When Mom Is Sick

This weekend has been hard. This Mom was sick! It all started on Friday when my incredible husband took me to a fabric store. I know, I know. He IS the perfect man. Want to know more? He bought me "I Love Lucy" fabric. Stand back ladies, he's mine.

As we were coming home, because living in the country means an hour drive anywhere you want to go, my throat and ear started to hurt. I don't mean they started to ache a bit. It was full on pain. Sweet guy that he is, he stopped to get me a drink at Sonic to help alleviate the ouchies with something cold. It didn't work.

I went home, smiled at my new additions to my fabric stash, and laid down. I felt like poop. Actually, poop would have been an improvement. I laid around all evening and convinced my family that sandwiches and such was a wonderful supper -- mainly because it's all I was going to fix. I went to wash up after supper and found out the water was turned off. I called the water department -- though I am not sure why since they are only open 9 hours/week (not a joke, serious) and their last time to work is 12pm on Wednesday. Oh, also, there is no answering service, not even an old fashioned machine. However, I guess the pain was too much and I gave it a whirl only to find them in. They told me that they were getting calls from all over town and they weren't sure what was wrong. They also couldn't get in touch with the guy that fixed it. I admit to panicking a bit.

Thankfully we keep a 5 gallon jug of water for our water dispenser just in case. We needed it because I just given the kids a tube feed and had dirty supplies. Did I mention I felt horrible?

Hubby took over all the kid care and I went to bed.

And then he went to bed because ... he worked the next day. This means on Saturday and Sunday I would have the kids by myself while I was sick.

What's a Mom to do when sleeping all day can't happen? I went BASIC.

• We all stayed in pajamas all day long. I knew I didn't want to change, and I really didn't want to help the boys find underwear or whatever piece of clothing they suddenly couldn't find. 
• We ate simply. Sandwiches, cereal, and other quick foods were the order of the day. Yes, I still had to tube feed. So, I used baby food pouches that I could just draw up and push. 
• I made camp in the living room. I gave the boys the floor in the morning as I laid on the sofa. By mid-afternoon I stretched out in the floor and gave them a DVD and the couch. If I could see them all was good. This made it so much easier. 
• I let go of some of my rules. Juice twice a day never happens. But, my kids can pour their own juice so have at it. When Mom is sick, rules have to take a back seat. 
• I allowed every toy and book imaginable to surround me as I rested. Toys were everywhere. I figured I could demand their clean up after I didn't feel like I was hit by a Mack truck. 
• Take out was also on order. I called my husband and asked him to pick up something for us. I texted him what we wanted and waited right where I was under the covers on the floor until he got there. 
• I let hubby take control. Shocker, I know. Us women have a hard time with that one. But he's smart, has a job that requires mental and physical agility on a daily basis, and he has a very high IQ. He can handle things like taking trash to the kitchen from dinner, getting the kids in pajamas, helping with tooth brushing, etc. He did great. I didn't have to move. 

I think all of these boil down to simplify, simplify, simplify and ask for help. We just can't do it all. And, the more rest we get, the quicker we will heal. Ladies, it's OK to slow down and allow others to do things for us when we are sick. It also blesses them as they are able to serve us in our hard time. Allow that blessing to come to your family. 

Crazy Kind of Week

We visited my Aunt and Uncle last weekend. It was wonderful. My cousin brought her family over a few times. My kids love to play with their little cousins. It's a great time for all. Exhausting, but great.

On our way home this happened ...

Wondering what that is? That's looking out our front SUV window at the sheets of rain falling. No fog, no foggy windows, that's rain. You can scarcely see another dark vehicle and white 18-wheeler in front of us. Good times.

We started to read this book ...

I have a great review of some supplemental items for this book coming up soon. Be on the look out for it. My kids are enjoying the book a lot. They haven't seen the movie, so they have no expectations of what it should be, which I love.

I started this book last weekend ...

It's such a good book. It's like someone followed us around the last few years and then wrote about our younger son's life. I highly recommend it. I have a few others I am going to start soon.

We have accomplished very little since getting back from our little trip. We were wiped Tuesday since we got home that day so late. Our younger son woke up complaining of a "spicy neck" which is usually a sign of his reflux acting up. I tried helping him and got him settled back into bed. He woke up the next morning with a "little bit of owie in my throat". I treated that hoping for it to just be a little allergy going on with him. Last night it was big owies and nothing was helping. I looked in his throat and found a suspicious spot. So, off to the doctor we went this morning. He feels like he's been hit with a Mac truck (nasty nose, sore throat, no appetite, tired). He gave us an antibiotic and I actually agreed with him on this one. I am not one to jump on a pill every single time my kids are sick, but he's feeling really nasty and I think he needed it.

That means the fun times came of trying to find meds that he could take. Just take a look at prescription meds the next time you are in the store. They are so pretty with their pink, yellow, purple, and rainbow assortment of colors. Yeah, those colors are dyes, even in the pill form. Most don't come dye free. Add in gluten, soy, and dairy (this is a place that his apple issue doesn't pop up most of the time), and it's a gamble on finding a medication for him. We found one that was safe except for the dyes. We discovered that they had a capsule form of that med that could be opened. Yes, it had dyes, but only in the capsule part, not the actual medication. So, we now open them up, put them in a bite of cashew milk ice cream (tangent - try cashew milk ice cream, especially snickerdoodle flavor - YUM), and he's good to go.

It also means we have to amp up his probiotics. Gotta keep that tummy healthy.

And that's been our week. Fun but crazy.