots and on the carpet. The only baby sickness experience we had with Jack, was projectile. It was like he sprayed it! All over the carpet in his bedroom, and the stink lasted for weeks. We really wanted to protect the carpets as much as we could, so we were way too prepared with towels. Worth the effort though. Anyway, it turned out they weren't projectile at all, and after the first of each one, we had a little time from when they started to grumble and burp, to get to a sink, a bucket, or even just to the hard, wipeable floor. A doddle! The poo wasn't quite so easy, because it just came straight out of the nappies at all angles before they had even finished. James has even started commenting on me hearing things. I keep jumping up saying "I heard a fart", or "was that puke?".