I was standing at the bathroom sink in a pee soaked shirt, brushing my teeth. I desperately wanted a shower. Instead, I was listening for the 3 year old who had, by my calculations, a 50/50 chance of throwing up before I could even start the water.
The germs had infested our home. Your garden variety stomach bug had hit some of us. A nasty sore throat/respiratory illness was going through the rest of us.
Moms take a vow, sometimes unbeknownst to us, that we will never be sick. Even when the germs hit us, we can’t fully take time off to get better. Especially when our family is feeling awful and relying on us to take even better care of them than usual.
But just because you vow to power through, doesn’t mean that your brain is going to be firing on all cylinders.
Here are some things that go through a Mom’s mind when everyone is sick.
- Read dosage instructions on each medication for 3-year-olds, 6-12 year-olds, and adults 7 times each to make sure you’re doing it right. Now, try to remember that the medicine in your right hand is for the 3-year-old, and the left hand is for the 12-year-old. Or was that the other way around? Uh…You decide it isn’t worth the risk. Dump them out and start over.
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Come up with an elaborate Sharpie system for remembering your medicine schedule. You’ll dot each child’s forehead a different color each time you dose them. Be sure to take notes on this, because it’s going to be a sure hit on Pinterest. - Try to muster sympathy for your husband when he says he feels awful and is going to take a nap. Fail.*
- Sway between tears welling in your eyes for your poor, sick children… to wanting to tell them to just suck it up already in 2 minutes flat.
- Try to remember if you gave yourself any medicine. Decide it’s better to wait than take too much.
- Wonder how much tv is too much at a time like this. Decide to leave that to the experts.
Judgey Netflix…
- Four hours later, repeat step number 5.
- Good, no one’s hungry anyway. Wait, is that good? Should I make them eat? Popsicles count as food, right?
- Those spider webs in the corner of the living room never bothered you as much as when you’re lying on the couch, too tired to do anything about it. Vow you’ll never take your health for granted again!
- Give up. Maybe a nice Brownie will stop in and take care of everything while you nap. If worse comes to worse, you can always bulldoze the house in and start over.
*To be fair, Hubby did step up and let me sleep a couple of days later when I especially needed it.
On top of all that? You try really hard to write up a decent blog post, but in the end leave your readers with a random sampling of scattered “thoughts” you had while you were sick for 9 days straight.
Are you better at functioning while sick than I am?
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
Aww, feel better.
Nope, not better at functioning sick. With only 3 of us, though, we’re rarely down at the same time (much more likely to be staggered.) TV and video game limits go on hiatus, though, as do general nutrition standards.
Oh man, I feel you! I’ve been fighting a stomach issue for a few days and kept wondering I ate something bad… until my son came down with it last night! Guess that answers that question. I hope everyone at your house recovers soon.
Thank you! It seems like everyone is sick right now. :/
I’m totally with you! We’re just getting through a sick week here. And, you’re right, that Sharpie on the forehead system isn’t a terrible idea, lol! I hope your littles feel better soon!
Jamie, I’d already read and loved this post earlier in the week but had to come back over and reread it from #FridayFrivolity! Yes, yes, yes to all! The cobwebs? Oh my word, girl…#nailedit. Plus all the others. Just. Brilliant.
Always the cobwebs!! 🙂
I completely shut down when my kids are sick and just stare at them… waiting for the next round to hit the next person… trying to keep my sympathetic nurse voice going before I loose it for good…
Stomach bugs are the worst! I hope everyone is feeling better now and number 3 is the realest! Thanks for linking up this week with #fridayfrivolity. Xx
Nope, I’m the worst at this! Usually I’ll push myself so hard taking care of everyone else and my other responsibilities that I eventually make myself scarily sick . But what’s a mom supposed to do?
I hope you and everyone else feel better soon… This year has been particularly rough for illnesses!
Wow, so sorry to hear everyone was sick…hopefully you’re all feeling better by the time you read this. Without having kids at home, at worst my wife and I are sick at the same time, but she’s definitely a better patient than I am.
I’m gonna knock on wood, but everyone finally seems to be feeling better!