Illness Brings Out the Uglies

(and I do mean ugly in the most loving sense of the word)

Emma and Allison have both been sick this week. Emma has a nasty cough that started on Saturday. Allison’s fever kicked in Tuesday night. I took them both to the pediatrician Wednesday afternoon. Emma was diagnosed with an ear infection and Allison with a toddler version of a sinus infection. The doctor figures the different illnesses are the affects of the same bug. I’m sure this is just the beginning. They were both prescribed antibiotics and I presumed that I would only be taking an afternoon off. They would have three good doses of amoxicillin under their belts before going to school. There was nothing to worry about.

Allison woke up around 10:30 Wednesday night and she was burning up. I took her out into the kitchen to get her some Tylenol. It wasn’t until I got her out into light that I realized that I probably wasn’t going to work on Thursday. Her eyes were crying puss and the condition of her nose and surrounding areas cannot be described. Were she not my child, I might have been a little frightened. Luckily I was in “supermom” mode. I cleaned up her face the best that I could, I found the bottle of antibiotic eye drops she was prescribed earlier and gave her a does. You have not heard Allison scream until you’ve heard her scream because of eye drops. Thankfully, she went back to sleep not too long after that.

The next day, I attempted to get ready for work, but it was of no avail. Allison looked even more pitiful in the morning than she did the night before. She is a cranky invalid. Even if I cleaned her up the second before taking her into the daycare building, I would have gotten a call to pick my grouchy, mutant child up ASAP. I saved myself the gas and called in.

Danny was going to take Emma into daycare on his way into work, but she wanted to stay home. I was looking forward to a nice “slug day” with my girls (Trista loves those days where you stay in your PJs all day and just lay around). Our slug day was going to be somewhat modified. I was already dressed and I wanted to take the opportunity to get some things done around the house.

The first things we did were eat breakfast and take baths. Allison loves the water and her baths. Usually the girls have a good time in the tub together. Emma is a more tentative bather. She doesn’t like water to touch her face. If we would allow it, her hair would never see a drop of water or shampoo. Unfortunately, grouchy Allison decided to kick in to high gear. She splashed and splashed. Emma cried and tried to push her away. By God’s grace alone I was able to wash Allison from head to toe and wash Emma’s hair before a cat fight between the girls broke out.

Allison went down for her nap pretty easily after the bath. Emma became nice sister again and sang a couple of songs before closing the door and going into the living room to wait for me. The couple of minutes I rocked Allison to sleep brought back a sense of calm and I was ready to get started on our next task – cleaning the hall bathroom from ceiling to floor.

Emma and I cleaned like champs. She took a wet paper towel and wiped down her potty chair while I did the rest. That bathroom really needed the cleaning. I even wiped off all of the things sitting on the sink. After Emma got tired, she went back into the living room and played. She was super sweet that hour and 15 minutes of Allison’s nap.

Not too long after I finished up the bathroom Allison woke up. She’s not one for long naps. I told Emma that we would eat lunch and take a walk (it was almost 70 degrees yesterday). Emma was ready and excited to go for the walk, but Allison was having a really hard time waking up. What’s Emma’s solution? Bug Allison mercilessly. I cannot tell you how many times I said, “Leave Allison alone,” “Leave her be,” “If you don’t stop touching Allison by the time I count to ‘N’ I’m putting you down for your rest period” at an increasingly louder voice. It doesn’t matter. All she did was get super sassy with me instead. She never stopped.

Allison’s whining and Emma’s screeches and cries started then. They did not stop until Allison went to bed that night. In the double stroller, Allison started in the back but kept kicking Emma and pulling her hair. I switched them around. As you can guess, Emma did the same things. Luckily, exercise is an ideal way to handle stress. I needed it.

I had my cell phone with me and called Danny. I asked him to bring me a Diet Coke on his way home. As soon as he gave it to me, I retreated to my room for 20 minutes, relaxed with my Gone With the Wind puzzle and downed my Diet Coke. It was a little slice of heaven for me – even though I could hear that the kids were giving Danny a taste of my day at the same time.

Danny asked me if I wanted to have another baby after I returned from my oasis. I responded by telling him that I’d been having serious thoughts about cutting tubes all day long. Then, while I was rocking Allison to sleep it started to slip away. I love rocking with her, smelling her hair (no snide comments!) and feeling the pulse of her ever shrinking soft spot. I went back out into the kitchen and Emma was still her royal sassiness – only this time to Danny. I finally got her to sit on my lap and watch Wallace and Gromit with me. She was asleep in five minutes flat. It was so precious. I can’t even remember the last time she feel asleep on me. We waited until she was deeply asleep and then we put her into her crib. She woke up and cried a little, but we patted her back to sleep. I know that Danny and I were both reminiscing about her infant and toddler days. It’s funny how a sleeping child has the same affect on you as a newborn does. The pain just slips away and you forget all about the difficulties – ALMOST.