How can that much puke come out of someone so small??

Yeah that's right, a child the size of my Avery should not physically be able to throw up enough to completely saturate: herself, her carseat, the blanket we had over her legs and the 18 toys we use to keep her happy in the car.

Okay backtrack, so here's the story. On Saturday Jeff and I got a wild hare and decided that it would be a great day to cruise over to Missoula and pick up the tile from Lowes that we've been talking about getting for the past couple of months. We also thought we'd get a hold of a few friends while we were there and eat a little sushi before we headed home. Sounded like a great plan and a pretty cool day.

We took off around 1:00 since Avery slept longer then usual for her morning nap (the first missed sign that all was not well). After two hours of sleep we finally went into her room and started putting clothes away, which woke her up instantly. We then crammed her lunch down her, which she only half heartedly ate (clue number two that we missed.) After thirty minutes of preparing Avery for the less then two hour drive we were ready to go.

Jeff and I are always in a great mood when we know we're going to Missoula. Even though we've been in Butte for almost three years (yikes) we still think of Missoula as home. So there we are cruising down the highway, listening to good music and in fantastic moods because Missoula looms in our near future when I hear a little noise coming from the backseat. A little noise that I've never really heard before, however, the mother in me knows that it's not a good noise. Not a noise you want your child making in the backseat of a car. I looked back just in time to see my daughter spew forth enough throw up to fill a small truck. Okay I'm exaggerating, but it was a lot. A lot more then any mother wants to see coming out of her child while driving on the interstate in Montana.

Of course we were no where near a rest stop since we had just passed that only rest stop from Butte to Missoula, so lucky me I had to turn in my seat and attempt to clean the child up while cruising down the highway. Not as easy as it sounds :)

Luckily we had plastic diaper bags to stuff all the gunked up stuff into. Also luckily, I managed to clean up the mess without gunking up the backseat myself (I'm known to have a somewhat weak stomach, especially when I'm turned backwards in a moving vehicle).

Thankfully, the last leg of the trip went by minus any more sickness related disasters. When we finally got into town our first stop was TJ Max were I bought the kid a new outfit (which I had to change her out of about an hour later due to mud butt) and a new blanket.

The rest of the trip was a little less eventful. We got our tile at Lowes ( Jeff's winter house project will be laying tile in the kitchen and main floor bathroom along with remodeling the main floor bathroom).

Then we met a couple of friends for dinner at Nara Sushi, which was great. We caught up with Robin and Trev and then cruised home.

I had hoped to go over and see Jill and Griffin but figured that they might not appreciate me bringing the stomach flu into their home.

Avery was a trooper and slept most of the car ride home. The poor kid wasn't herself yesterday either but seemed to be doing better this morning.

We managed to battle, and I think win, our first encounter with the stomach flu.

What have I learned from this experience:

1. To bring gallon sized plastic bags with me when I travel.

2. That when your child, who usually shoves food down like she hasn't eaten in a month, wants to stop eating after only 1/2 of the usual quantity of food is down, something might be wrong.

3. To always bring at least four (yeah you heard it right four) extra outfits with you on any day long road trip no matter how many hours you plan on being gone.

4. Finally, always expect the unexpected. (You'd think after 8 months I'd have figured this one out but things just keep popping up!)

Jeff's only helpful comment regarding the whole situation, " Maybe we should start listening to her when she acts like she doesn't want to eat." Mmmm you think?