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The Plague Continues

I wouldn't wish this on anyone! Why do we say things like that anyway?

"I wouldn't wish this on anyone?"

I mean, seriously, does that mean we even thought about it? That's about where my brain is. the Smart One says I have fuzzy brain. I just know I'm tired of being sick, or taking care of the sick, or even thinking sick. Except really, I can't think anymore, because I have fuzzy brain and it really HURTS to think, or cough, or sneeze. I have to hold my head just to sneeze or cough so that my brain does not explode of our my ears!

This plague has been in my house for almost two weeks now! Just when I think one is getting better, another gets it. I tried really hard to ignore it today. I got up. I took a shower. (The Drama Queen said I smelled when she went in for a cuddle. How rude!) I put on jeans and a t-shirt; a big one. I made quesadillas for the Smart One. I washed sheets and pillow cases. I took a nap in the recliner…something I never do!

I played a game of checkers with the Smart One while I lay on the recliner. He brought the blanket box over to the recliner so I could lay back and still play a game. Yeah, he beat me. Twice.

I helped B-Boo study for a test.

I'm back in a bed with clean sheets, blankets, and pillow cases.

I have no idea what I set out to write about this time. I hope it made sense. I have fuzzy brain.

Laughable Moment #3

For those of you who read my week in a nutshell blog, you'll understand this. For those who haven't, let me sum it up for you.

Exactly one week ago the Smart One was seriously ill. So ill, in fact, that I was ordered by his doctor to bring his fever down by placing him in tepid water for 20 minutes and repeating every hour until we could get his extremely high fever down. This was not only torturous for my son, but also for his mother. He would scream that he was freezing, was going to die, and more. When he was finally let out, he was shaking and shivering and not allowed under a blanket to warm himself. It was pure torture for us both.

Fast forward to today:

I now have his plague. I have the fever and the chills, although not nearly as high as his. To be honest, I feel lousy with a mere 101 temperature, I can only imagine how he felt at 104.6! At any rate, as I was shaking and shivering in misery, he decided to become my nurse. He's good that way. He was checking on me and wanted to know if my fever had come down. No, it hadn't. His reply?

"A freezing bath will bring it down for you!"

I seriously love that boy!

My week in a nutshell

Or not. Feeling like a nut by the end of it though. Whoo!

Hubby and I spend last weekend in Arizona with the youth at a Dare2Share conference. I was exhausted by late Sunday night and wanted nothing more than to just have a relaxing week catching up. Apparently the higher's that be had other plans for my week!

Monday: The Smart One wasn't feeling well. I knew this since mother-in-law had called on Sunday to let us know he wasn't feeling himself. By Monday it was starting to hit. I spent most of the day trying to catch up on laundry and comfort him as much as possible. He doesn't do illness well, so getting him comfortable is no small feat! No karate for him tonight!

Tuesday: After being up some through the night, I was pretty tired by Tuesday. The Smart One was really sick by now and his fever just kept going up no matter what I did. I was alternating Tylenol and Motrin and it still didn't help. by 11:30 am, he was crying that he was hurting so I figured I'd better call the doctor. By the time we got to the doctor, his fever was 104.6 and rising. Doc said his throat was raw and on fire and took a culture for strep. He's been our doctor forever and is normally a pretty laid back doctor, but he firmly told me to go home and start baths for the Smart One. 20 minutes in tepid water, then out for an hour and repeat. He said if he got worse or the fever didn't go down he'd have to admit him to the hospital. When we got home, I drew up a bath for him to get in. We pulled the shower curtain shut so I could stay in there with him because he didn't want to be left alone. For the next 20 minutes, I had to listen to him scream that he was freezing, he felt like he was going to die and every minute he'd ask me how many more minutes.

This has to be one of the worst moments as a mom. There is nothing that makes a mom feel worse than having to torture her child on purpose!

This went on for hours, but we finally got the fever down to 102 by 8:30 that night. It was indeed the toughest day of the week! We obviously ended up missing swim lessons!

Wednesday: Wednesday was just more of the same. Fever hung around the 101-102 range all day. He was just miserable and hasn't been out of bed the whole week except to go to the doctor on Tuesday. I was starting to get a little stir crazy after being stuck in the house for three days, but motherhood called first! No Karate again tonight. Hubby was good enough to go to the store for me to purchase things I need for Thursdays' Steven's Soup.

Thursday: Can you believe the man was still running a fever, and now the Drama Queen was sick, too! This meant I wasn't going to be able to deliver the soup as planned. In addition, I was out of children's Tylenol and Motrin. I called a friend down the street who brought me enough to get me through the morning. Then I called my friend and asked her to come pick up the soup instead of me delivering it. That was totally a God thing, because she ended up bringing me some magazines, 7-Up, more meds…and we got to talk about the new bible study that we're starting next week and she's going to join us. I was thrilled! The rest of the day was spent with the kids on the couch dozing off and on while I dusted, vacuumed and stayed on top of laundry. Obviously, swim lessons were canceled again.

Friday: The Drama Queen seemed to be a little better. She was running around all over the place. I could not settle her down for anything even though she had the cough and a slight fever. The Smart One was still not well enough to get off the couch and his cough was much worse. Doc had called and said it was NOT strep and that it just needed to run it's course. I managed to get the upstairs vacuumed, the kitchen and dining room swept and mopped, as well as clean the bathrooms. I guess being stuck at home does have some advantages. Hubby had to go out and get some more cough syrup. Again, no karate tonight.

