Sick day

Well, I got my wish to spend lots of time at home today, but not in the way I was hoping.  I guess that's the thing about wishes.  And the thing about kids is that when your situation is already tough, things often become compounded by the kid's lack of reasoning until everything's just punishingly tough.

For example:

When you are a sick child, you need sleep to get better.  And when you are the parent of a sick child you need rest because you need to be extra-patient and extra-available to take care of your sick kid the next day.  But kids (at least MY kids) sleep significantly less when they are sick, ensuring that you are adding exhaustion to the equation which makes it almost impossible to balance.  And after being germed-on all night and day for several days, it's extremely likely that YOU will get sick as they get better, and you will be on a sleep deficit to start out with, and then you won't be allowed to rest when you're sick either because you'll have to keep up with healthy kids whose sleep schedules are all out-of-whack.

Kids immune systems are not as strong as adults, so if they are exposed to a virus in passing they are more likely to get it.  However they don't understand how germs are spread (or if they do, they don't yet remember to be careful) so they pick things up off the ground and put them in their mouths, lick shopping carts, and choose to sit down to eat right next to that kid who is hacking and sneezing everywhere, thus ensuring they will get sick as often as possible.  Which I guess is what leads to those aforementioned stronger adult immune systems, but I choose to ignore this fact because it allows me to whine about the unfairness of it all more effectively.

Kids are growing, and therefore nutrition and hydration are even more important for kids than they are for adults (not that they're ever NOT important).  Kids also get dehydrated more quickly than adults.  But kids are picky.  Want to know what happens when you explain to a 2 year old that they can't have any solid food because every time they do they throw up so would they PLEASE just take a sip of water or juice or the chicken broth made especially for them or Zevia or SOMETHING?  They think you're mean, and they cry, that's what happens.  Through crying they lose even more liquid, becoming even more dehydrated.

Kids can't be taken to the gym daycare when they're sick, so stay-at-home-moms can't workout when their kids are sick.  Which is often.  They will console themselves by thinking that they are getting a good workout carrying around 30 pounds of moaning toddler who refuses to be put down or to let you stop moving AT ALL EVER, but then the moms' backs will get sore from all the repetitive motion thus ensuring that they'll have to take it easy even AFTER they are able to return to working out.

Kids' immune systems also somehow know when #1 Daddy will be out of town on a business trip or #2 Daddy will have an especially difficult week and have to return to work in the evenings, thus ensuring that any currently available parent will be completely worn down at all times.

So yeah, all of this is just an especially whiny way of saying that today sucked.  The toughest part of it all was seeing my poor little girl suffering though :-(  Despite all the snarky whining I DO realize that it is not her fault that she wasn't born with the ability to reason like an adult, that I signed on for this when I decided to have kids, that other moms of kids with REAL illnesses have it WAY worse than I do, and that I do not deserve a medal for simply surviving today.  But that's not to say it wasn't tough.

It was actually pretty good for my eating though.  It is not nearly as easy to do things one-handed when the "baby" in your other hand is actually a 2+ year old toddler, and that includes preparing food.  In between catching buckets of barf and pacing, ENDLESSLY pacing the floor I had:

Mixed cereal banana breakfast

with egg

 No morning snack!  I can't believe it.

A hastily thrown-together salad

While my mom was here to drop off Emily I sneaked in a little more protein and fiber

A couple sips of the delicious chicken/veggie broth I made for Charlotte that she totally spurned

At some point I pulled out the trusty old Ergo carrier again and was SO glad to have the pressure off my back! 

Around 4:30 I allowed her to have a bit of solid food again...and it stayed down this time!

The two bright spots in my day were when Charlotte was able to start eating again, and when I realized I had to seriously tighten the Ergo because the last time I used it I was 20 pounds heavier :-)

I celebrated with a cottage cheese and juice-sweetened jelly snack

 Before dinner Will took the girls outside for me so I could get in a quick workout.  It was 20 minutes, and it definitely wasn't Elizabeth's Bodypump class, but I was exceedingly grateful for it!  He even gave me time to take a shower later...love that man.  I guess that makes 3 bright spots today!  Not bad, now that I'm looking back on it and not in the middle of it.

Dinner was a sweet potato

plus leftover taco soup from the freezer (a convenient lifesaver today) and fixin's

 Now the girls are sorted into bed, Will is back at work, and I am settled in with my evening blogging companions.  Repeat footage again here because why take another picture when they look exactly the same tonight as they did last night?  I'm all about shortcuts and conserving energy tonight.

Yum

and yummier

I can't wait until Saturday, when Will and I are going to the Green Eggs and Kegs event at the Flying Dog Brewery :-)  That is, as long as everyone is healthy (knock on every piece of wood I can find).  I feel like Will and I have been high-fiving as we pass off the kids to each other on the way in/out the door for the past week now but not ever having much time to have a real conversation.  Green Eggs and Kegs may not be the BEST place for meaningful conversation, but it's still time to ourselves!

And many people have expressed disbelief that I plan to imbibe in spirited beverages before the hour of noon at this thing.  To them I say, hells yes I will!  To give you a peek at the reasoning behind that decision, here is a handy flow chart I put together to illustrate how I decide whether or not to have beer at any given time.

As you can see, the time of day never enters into consideration.  I have too many other things to take into account and all the stars align too rarely for me to worry about little details like morning vs. evening.

And yes I DO realize that I have had a beer every evening for the past 3 days, so maybe the hexagons should have more rightly said "Don't have SOME beers".  I still met all the requirements though before drinking each of my 3 tasty Bocks (technically Charlotte didn't have a fever when she went to bed last night, although she had one earlier in the day and later in the night).  But even though having 1 beer after the girls are in bed while carefully monitoring my sobriety so that I can safely drive someone to the hospital should something unfortunate occur is still a treat I appreciate, it isn't the same as just being able to enjoy several in a party atmosphere and not having to worry about being useful to anyone else for awhile afterward.

Plus I hated beer in college.  I have some catching up to do.