March Madness

The cloud of illness has yet to lift itself from over my house. This month has been so crappy ~ it seems we have moved from one illness to another. I was able to evade the stomach flu but I have gotten caught by the cold and chills, cough and sneeze bug. And it sucks.

Not only do I feel crappy, but because of the pregnancy I can't take anything to feel less crappy. I can take Tylenol, which is alright but there is no option to make myself drowsy with meds so I can sleep at least. The fact that sleep evades me is the worst part of the whole deal. I found myself thinking delusional thoughts yesterday...may be it was the fever but when I caught myself wondering, "What is the difference between a beret and tam-o-shanter? Is it the pom-pom?", I started questioning my sanity.

The thing about being sick in my home is that it highlights the difference between men and women. Yesterday was Sunday -- it's always a busy morning in our home trying to get everyone up, looking nice, fed and out the door for church. Usually, I'm up first, showered and getting breakfast for the gang. Then it's a strict schedule of eating, showering, doing the kids hair, ironing any wrinkly "church clothes", doing the dishes and getting out the door.

But not yesterday. When Daddy is in charge (cause mom can't get out of bed), Sunday mornings are a whole different thing. So here's a Dad version of a Sunday morning...
-Get out of bed
-Play a little game of UNO
-Play another little game of Scrabble
-Tell everyone to get dressed (no ironing involved whatsoever)
-Eat something for breakfast
-Get out the back massager and everyone gets a turn getting and giving a massage
-Fill the sink with hot soapy water
-Wrestle
-Brush teeth

And the list goes on. It's a much more fun way to start the day, but as I was lying in bed, listening to all of this, it was driving me CRAZY!! But because my voice was croaky, no one heard me mumbling to myself. And really, what difference did it make? They all got to church on time and actually looked pretty decent when heading out the door.

The other part of being sick is that mom's should just not be sick at all. We should be immune to every illness on the planet. After the gang got home from church, Nate brought me lunch in bed and left me to nap for the afternoon.

I was just dozing off when I heard a banging at my bedroom window. And there, peeking in was a happy little face smiling and waving at me. One of my kids just wanting to make sure I was okay. Only moments later, another of my children comes barging in my room wanting help putting his coat on. By the time I knew it, I'd been in bed for a couple of hours without a wink of sleep. Kindly, Nate decided to take the kids out for the afternoon to leave me in peace...all kids but one. Thinking I had peace at last, I was ready for a snooze...and then one of my delightful children comes in with this important bit of information:
"Hey Mom, did you know the population of Toronto is 2.54 million people?"
It was then that I got a little testy. My response: "No, NO, NO!!! I don't want to chat. I want sleep, SLEEP! I want you to go to another room and watch a movie (a big treat at our house) and let me rest because I'm sick!"
The door to my room quietly closed and I didn't hear a peep from anyone until about 7:30 pm.

I think they got my point. And sleep did come, eventually...despite my dilemma over berets and tam-o-shanters.