Really?

Sickness is in our house - again.  Didn't I just post about this?  Really!  *sigh*  Tis the season, but it doesn't make it any more fun and my house smells of Lysol and bleach in abundance tonight.  Here's an update:  Baby Boy developed a stuffy nose and it went straight to his chest last night and he's been pretty miserable today.  The other two boys have a stuffy nose/coughing virus.  But poor Princess has had the roughest go of it.  She got a stomach bug and threw up at school on Friday (all over herself), and by that night she was screaming about her pee pee hurting so I took her in to the ER where she got on some antibiotics.  She's still struggling with the stomach bug, now she has a UTI, and tonight she's got the awful cough/sore throat/stuffy nose and fever mess. 

I know my kids are tired of being sick, and I'm tired of them being sick.  Honestly, we really do wash and sanitize hands A LOT at our house.  I even shampooed the carpets tonight hoping it would help with getting better (that, and it needed to be shampooed in the high traffic areas anyway and I didn't want to pay someone to do it).  But I reached the end today and I just wanted to sit down and cry and have a good pity party.  So of course, the best way to have a pity party is to call my mom!  :)

Zane being gone is difficult in and of itself, but taking care of sick children for so long by myself is wearing on me.  I was sad and frustrated that while I was home, yet again, not getting any breaks with my sickos - Zane had gone to their weekly movie and was out to eat w/ some friends before they headed out for a night of kareoke and dancing.  :o/  So yes, I was frustrated and jealous and thinking that it is absolutely not fair that he got to go have carefree fun while I was sitting at home once again running around trying to entertain and take care of the four kids - BY MYSELF.

But you know, I would be devastated if I were the one missing these precious moments that occur daily with my kids.  Baby Boy was so cute when I was drying my hair and holding him because every time any bit of air would blow on his face he would duck his head and rub his eyes with his chubby little fists.  Brother Bear was carrying a tent pole around (plastic and short).  First it was a fishing pole and he was catching fish to cook for me to eat, then it was a dragon getter and he had to go find the dragons and kill them, then it it was a gun to shoot, and finally he was running full speed around the house yelling "AAAHHHHH!!!!" while holding the pole over his head like a spear.  I was laughing so hard.  Cowboy completely surprised me by looking at the cereal box and saying, "Hey Mom look! R-I-C-E says Rice, K-R-I-S-Q-I mean P-I-E-S Krispies.  That says Rice Krispies!"  I honestly thought he'd never learn his alphabet in time for kindergarten.  And Princess is loving reading in her scriptures and I am amazed at how well she does.  Those are just things that occurred today.  Not to mention every other day. 

So am I tired, yes, even exhausted and drained and stretched quite thin?  You bet!  Do I get jealous of Zane's ability to do whatever he wants without worrying about baby-sitters, nursing babies, sick babies, etc?  Absolutely!  Would I trade places with anyone else?  Never.  It may be a huge amount of responsibility to be a single parent (for all intents and purposes), but I am the one who gets to experience everything first hand, and that is completely priceless.  Besides, winter can't last forever, right?  :)  I do keep thinking to myself, just make it through February - one more month - you can do this!  hahaha.  Then it's going to be, let's get through March - one more month - you can do this!  :)  It's pretty amazing how the Lord gives us opportunities to learn just how capable we are.