<\/a><\/p>\n

Worried over my sanity and the kids’ overall safety (you know, from me and my questionable sanity) I told them to turn the movie off and try to get some sleep. As soon as Buzz Lightyear faded into obscurity the kids’ eyelids were fluttering shut. I turned and looked at Jeremy with a smile on my face, anticipating the sunrise we were sure to be seeing in a few short hours.<\/em><\/p>\n

And that’s where we were…in peaceful vehicular coexistance…when the puking started.<\/em><\/p>\n

There is not a parent alive who can mistake that sound. It starts in the gut and resonates with a wrenching familiarity right before you figure out who it’s coming from.<\/p>\n

With (I’d say) some pretty impressive speed I whipped around, grabbed a paper cup from the “snack bag” and threw it in front of the mouth of my youngest, the only one in the back seat with saucer-like eyes and suddenly green moonlit skin, and prayed that the disposable cup would hold.<\/p>\n

“Why’s he puking?” Jer asked.<\/p>\n

“I have no idea!” I answered, albeit a bit snippily. Although, in my defense, it was <\/em>about 2:30 in the morning and I am neither a medical professional nor psychic. Dur. “Pull over!” I yelled.<\/p>\n

Jer pulled off to the side of the road with the skill of a Nascar driver (as did our co-caravanners) and I ripped out of the car prepared to pull the whole blasted booster seat out the back if necessary.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there was a lot more dry-heaving involved than actual vomit so my little cup was going to work just fine. For now.<\/p>\n

“Is he okay?” I heard from a car or two back. Jer must have already informed our fellow travelers of the potential precarious situation via radio. Our hubbies are “Ham-sters” (Ham radio operators) and take their radio licenses pretty seriously, which we wives do our darndest to sabotage. In this particular situation, however, I have to admit the radio came in pretty handy. But don’t tell my husband that.<\/p>\n

Because we’re parents and like to have an answer for every ailment, Jer offered, “Maybe he’s throwing up because it’s so early. My stomach gets upset when I get up early to go hunting.”<\/p>\n

“Yep, that’s probably it,” I answered, willing it to be so. I really didn’t want to start our trip out with a bout of the stomach flu. Although, losing a quick 5-10 pounds is always ever so tempting.<\/p>\n

After a little more heaving and some very tender smiles at his momma, Jack seemed to be a-okay. We got back in the car and hit the road. And everything seemed fine. Avery fell back asleep. Jack was nodding on and off. Jer and I started holding hands again, albeit a little more timidly.<\/p>\n

And then Jack started puking…again. I spent the next hour turned half-around in my seat supporting a tiny little Dixie cup perched below Jack’s chin.<\/p>\n

I’ll be a little honest here. I started feeling really sorry for myself. Here was my little man, heaving his tiny little 34-pound self into a little water cup, and my daughter seated next to him, jerked awake with each sound, and I was pitying myself. Why? Because kids are very resilient and me I discovered, not so much. Jack bounced right back to his happy self and Avery fell right back asleep after each and every heave. And I sat there, two hours into an 18-hour drive, oddly seated facing the passenger window, my right hand lodged under my son’s face wondering if his sister would be next.<\/p>\n

“Jer, I’m freaking out here,” I admitted.<\/p>\n

“Why?” he asked.<\/p>\n

“Because Jack’s puking and I’m worried that he’s getting really sick or something,” I answered.<\/p>\n

“Mindy, he’s probably got a little car sickness, or sour stomach because it’s so freakin’ early. He’ll be fine,” Jer promised. Ah, my voice of reason. The calming effect to my downward spiral.<\/p>\n

Feeling better, I joked, “Hope it’s not the Universe trying to tell us something.” Ha. Ha.<\/p>\n

Jer looked over at me, shot me his best reassuring smile and turned his eyes back on to the road ahead…<\/p>\n

Where a deer was standing, illuminated by our headlights and staring right at us in what appeared to be a very real invitation for the age-old game of chicken.<\/p>\n

Mindy<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Worried over my sanity and the kids’ overall safety (you know, from me and my questionable sanity) I told them to turn the movie off and try to get some sleep. As soon as Buzz Lightyear faded into obscurity the kids’ eyelids were fluttering shut. I turned and looked at Jeremy with a smile on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-stuff","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2103"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2119,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2103\/revisions\/2119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesuburbanlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}