Now, I have kids and there are several things, especially lately, that happen & I just think to myself, "Wow. Didn't see that one comin'."
We've had a rough couple weeks in our home. A couple of weeks that has provided me with several of those moments and I thought it'd be fun to share.
First, last Sunday night, at about 3am I was awoken in a manner I'm unaccustomed to - I was awoken at the sound of someone gagging, and then the feeling of something wet all over my chest, neck, FACE. Yep. Brooklyn puking - on me, on my bed, on my pillow. Of course then I promptly went in the shower with her to wash us off and let her get the remaining curdled milk bits out of her system (you're welcome for that visual!). The commotion of it all woke Abby up. Who then became jealous & wanted to take a shower with mommy too, then was even more jealous when I took Brooklyn to sleep on the couch...As I lay on a pile of towels with a wretching infant listening to the yells, "I WANT MOMMY!!!!!!" from upstairs - along with the oh so consoling remarks from dad, "Shut up & go to sleep!" I thought - nope, this moment was definitely not part of my mommy fantasies.
Luckily the stomach bug seemed to only be a 1 day affair and was met with very little crankiness. Not so luckily, it was shared with all members of our family one-by-one. Myself included. Duh.
By that Saturday everyone was finally on the mend. Brandon had to go into work for a couple hours & I was happily playing with the girls in the playroom. Abby disappeared for a moment, but I hadn't noticed until I heard her yelling from the other room, "MOM! There's POOP!"
That's never something you want to hear. Ever.
I grabbed the baby & followed the noise until I found Abby in my bathroom, slipping & sliding in what I can only describe as the worst poop-smeared mess I've ever witnessed. Poor Abby. She'd tried to make it. Some actually did make it into the potty, but the rest was all over - from the floor, to the side of the toilet, to her clothes, shirt, HAIR...
Between stifled gags, I turned the shower on & took Abby's clothes off, told her to get in. That's when she planted herself firmly & refused to budge saying, "No. I want to watch you clean the poop first."
I mean seriously!? What kind of high & mighty person makes a giant poop mess and then demands you clean it under their supervision? Oh right...a 3 year old princess who is curious & has no idea that what she is asking is out of line.
So while I was doing my best to clean 10 square feet of poop smeared bathroom, Brooklyn was crawling into the shower with all of her clothes on. I finally got the bathroom cleaned to Abigail's liking, and she agreed to get into the shower. I took Brooklyn's half-soaked clothes off & just shut them both in the shower with the water running, a bottle of soap & two washcloths, to work it out amongst themselves.
You get the picture.
Wednesday, I planned to work from home in the morning, take Abby to the Dentist and then take her to see a movie. A surprise fun mother-daughter day.
As luck would have it, I woke up with a fever & body aches. Why not? We'd just gotten everyone's flu shots 2 days prior - might as well get the flu before they have a chance to kick in. I took a lot of medicine and took a long nap, made it through most of the day (dentist included) feeling like I would survive. Then, about 4pm it hit me. I called Brandon to tell him I thought I had a fever & could he pick Brooklyn up from daycare? Not that I blame him, he didn't understand & it's hard to sympathize when you don't feel sick yourself, but he told me to suck it up because he had a lot of work to do. So, I picked Brooklyn up. By the time I got home, my fever had reached 102.0 I called again & told him to get his butt home!
This was yet another moment - never imagined how difficult it would be to take care of two kids with a 102 degree fever by myself, nor did I imagine I would ever be required to do so. I grew up being well cared for any time I was sick. Now I found myself not only taking care of myself, but taking care of others while I was sick. No bueno.
I'm pretty sure a small part of me died over the next two days. Brandon helped out quite a bit, but I'm still Mommy & the girls still want me & nobody else but me. I managed to put Brooklyn to bed both nights & woke up Friday morning ecstatic to only feel run down, but with renewed hope that I would in fact live to see another day! Woohoo! Oh happy day! Oh wait, Abby now had the flu.
Saturday, as I was shaving my legs in the shower while holding Brooklyn in my lap at the same time, it dawned on me. How we all think we know what we want in life & how it will all play out, but the reality of it is never what we imagined. It's either so much better or oh so much worse. That's life, I suppose.
Today is Tuesday and we're all on the mend finally. And my house is pretty darn clean after disinfecting every part of it over the weekend, so today is a good day!
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