There’s a rumbly.

“What happened to Maggie?”

That’s what the little bean asked, on her hands and knees, cold sweat, tousled hair, staring down at tonight’s dinner. And lunch. And the ice cream we had at the mall for good behavior.

I’m sitting in the dark, Curious George on the television to cheer the little one up. I’m in between laundry cycles and two adult sized vomits. I’m up to my ears in stink in this house and wishing it was springtime so that I could throw open the windows. Febreeze will have to do for now. And not until Daddy returns home from his middle of the night trek to the convenience store for a bottle of baby Pepto and some air freshener.

We were at the second to last episode of Dexter Season 2 when we heard Audrey start to scream. I pressed pause and we listened for a minute. “Go pet her, she’ll go back to sleep,” J said. More because he was achy from running than his actual faith in my calming abilities. I waited another minute and when it didn’t stop, I trudged upstairs to see what I could do for the bean. When I opened the door, I was startled to see Mags sitting straight up in her crib, looking at me with a scowl. I sighed. So much for Dexter. I shushed Audrey and gathered them both into my arms and returned to the living room. “Make their bed,” I whispered, hopeful that I could keep the girls a bit drowsy still. J threw out their princess sleeping bags and set up a makeshift bed on the living room floor for them. That didn’t last long. Just a few minutes into Curious George, Maggie began tossing about. Then she coughed.

Afterwards, I bathed her and explained to her what had happened. She doesn’t get “vomit” or “throw up” or “puke”. She just knows that she feels like crap and she has a yucky taste in her mouth. I assured her that she would be fine and I settled her back into a cozy spot on the floor next to her sister. It lasted about 20 minutes. And then another ten.

Now, he’s back and the house smells a little less rank and we’ve got some medicine for the girl. But not in time. The third time, I was in the line of fire. But, we’re both bathed and clean and we’ve got clean blankies and a bucket near by. J is trying to soothe her to sleep and I’m crossing my fingers that she’s done. I don’t think I’ve been up past three since college.

Now that’s a Saturday night!

circa 2:36 A.M.