Do you know what's worse than 4 kids with strep throat? Could anything actually be worse than 4 kids with strep throat, at the same time? I'm here to tell you that yes. There is something worse. That something is one husband with a cold.
When my kids are sick, at least the older ones, I banish them to their bedrooms. I usually deliver the things that sick people need and they respond by laying in their beds, watching movies, sleeping, or reading. When my kids are sick they are angels. I think I might be the only mother out there who looks around for high fives when one of them gets a fever. They listen to me when they are sick! Perhaps frightened by the fact that they aren't up to primo fighting mode, they are desperate to get better.
So, when my 4 kids were sick with Strep Throat, and an ear infection to boot, I was gliding around the house like Florence Nightengale in the quietest most peaceful hospital ever. The rooms were clean, because children weren't stampeding and destroying, no downstairs TV blaring Dora, no screams for snacks, no cries of pain due to sibling smack downs.
I think of it like bliss, in a really sick twisted way.
Then their dad came home. "Babe, I don't feel good." At that "I don't feel good" I knew that my quiet and peaceful world as I knew it had stopped revolving. When he's sick I'm expected to drop everything and run to his side, which I did when we were first married but I'm so over that now.
I try ignoring him, maybe he won't think I heard him. He goes and sits in his recliner in our bedroom and says, "I don't feel good, I think I need a blanket." I go help him with his work boots and cover him with a blanket. "I'm going to need some milk" he says in a sad little voice, which really makes me just want to kill him. I get him his milk. Then he needs soda, but it can't be cold because that will make him shiver, so I have to get warm soda. This means that I have to run to the store. I get back from the store and he tells me that he needs chocolate, of course I don't have chocolate so I have to run back to the store. Meanwhile the kids are all laying peacefully in their beds, content with blankets and glasses of water.
"I think I have a fever, can you take my temperature." "I'm hungry, do you have anything that won't make me sick." "Can you be quieter while making my soup, the noise hurts my ears." "Is there anyway you can sleep in the other room, I need space to stretch because my skin hurts." "I'm not good babe, things aren't good."
When I'm sick I'm lucky to get a sympathetic look, my husband simply says, "I don't have that nurture gene. Sorry, Babe."
So it is with much chagrin that the winter months roll into my part of the country. I know that this is going to bring sickness to my house...which I kind of look at like the Good , the Bad, and the Ugly. The good meaning I get some quiet time, the bad meaning that my kids are sick and although it means things run smoother, I feel badly for them, and the Ugly being the expression that I get after waiting on my 45 year old baby hand and foot.
What's worse than 4 kids with strep throat? One 45 year old man with a cold.
When my kids are sick, at least the older ones, I banish them to their bedrooms. I usually deliver the things that sick people need and they respond by laying in their beds, watching movies, sleeping, or reading. When my kids are sick they are angels. I think I might be the only mother out there who looks around for high fives when one of them gets a fever. They listen to me when they are sick! Perhaps frightened by the fact that they aren't up to primo fighting mode, they are desperate to get better.
So, when my 4 kids were sick with Strep Throat, and an ear infection to boot, I was gliding around the house like Florence Nightengale in the quietest most peaceful hospital ever. The rooms were clean, because children weren't stampeding and destroying, no downstairs TV blaring Dora, no screams for snacks, no cries of pain due to sibling smack downs.
I think of it like bliss, in a really sick twisted way.
Then their dad came home. "Babe, I don't feel good." At that "I don't feel good" I knew that my quiet and peaceful world as I knew it had stopped revolving. When he's sick I'm expected to drop everything and run to his side, which I did when we were first married but I'm so over that now.
I try ignoring him, maybe he won't think I heard him. He goes and sits in his recliner in our bedroom and says, "I don't feel good, I think I need a blanket." I go help him with his work boots and cover him with a blanket. "I'm going to need some milk" he says in a sad little voice, which really makes me just want to kill him. I get him his milk. Then he needs soda, but it can't be cold because that will make him shiver, so I have to get warm soda. This means that I have to run to the store. I get back from the store and he tells me that he needs chocolate, of course I don't have chocolate so I have to run back to the store. Meanwhile the kids are all laying peacefully in their beds, content with blankets and glasses of water.
"I think I have a fever, can you take my temperature." "I'm hungry, do you have anything that won't make me sick." "Can you be quieter while making my soup, the noise hurts my ears." "Is there anyway you can sleep in the other room, I need space to stretch because my skin hurts." "I'm not good babe, things aren't good."
When I'm sick I'm lucky to get a sympathetic look, my husband simply says, "I don't have that nurture gene. Sorry, Babe."
So it is with much chagrin that the winter months roll into my part of the country. I know that this is going to bring sickness to my house...which I kind of look at like the Good , the Bad, and the Ugly. The good meaning I get some quiet time, the bad meaning that my kids are sick and although it means things run smoother, I feel badly for them, and the Ugly being the expression that I get after waiting on my 45 year old baby hand and foot.
What's worse than 4 kids with strep throat? One 45 year old man with a cold.
Seriously - Terry and Chris are two peas in a pod!
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