Returning on Monday from one of my favorite trips of the year, I was rejuvenated physically, mentally, and spiritually. Five days with the girls in sunny (well mostly) California left me feeling like I could take on the world! All the laughing worked wonders for my soul. With my return came the need for Steve to leave us and go to work without coming home for a few days.
Sam had been home sick on Monday and it was apparent he would need to stay home from school the next day. Sure enough he was very sick the next day requiring a trip to the doc’s for an antibiotic. As I arrived home Emeline was feeling sick and had a fever. No problem, I was still feeling very positive. By last night not only was Emeline and Sam sick, but I looked at Zachary and his cheeks were fiery red. Turns out Zachary spiked a high fever!
With three kids so close in age they are all competitive and constantly jockeying for position in the family. There were comments and arguments amongst them who was the sickest! Everyone wanted their temperature taken to see who was going to win that prize. I quickly found myself kick into nurse mode. Getting drinks, dispensing Motrin, changing TV channels, plumping pillows, giving hugs, praying for healing, etc. At one point Emeline thought she might throw up. She can have a difficult time targeting the bowl, so I told her I would pay her five dollars if she could just keep her throw up in the bowl.
When Zachary’s fever and chest pain (when he coughed) continued to worsen I called Steve and he came home. Eventually we got everyone to sleep. As Steve was getting ready to go back to work we realized there was a flood in the basement. Once that was cleaned up and after midnight Steve went back to work. Before he left I asked him to set the house alarm. It had started snowing quite hard. At 1:30 AM I was awakened by the alarm in the house. At first I thought it was Steve or the dog or one of the kids. When I realized it seemed like a real alarm I called 911. Thank goodness in the end it was not a real emergency because the police took twenty minutes to arrive at my house. What were they doing? Steve came home for the second time to be sure everything was o.k. in the house. We decided it must have been a fault in the system. I think I aged fifteen years in that twenty minutes waiting for the police with three children sleeping not knowing if we had an unwanted guest in the house. When the police arrived I was standing out on my porch in my pajamas in a snow storm to greet them.
My morning kicked off early with taking two more children to see the doctor. Having all three home all day kept me running. Of all the challenges and scary events that have taken place, the situation that almost put me over the edge was when Zachary asked me to put together a bumble bee he received in his kid's meal from Chick Fil-A. It was all my son asked of me today. When I looked at the directions they looked Greek. I couldn’t believe a fast food restaurant would give something like that out. One obviously needed an Engineering degree to put the thing together. After a few attempts to tell Zachary I really couldn’t do it and seeing the disappointment on his sick little face I decided to just design the bumble bee on my own without the directions. As a mom I wear many hats but Engineer Mom is not one of them! I got the tape and started taping it together. It was pathetic. When I was done it looked like a disfigured, handicapped bumble bee. I showed my masterpiece to Zachary (fighting back giggles) and said “Ta Dah!” He said “Is that what it’s supposed to look like?” I said “YES!” Thankfully he is only six and believed me. He replied “Wow!”
They are all resting, hopefully on the upswing to better health.
With the utter chaos of the last 48 hours, it’s been a little crazy and all consuming but I have honestly loved having them all home and taking care of them. They’re all so independent and growing up too fast. Putting my life and schedules on hold has been a true pleasure. Oh...and I still feel like I can take on the world, with God's help of course!
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil. 4:13
Sweet Dreams,
Debbie
No comments:
Post a Comment