Sickness

I've been feeling smug that we've not had a family wide illness for a couple of months.

Always dangerous, being smug.

So yeah, we have an illness.  It is just a cold, and colds aren't a HUGE deal, but this one is still a pain.

Interestingly enough, I was one of the first to get this illness and it has hit me the hardest.  That is atypical; I am famous for watching our children fall to an illness and staying healthy 'til they are mostly well, and THEN I get sick.

But this time I have been quite ill.  One night I had a massive, 2 hour nosebleed, which I think was tied into the cold.  Then I lost my voice for most of 2 days.  When I lose my voice, life gets quite complicated as most of the kids think I should be talking to them.  So in spite of having NO voice, I received a nearly constant barrage of questions and comments from the children, often followed by "Mom, Mom, MOM!!!" when I didn't answer.

Now my voice is back, and my main symptom is fatigue. I am SO tired. I am definitely improving but I feel like I'm in the first trimester of pregnancy when I'm so tired I could fall over at any moment. And I am definitely NOT pregnant :-).

Rose has been extra cranky as she is sick and of course wants her mama, and her mama hasn't been as available as usual. Thankfully, Rose has Second Mama in the form of Lydia, who is a genius with little ones.

Naomi and Lydia are also tired, partly from being a little sick and partly from STAYING UP ALL NIGHT Friday night.  They went to their first "all nighter" at church as part of our church's youth group.  I was truly shocked they managed to stay up all night (many of the attendees sacked out for a few hours) but they did it, they didn't sleep a wink.  Of course, that meant they were pretty tired on Saturday. Kevin and I were both not 100% well on Saturday and needed the big girls' help, so they didn't get to sleep all day :-).

So it has been an interesting and challenging week, but we're surviving.  One bright light this week has been Kevin's mother who, now that she is retired, is available and very willing to help us out when we need help.  Yesterday, she graciously went to Kroger and bought a bunch of much needed food.  I was too tired to go.

Next week we have some exciting activities planned, so it is good we are sick THIS week.  I hope everyone will be well by next week.