SICK

I think it’s been awhile since so many of us have gotten sick at the same time and almost predictably fallen into a pattern.

Now that Ruby-  then Henry-  then Maisie have “fallen” to this flu bug I have got it’s pattern down pat.  What does that mean anyway-  “down pat?”

Anyway-  Day 1 kid feels icky and is just a little warm like maybe they are sick maybe not.  Who knows I’m not in their little body.  Day 2:  YEP there it is FEVER - cough!-  sore throat and general malaise! Day 3:  not much better-  maybe the fever is a little lower but the throat is so sore from the cough and the hoarse little voices make the mama heart hurt. Day 4... well Ruby is the only one to finish that yet.  No more fever just exhausted little voiceless girl.  

It makes one think hard about this flu deal and how bad it can make us feel.  As an adult I’m not getting the fever but I don’t feel very great at all either.  Luckily I’m well enough to nurse the children, and keep the dishes and laundry going all day.  Oh did I mention Mike is in Florida at a convention?!  So I’m thankful it hasn’t hit me very hard -  just hard enough to be hacking a lot and suck on throat drops non stop.  

My point of this paragraph being -  it all is a little scary as a mom.  I feel like I’m at war and each day I’m battling these germs to get my kids well again.

And thankful that it’s just the flu and probably by the weekend this will all be behind us!  I sure hope.

Lastly it makes me think of my mother.  She always swung into high gear when we were little and sick too. I remember her charting our meds because she was very nervous she’d overdose us- true story.  She was kind and very attentive and I hope the kids remember that about me too-  hmmm-  I’ve only snapped a couple times I think.  Like to Henry tonight-  buddy please make it to the bathroom next time-  COME’on!

If she were alive today I know for a decisive fact she would have called me morning and night for reports on how they were doing and I’m sure she would have even taken a day off work to come join me in the fight!  Oh yes-  she was a servant but also a worrier and she wanted to know details and she was always concerned.  So concerned.

Luckily I have a couple friends that have been doing the same for me these last few days.  Jessi with multiple texts daily and lots and lots of cheerleading for me!  Thanks Jes! And Julie, similarily, with her checking in and today with the most amazing basket full of everything we needed today and then some!

So thankful I have some angels here in the form of good friends.  It makes this week so much easier to bear.  I can’t wait for us all to be 100% healthy again but I do think I will remember these days somewhat fondly because of the snuggles, and the way they have needed me.  

Now as long as Henry doesn’t wake up at 3am for the 3rd night him a row - haha!  

Home. Happy. Behind.

Well we finished our two week getaway that whizzed by quickly and are home-  very rested and yet a bit frazzled.

The kids are nervous about school starting tomorrow and I am SO behind on laundry it’s quite ridiculous, and Mike is facing a lot to do at work all week too!

But I never quite finished a post stewing in my heart while we were literally singing inside a cabin walled with snow!  Baking cookies and singing along to Bing Crosby’s versions of many favorite Christmas and winter songs.  

I shall post some of my favorite final pictures - it’s always a back up to my failure at keeping normal photo backups on a hard drive or cloud or whatever the more responsible lot does....

Thank goodness I blog.

It's a marshmallow world in the winter,
When the snow comes to cover the ground,
It's the time for play, it's a whipped cream day,
I wait for it all year round.

Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly,
In the arms of the evergreen trees,
And the sun is red like a pumpkin head,
It's shining so your nose won't freeze.

It really was like that song-  so magical!!!!

Here’s a few more of our final days with friends-  a little less lazy and more GO go GO!!!! Not my preferred speed but we were rested and ready to go along with our guests’ McCall bucket list!!!!

I’m unsure if we will ever have two weeks again in our little cabin in the winter time again-  it was a gift and I had to pinch myself everyday that we were there.  I hope we will return to see the snow again before the kids leave our nest but if not I’m content.  Content with the gift and content that I love Mcminnville even more!

That was reassured on our return-  I missed my home, my friends, my neighbors and the norms here.  Vacation in McCall and Hawaii and other reaches YESsSsSS but truly home is where the heart is!

I haven’t even taken down my tree here- I’m behind.  But I think that’s kinda fitting!  It is here on Davis street that I’ll book end 2017.

It is here that I belong.