This week I feel like I just can't get caught up. We had a great weekend with Rich's parents visiting from Texas, then I took advantage of the extra hands and headed up to Green Bay for a day of shopping and eating with my mom and Aunt Rita. Ever since I got home Monday morning I feel like I've been playing catch-up.
It started with Addy only napping a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes this entire week. She didn't nap on Monday or Wednesday and her nap on Tuesday was short. Tuesday was also the day that Eloise decided that she needed to be held to fall asleep. So by the time I got Eloise down for her nap on Tuesday, I made one phone call and Addy was up. Then yesterday I don't think anyone ever slept because they were all fussing so much after an hour I just gave up and set up blankets and pillows on the floor and we pretended to sleep.
This is what Eloise looked like when she got up from her nap on Tuesday. She went to sleep with straight hair and woke up with curly hair. What did she give herself a perm in 2 hours?
I can kind of roll with the punches on everything else but 2 things really freak me out are:
1. No naps or short naps; and
2. No eating (throwing food specifically).
I need that nap time to do dishes, make phone calls, fold laundry and just generally regroup and organize myself. After they go to bed just doesn't cut it. By that time I'm so wiped out that I don't want to do anything besides veg out and watch TV with loads of laundry in front of me.
Now I'm adding a third item to the list of things that freak me out- all 3 being sick at once. That's right. It finally hit us this year. All 3 kids have runny noses and are sneezing. Thankfully no fever or coughing so I'm pretty sure it is just the common cold. This week has been a perfect reminder of why we were so careful all winter and so extra cautious last year with exposing the kids to potential germs. Three sick kids at once is just plain brutal.
Addy started with a runny nose on Tuesday and was a little sensitive and cranky but no big deal. Yesterday the other two woke up with runny noses and sneezing like crazy. They were all in pretty good spirits besides the no napping so I thought we had dodged a bullet. Then last night Beckett got up in middle of the night and after playing for two hours and giggling at the sleeping dogs in our bed I couldn't take it and he had to cry himself to sleep.
Today started with Addy crying for 30 minutes over nothing that I could figure out and everything just followed in that vein. Every time they sneeze snot goes flying everywhere, they rub their noses with the back of their hand rubbing snot all over their faces, it dries on super shiny and then their faces and the back of their hands look like glazed donuts. Thanks to my sister for the perfect analogy.
So they have been super sensitive to any sort of insult that they normally would just brush off. Addy in particular as she seems the sickest although Beckett looks the sickest. Normally Addy is the most even-tempered and if Beckett takes something from her she just will brush it off and move on to the next thing. Not today. Even the smallest slight ends up in screaming that seems to go on indefinitely. Eloise seems to be tolerating the cold the best although she looks the most "glazed."
The other challenge with all three having a cold is I let them have unlimited access to water and juice which means more frequent diaper and clothing changes because these little rascals can really chug the liquids. Yesterday by noon I had changed 12 diapers and had to put a totally new outfit on 2 after they had already been dressed for the day. I was worried all the liquids and the colds would decrease their appetite but that hasn't really happened. Beckett can be hit or miss at mealtimes even on a healthy day but Eloise and Addy both just gobbled down food all day today. At one point Eloise cleaned her plate so well in a shockingly short amount of time I accused Rich of stealing her food.
It is amazing how our tolerance for whining and fighting seems to increase with illness. It is exhausting and there are definitely moments that you just kind of stop and look around and wonder how you will muster up enough patience to get through the next hour. But generally just looking at those pitiful little faces with snot and Rudolph-red noses from me chasing with the tissue is enough to face any amount of whining. I have to say though that I'm eying up the bottle of wine staring at me in the kitchen and Rich is part-way through his second workout of the day. So we are managing.
The other challenge is not going anywhere. Well, we don't stay in the house because there is always Starbucks drive-thru, stalking newly listed houses and stalking houses with recent price reductions but we don't go IN anywhere with the kids when they are even slightly sick. But when everyone is healthy we normally do something everyday so I can see where we are all going to get bored pretty quickly. I did drive past one house that recently came on the market 3 times in less than 24 hours so this is quite an opportune time to be looking for houses.
Let me out! Let me out! I'm boooooooored!! If you don't let me out I'm going to suffocate myself with this bucket and my stuffy nose.
Addy thinks that upping her protein intake will heal her faster. After her "nap" she ate tons of cheese with hummus on rice crackers. Maybe she eats so much cheese because it is one of the few foods she can ask for?
Beckett will use any distraction to get out of eating. Today he had to stop eating and get down and give Pickles and hug and kiss. Either that or he is telling her to run if I come after her with a tissue.
This is Addy's version of resting. No relaxing on the couch or snuggling in blankets for this one. I can tell she is tired and sick here because she is not trying to get someone to push her.
Uh, oh. Someone left the blocks in the kitchen. I better put them back where they belong. I'm very tidy and very busy.
And the three little crusty faces from today. Excuse the food on the faces, I guess it sticks to snot.
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