The boys made a miraculous recovery. Ben’s fever has been gone since suppertime last night, and Nicholas’ drippy-nose is down to a very small leak. I kept Ben home from school this morning, given his fever yesterday evening, but both boys are back to their healthy, energetic selves. In fact, they seem to be making up for the lull of yesterday with extra energy today. That would be all fine and good, except…guess who’s under the weather now? Yep, you guessed it. Me. Great. Don’t those germs realize that mommies aren’t allowed to get sick?
The boys yesterday.
I went to bed last night achy, congested and, dare I say, more than a little grumpy. I woke up the same way. Now, even though I feel as though an elephant is sitting on my sinuses and Rudolph has nothing on my red nose, I’m well-aware that things can always be worse. We’re talking a stuffy nose here, not (gasp!) the dreaded stomach flu, or worse, a life-threatening illness. It’s all about perspective. And a little perspective helps a lot to get through the day.
Still, there is a day to get through, when I would much rather be in bed sleeping. So, what to do? I turned to my Facebook Mommy Network for advice. Here’s what the lovely mommies said:
From Katee: All about movie time and they get to play by themselves time! Lay on the couch and let them take care of you a little bit. Doctor time! Maybe they can bring you tissue, or water, or maybe tuck in your blanket. They can be your doctor, and then give you needed quiet time as they help you get better!
From Kim: I agree with the movies! If you are laying on the couch give scissors, glue sticks and construction paper or even better, toy catalogs, and let them go to town creating collages or Christmas lists. But the most important is when you feel a cold might be coming on have a glass (or 2) of red wine, helps kick it to the curb before it starts! (That was my mistake, I didn't drink the wine!!)
And several more mommies loved Ali’s idea. Turn movie time into something educational. I say that seriously decreases the mommy-guilt.
When all else fails, you’ve got to laugh. Michelle shared this from Crappy Pictures, one of her favorite blogs. It is definitely going to become one of my favorites too. Take a look, and have a laugh.
As I said, it’s all about perspective.
Here’s what I did to get through the day:
I took a whopping dose of Advil Cold and Sinus (well, the generic brand because it’s the same darn thing, and why not save a little money?). Then, I put the boys to the task of getting themselves dressed while I took an extra long, extra hot shower (which helped a whole lot with the congestion). I excepted to find two little boys running around the upstairs with underwear on their heads when I emerged from the steamy bathroom. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. I found two dressed little boys, wearing matching shirts, playing together in Benjamin’s room. I stopped for a second to pinch myself, wondering if I had somehow managed to pass-out in the shower. Not so. They were playing together, so you know what I did? I ignored them. Yep, I left them alone. Now, between all the T.V. watching that went on yesterday (all day long), and ignoring my children today, I will not be winning any Mother of the Year awards this week. But, ignore them I did. I got dressed, dried my hair to feel a little more human, then sat on my bum with a cup of tea waiting for the cold meds to kick-in. And the boys played together. They were noisy and made an unimaginable mess of the clean house that I had disinfected just yesterday, but they left me alone. Alone. That’s worth the mess.
Now, I don’t have babies. I’m not changing diapers anymore or nursing or really even baby-proofing. The boys are 5 and 3 1/2, and even though they aren’t usually very good at it (particularly when I am on the phone), they are capable of playing on their own. Miraculously, this morning was one of those times that they chose to show me that they could. I said prayers of thanks, made myself scarce, and enjoyed my cup of tea.
By the time the boys were getting on each others’ nerves, and were starting to look for me, the cold meds had kicked in, and I was ready to get out of the house for a bit. We went to Target to get rice cakes for Ben’s snack day at school (more on why Ben wanted to bring in rice cakes later). We didn’t find any, but I let the boys choose Halloween crafts to keep them busy later in the day. We came home, had lunch, and went outside to play on the playhouse. Or at least the boys played while I sat in the sun and watched. It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day and I thought the fresh would do us all some good. Then, the boys went upstairs for a little quiet time, after which we worked on our Halloween crafts until Pierre got home. Whew. On my part, there was a whole lot of sitting involved. And more than a whole lot of tea. Caffeine trumps a cold.
Halloween craft time.
All I have to say is, thank goodness for cold meds, and that it wasn’t the stomach flu. Saying that might be tempting fate. Let’s hope not.
Any more advice on surviving mommy sick days? Share!!
Again, stay healthy.
xo Naomi
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