Saturday: Drama Queen woke up SICK! 102 fever and all the drama she could bring up with it! In addition, the Smart One was still running a low grade temp! I pretty much resigned to myself that I was never leaving the house again. Hubby had soccer stuff and church stuff to do, so that meant I was stuck at home again. I did get the house windexed in between shuffling back and forth with the kids. Hubby finally got home around 3:30 and I was out of there!

I got to have a short visit with a friend, get the oil changed in the van and then share an appetizer with my oldest son while I waited for B-Boo to finish bowling with her friends. By the time we were done, I was so exhausted, I couldn't wait to get home to my bed! OF course, the whole time I was gone, my phone kept ringing…the two little ones were begging me to come home.

And now we're up to speed. It's Sunday and I think they're on the road to recovery. I stayed home with them this morning while the older ones went to church. The Smart One slept until noon! We managed to make a great lunch and they're actually up now.

I'm headed off to church for children's choir (without my two) and youth….but before I go, I need to stop at CVS. Apparently the Talented One, 15, is now coming down with it. What's a mom to do?!

Funny Things Kids Say

When told that Mom was done driving everyone around, the drama queen, 8 years old said,

"So mom, if I want to go anywhere tomorrow, I have to walk or figure it out, right?"

We were watching a movie the other night that had Lindsey Lohan in it. When this same child saw her, she remarked,

"They need to feed her in real life. She's too skinny!"


One day when the Talented One was about 4 years old we were at my oldest son's baseball game. We were all sitting on the bleachers, which were full that day. Grandpa was sitting on the lower rung and our son was sitting on one higher up. He stood up and proclaimed to the whole world that day,

"Grandpa! Did you know you have a hole on your head?!"

Poor Grandpa was so embarrassed! Now the whole world knew he had a bald spot!

Another time this same son was looking at his grandmother's hand and asked her,
"Grandma, how come you have all those cracks in your hand?"
Poor Grandma had to explain that they were wrinkles.

And then there's our youngest son. When he was about eight years old, he started growing his hair out longer. Before then, he'd always worn it very short. A friend (bald) remarked to him one day,
"Boy, you need a haircut!"
To which he quickly replied,
"Well, at least I have hair."
It was definitely a spewing moment!

But the one that takes the cake for the week had us in stitches tonight. Seriously, I had tears pouring down my cheeks it was so funny! Our two youngest have been having a week of not being very nice to each other. After the final straw tonight, hubby marched them up to our room for a good shaking the fear into them! They are both standing there with tears streaming down their faces as hubby explains to them the need to be kind and loving towards each other. I add in the "treat others as you want to be treated" part, etc, etc.

And then it happened. The Drama Queen just couldn't take it anymore and wails out loudly and with as much drama as she can muster,

"I try to be nice! I'm trying really hard! I can't help it if God made me this way!"

Ok, she was so earnest….and we tried to take her serious, honest we did. But when we looked at The Smart One's face and saw him trying really hard not to laugh as tears were streaming down his face, we just lost it. I mean, I tried biting my lip. I tried turning my face. I did, honest. But….it just bubbled out! We were downright laughing out loud, the three of us, as my poor Drama Queen just stood there wailing. Which made us feel even worse….and continued the drama….until she at least smiled through her tears.

After things were all settled, hubby and I got a moment to ourselves…and just started giggling again. We couldn't help it! The mental picture will be with us for years to come!



It Runs in the Family

So this morning I get up to clean the bird cage and vacuum up the dining and kitchen area. I pull out the vacuum cleaner to find it standing lopsided and unusable! Oy! What is one to do! I then remembered the drama queen telling me that the vacuum cleaner hit her on the head on Friday night when she was vacuuming the stairs, but all seemed OK and she had stated she'd put it away, so I thought all was well….I was wrong!

The Smart One and I spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong with it. We thought we were close, but taking it apart was something I wasn't sure we could accomplish, so we put it back into the closet to wait for dad to come home and fix. Meantime, the bird cage still needed some cleaning, so B-Boo had grabbed a broom and was starting on the floor. We got the bottom of the cage clean and refilled with clean bedding and headed to put the cage back together. Now, the man and I have done this several times so should have a routine, right? Wrong! He promptly picked it up and the drawer went sliding down and bedding poured out over B-Boo's pile of mess. Oy! So, she started cleaning the bigger mess up while we refilled the bottom of the cage and tried again!

We've kind of had one of those weeks, you know? Hot chocolate was spilled earlier all over the fridge, B-Boo and the kitchen floor…and the mop broke. Great!

Laundry soap lands on the floor unnoticed and spills all under the washing machine…great. Dirty laundry, no laundry soap…and a big mess on the floor. Great!

Vacuum cleaner breaks and stuff gets spilled all over the floor. Great!

Don't you just love it when that happens? At any rate, Dad came home and we spent a good 30 minutes taking the Dyson apart and fixing it and putting it back together correctly. I have to say, that's one thing I love about my Dyson…you can take it apart and put it back together without having to call a specialist to take care of it for you!

We were finally done with the chores and headed out to run some errands. Because it is President's Day, we thought the Smart One had no karate tonight. We were wrong. As we rushed back home to get him ready, Dad prepared him an egg sandwich. Turns out the bread had molded. (He follows a gluten free diet, so his fresh bread molds more easily than store bought bread.) Anywho…when Dad turned to take the bread off it went flying onto the floor. He didn't look thrilled, but I had to laugh and explain to him that we'd been dumping things on the floor all day!

Like I said, it runs in the family!