A Sick Day For Mommy And Daddy

Thursday morning started with a school day cancellation due to snow and hubby calling out sick. That meant all 3 kids AND a sick hubby were going to be home with me all day. My mind raced with all the things that could go wrong throughout the day. I was worried the kids would be fighting all day, keeping hubby from getting the rest he needed to feel better. I was worried hubby was going to be getting on my nerves asking for this and that all day long and complaining about not feeling well. I was worried that with the combination of those things I wasn't going to be able to get much house work done because I'd be too busy catering to sick hubby and plucking squabbling children off each other all day.

I prayed for the Lord to give me strength to deal with any situation that would arise that day and also for an abundance of patience to be able to handle anything that came my way. The Lord heard me and answered me in the most amazing way. Hubby stayed in bed all day watching TV and napping. Hardly even knew he was home. The kids spent the day playing together and watching cartoons back in the girls room. I barely knew they were home. My whole morning was going beautifully. I was able to get the kitchen cleaned up and wash dishes (hand wash people, we don't have a fancy dish washing machine to do it for us). I got 4 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded AND put away and managed to get the living room straightened up and vacuumed all by mid afternoon!!!

I was on a roll!!! Then it happened. I felt like I got hit by a bus. I sat down to take a break from the housework and whatever hubby was sick with had worked it's way in me and I started feeling terrible. I could barely keep my eyes open, I felt flushed and light headed. My body started to ache and it hurt to move. I laid down on the couch to keep the room from spinning to much and w/o realizing it had dozed off for about an hour.

Fortunately the day had faded into evening and the kids would be going to bed soon. Tabytha really stepped up and helped out tremendously with John and Jessi and keeping them busy with playing and letting them watch movies on her TV. I still changed diapers and got the little ones in the jammies for the night, but Tabytha is the one who kept them entertained all day.

Finally all the kids were in bed and I was feeling even worse. I fell asleep on the couch for the night and Friday morning didn't feel any better. I haven't been this incapacitated by a sick bug since I was a teenager. I mean, I've been sick before, but never so bad that I couldn't still take care of the kids, get something done around the house and still be able to make dinner, this was awful. Friday was a half day but I decided to keep Tabytha home from school and asked her if she wouldn't mind watching after John and Jessi for me while I was sick on the couch. She said sure and she told me she wanted me to feel better soon. I felt terrible asking so much of her, but, I physically couldn't do it. Whatever this bug was it had knocked me on my butt and I literally spent Friday on the couch sleeping. I mustered up enough strength to get up to change John and Jessi throughout the day, but aside from that, they were all on their own.

They even managed to keep themselves fed all day Friday. Thankfully I have a lot of apples and cheese slices and bread and a couple lunchables on their level in the fridge and they dug into those when they felt hungry. Tabytha did such an amazing job keeping after John and Jessi Thursday evening and all day Friday, and John and Jessi were also really well behaved and I didn't have any problems out of them. All weekend as a matter of fact the Lord looked down over me and blessed me with good behavior and even tempers from the kids. It's as if they knew mommy didn't feel good and they just got along and played together and let me rest.

Charlie and I are feeling so much better now. Saturday afternoon our fevers finally broke and we started feeling human again. (Tabytha was picked up Friday night to go to her mommom's for the weekend, as is the custom the last weekend of every month). So, to thank Tabytha for being such an amazing helper while hubby and I were sick we're going to take her out and treat her to something she would like to do that's just for her. We'll get someone to watch John and Jessi for us. I can't thank the Lord enough for the blessing he's given me in my daughter, Tabytha. She's the most caring compassionate person I know, and I'm so proud to call her my daughter.