can I please call in sick???

***Reader Beware***If you don't want to read all about the current aliments in our house right now, including graphic words like throw-up, phlegm, and diarrhea, feel free to skip this post - I'm feeling tired, whiny, and crabby, and I'm sure that will come shining through. SO if you don't want to hear it - come back in a few days and hopefully we will all be well and happy again.



The biggest downside to being a mom (at least from my point of view right at this moment) Is that you can't call in sick.
Katrina is still coughing, but seems to be getting a little better - or at least she now has enough energy to want to disagree continually with Bryan and make him cry. (Usually she is very kind and sweet, so I have to assume she still doesn't feel up to par.)
Bryan doesn't seem to be getting better at all, he's still whiny, fussy, tired, and all those fun sick kid things.
All three older kids have diarrhea. I'm starting to worry a little about that. Aaron has had it for a week now.
Caleb worries me the most because he's so young. He's picked up this cough of Trina's and the poor kid can't eat well, periodically throws up big phlegm balls, and just coughs and coughs and coughs. You can tell that it hurts to cough. I've been toying with the idea of taking him into the Dr, but I'm pretty certain that it's viral and at this point there is nothing they can/would/should do.
Last night I started feeling yucky. I was sleeping (or at least trying to sleep) in the recliner upstairs so that Caleb could be by the humidifier in Katrina's room. About midnight I ended up in the bathroom throwing up. (I'm pretty sure it was just something I ate, but still...) I tried lying on the floor, and then on Katrina's bed, just trying to get comfortable. I was freezing cold (even with the space heater in the room), and Katrina keep kicking off all the blankets because she was hot. She wasn't running a fever, I think I was just chilled. Suffice it to say that I didn't get much sleep last night. I woke up this morning feeling exhausted and with a pounding headache and a kink in my neck. If this mothering thing were a day job, I would definitely have called in sick. As it is, I turned on a movie to act an electronic babysitter and I tried to go back to sleep. I drifted in and out of sleep for an hour. (I would have slept soundly except that Katrina kept coming in wanting to talk to me, or ask me for help or who knows what else.) I finally gave up on the nap idea and got up to find that Bryan and spread DVD's all over the tv room floor. I hope that not too many of them are permanently damaged. That mess has now been cleaned up and I'm ready to go back to bed!

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE - The sun is shining outside, it's Friday so Tim will be home to help tomorrow, and Caleb is lying here on my lap as I type, and he is giving me the biggest, sweetest smiles and cooing at me. All is right with the world in this moment when my baby smiles at me and loves me. In fact, right now I almost feel like deleting this whole post. I could just sit here and be happy all day smiling and talking to this little guy.

Well, happy moment is over, Caleb just loaded his britches and is crying again. Gotta get back to work - thanks for letting me vent!