Giving Illness Free Reign

Our family must be getting lazy. I feel like we keep answering the door when illness knocks, and just keep inviting it on it! Caitlin woke up yesterday around 5:30 and promptly threw up on me.
She hasn't felt good for about a week. She'd woken up during the night, whining, but the throwing up was a first. The girl was just burning up and whimpering. She spent most of yesterday whining and whimpering, not sleeping much, and generally wanting to be held. By necessity, I did several loads of laundry, and it's all in stages between washing and being put away. Our big outing of the day was to go over to the new house to give the keys to the odor removal service. I know my little girl needs to stay home, but our new house, which we are moving into a week from Friday, also needs to not smell like smoke! Caitlin did manage to eat a little last night (after throwing up her crackers all over me! Thus necessitating another load of laundry!), and was happy in her bath. Since she didn't sleep much during the afternoon, she was out like a light at bed time. I checked on her a couple of times before I went to bed, and she hadn't moved. Guess she was tired.

Today is Brandon's turn. I'm trying to avoid more vomiting, so there is no talk from me on finishing food. So far, nothing has happened with him. Just general complaining about his tummy hurting and lots of laying around. Today may very well be a day of videos! I usually don't allow more than an hour to an hour and a half of TV a day. But when the kids are sick, what do you do? Makes me wonder how families without TV cope with illness! TV is such a great pacifier, and stops the whining. Yesterday we watched two hours (we watched Cars. Half in the morning, and half in the afternoon). Caitlin wanted to be held during most of the video! I desperately wanted to get out of the house, but I can't subject the rest of the world to my sick kids. I wish more parents felt that way.

Today we don't have anywhere to go. There is no preschool this week due to a teacher's conference, and the odor removal service already has a key to our new house. Brian's away on business, so at least I don't need to worry about dinner or his schedule. Makes things a little easier when I can just focus on the kids. Also makes me a little more crazy when I just focus on the kids. I can try and pack, but that would require me to leave the room. I've come to the conclusion that my leaving the room is an abomination, because the children are compelled to follow me around. Downstairs, all around, where ever I go, whining and messing things up during their entire journey. I'm really looking forward to living in a normal house. One where things fit in rooms and aren't randomly scattered around the house. Our downstairs "family room" is just a disaster. Besides having a large, dangerous fireplace against the wall, which makes me worry that the kids will hit their heads on the hearth, all our office stuff is hanging out, screaming "touch me, eat me, mess me up!" The kids love to follow me downstairs, since that's where my room, bathroom, and laundry are located. So exciting! I cringe whenever I hear that familiar sound of little feet on the stairs. There's also the rough stone tile on the floor, which no amount of rugs can make safe. The last thing I need right now is a trip to Urgent Care because a sick child took a tumble down the stairs and hurt his or her head.

For now I guess we'll just watch some videos. Maybe I'll get some ironing in during nap times. Who can pass up an opportunity to watch "Dr Phil" or "Oprah" while doing some ironing? Wow. I can hardly believe my luck. Since I don't really need to watch "Dr Phil" or "Oprah" (they're "listening" shows that only require some of my attention), that would be good time to pack, too. And I rarely complain about my life when watching "Dr Phil", since I am so completely normal and sane in comparison to most of the featured guests!