I'm not even going to rehash the few weeks in December when I single handledly pretty much got my whole family plus my parents sick with whatever lung crud there was out there... That was just a crazy time filled with lots of snot. So last week I didn't feel great all day. Not bad enough to do anything about it until later in the day... but not great. Walker and Carter both jumped all over me playing and it hurt, but I thought I was being a baby. I somehow managed to cook and then curled up in a ball. Nick bathed both boys and put Walker to bed... and I got into our bed and turned on the TV. We watched some TV and boom, it hit me. I went to throw up seven times in a row.
So I thought we were out of the woods. I made it through the next day, weak, but alive. We had dinner with friends then came home Friday night. All was great... until Walker shows up at the top of the stairs. He doesn't understand and says there is water all over his room... yep, he threw up pizza and goldfish alllll over his bed. He comes to my bed and I send Nick upstairs away from the plague. I also gave him bottles for Carter so he could wake up with him all night since I knew it might be crazy with Walker. Oh yeah, my five month old doesn't know how to sleep more than three hours straight... soooo Walker throws up by me again and again - each time I'm changing out the sheets. I don't want to get mad at him, but I don't understand why he cannot make it to the bucket! So at 3:45 AM he throws up all over my hair. I bring the iPad into the bathroom, put him on the floor watching it and I shower. I had to say a few prayers because I was losing my cool. Poor kid couldn't help it and he kept apologizing. I felt so bad... and I was so sleepy. Finally we slept until 8...
Nick woke up sick... guess sleeping upstairs didn't stop the germs from finding him...
I knew I had to guide the ship alone. This means a million loads of laundry, disinfecting everything and the usual chores on top of it on a Saturday! I think there were seven loads of laundry? There were so many towels and sheets I lost count. Walker was very whiny and just chilled out... I can say the same for Nick, but he does really try when he's sick to be cool... he finally resorted to the couch later in the day because he gave up. I don't think I sat down much at all. The dog still needed to be walked, Carter needed attention and Walker just wanted to be loved on so that stuff couldn't be put aside.
In life, parents are superheroes. It'd be great if we could just bow out and say we weren't going to parent today. Nope, don't feel it. Nick's parents had just gone out of town and I was wishing we could call them up for help... but, how do you do that when you are contagious? You just can't even if they are in town. No matter how bad we feel, we're going to reach out and hold our kids and make them lunch and let them dance for us. I'm not even going to touch a whole other thing to praise the single parents. My gosh, I was just so happy that Nick and I could switch off napping. It seemed simple, but I was worn out from still being weak from being sick and staying up till 4 AM taking care of Walker so that nap was everything.
Age doesn't stop this either. First thing, I heard Nick talking to his parents on the phone about the crazy night. I called Dad pretty early to tell them about it, too. Oh, we know we have many nights like this in the future. We aren't naive, but we hadn't yet had a toddler and infant navigating that crazy ship just yet. So when we're sick as parents we just trudge through the day trying to make it. It might mean a lot more of this screen time society thinks is killing my child's brain, yet helping me live through a few hours when I can't breathe or it might mean a pretty boring day just playing with toys while Mom curls in a ball on the couch. It usually means a lot more snuggles whether we're sick or they're sick.
Sometimes I miss those days when I actually called in sick, curled up under my covers watching TV. I wasn't going to do anything all day, but recover. I wouldn't trade them for the insanity of my world today. I'll drag myself to the microwave with a fever to give my kid some nuggies when I can't stand long enough to cook. I'll sing in a horrible hoarse voice if he wants "Jesus Loves Me." And, most of all, when tables are turned, I'll dive into puke sheets gathering them up, go through heaps of gross Kleenex cleaning his nose and smile when he throws up in my hair.
This was the day I got sick. Walker decided he wanted to be a cowboy. He sure did make me laugh all day. He even tried to nap with that hat.
This kid makes me melt. He just fell asleep in a cloud of blankets. Carter is chill.
Calm in the storm. Carter was so cuddly and happy as his brother and dad felt so bad Saturday.
Back to life. Walker was ready to rock and roll after feeling bad all day.
I just like this picture. It's Superbowl Day. Carter is 24 weeks.
