I Will Survive

Sooo, Teag's been out of town most of the month of March, with the large majority taking place in one big ten day trip. He was only given about two weeks of notice for that trip, and I'd already agreed to chair a big school-wide art night at my kids elementary that happened to fall directly over this ten days. Shortly before he left, my two youngest got really sick with some nasty bug that's primary symptom is gallons of green snot leaking from both the nose AND eyes, along with fevers and coughing, and poor sleep as a result.

Many might be daunted by this, but not me! I love it! "Bring on the pain," I say! Well, I don't say that, but maybe one day I will. Here's what my month has looked like:

Number of sick children:
2

Times Finn has thrown up:
11

Number of dead car batteries:
1 - This was discovered while I was on my way to a meeting, with my car full of kids.

Longest stretch of uninterrupted sleep:
2 hours

Most times I've been awakened in one night:
5 - One of them at 1:30 when Rory couldn't find her pillows. She demanded I come find them for her, only to hop back in bed and say, "Oh, here they are!"

Number of nights where I've received 2 hours or less of sleep total:
3

Number of babysitters I've had to rely on in order to get my stuff taken care of:
5

Number of people I've had to ask for last-minute favors:
3

None of this is really all that crazy or catastrophic, but it definitely forces me to significantly readjust my day to day routine. And now is the time when I thank those who jumped in at the last minute to help, like Meg picking me up when my car wouldn't start, and chauffeuring me and my kids around, and then jumping my battery afterward. Or my dad swinging by to show me how to hook up the charger to my battery. Or Caitlyn coming with little notice to watch my kids so I could run to the store for groceries, because I didn't want to take sick children to the germ-haven that is the grocery store. Or my parents inviting us over to Sunday dinner so I wouldn't have to cook one night. Or my dad and brother coming over without me asking to give Finn a blessing when the poor kid would barely eat anything. Not to mention all the people who have so kindly offered to babysit my kids while I'm working on this monster school project. I'm immensely grateful for those who are so willing to lend a hand; it makes a stressful time so much less so. I honestly don't know what I would have done without them.

And one day, when my kids are old enough to babysit themselves, I'll look back on days like this and laugh... because I won't have to do it anymore.