apparently, i'm out of sick days
i will chalk today up to being "one of those days". really, it could have been a lot worse. i should start off by saying that before the pity party begins!
the downhill slope actually started sunday morning...i had been feeling the beginnings of a cold all weekend, but it would come and go, so saturday was a pretty normal day. by late saturday night, i was feeling pretty lousy, and sunday morning, i was feeling really lousy. i should have just stayed in bed! but brian needed to be at church early, so i got the kids ready by myself and somehow made it to church. every time we stood up to sing, i felt the heaviness of my cold setting in. it was pretty pointless to be there, so i ended up driving brian's car home early to sleep. five minutes after i got in bed, i heard the front door close, and i got up to find my family walking in the door. brian explained that ethan was all broken out in a rash around his waist and his collar, and it was really bothering ethan, so brian just went ahead and brought the kids home. this rash was nowhere to be found when we left for church at 10:27, yet an hour later, it was as if ethan was wearing a 5 inch belt of severe irritation around his waist. all whelped up and everything. this confirmed my suspicion that ethan has developed an allergic reaction to my beloved clean breeze tide and downy. he'd had rashes off and on over the past month that i haven't been able to put my finger on, and we've been considering diaper, detergent, and food reactions. i'd already switched back to a "clean and free" detergent for ethan's clothes, but the outfit he was wearing yesterday has been hanging in his closet a while, not part of the last couple of loads that were washed with the clean and free detergent. (yes, i realize this post is supposed to be about me being sick... exactly my point!)
while i came home to crawl in my comfy bed and rest, i ended up giving ethan an oatmeal bath while brian fed caroline. after his bath, i took allllll of ethan's (clean) clothes out of his closet and dresser to wash in the clean and free detergent. note that i am already about 1 1/2 weeks behind on laundry, so having 2 or 3 loads of CLEAN laundry to wash is not helping things. but i surely want to get to the bottom of this rash. by last night, i was feeling worse, and brian was starting to feel bad too. and piles of laundry were taking over this house!
i am so thankful that brian stayed home from work today. i was able to sleep a little later today, but i still felt pretty crummy when i woke up. we just kind of survived today. the kids did great dealing with two crummy-feeling parents. brian was such a huge help, but i knew he didn't feel good either, so i tried to get off the couch every now and then to take ethan potty and to see what caroline was getting into. every time i returned to an upright position, ethan asked, "you not sick anymore, mommy?" no, mommy's still sick, but life goes on. and apparently mommies don't get sick days! brian and i took turns resting, and by dinner time, we were both feeling much better. i was actually feeling almost back to normal! i planned on finally folding some of this laundry after we finished the delicious chinese that brian picked up for dinner....
the kids had eaten while brian was out getting dinner, so they were playing quietly in ethan's room while we ate. i think i'd taken 3 bites of my egg roll and 2 bites of my sesame chicken when i realized i needed my water bottle from our room. on my way to get my water, i peeked in ethan's room to check on the kids, and the only thing worse than 2 kids in a very messy room is 2 kids in a very messy room with POOP all over the carpet. so much for feeling better. ethan was standing with one foot on his ride-on-rocket (now covered in poop) and one foot on the carpet, which at that moment, i was really wishing were hardwood floors.
(sigh.)
it was a mess. a really big mess. and my chinese was getting cold. and my head was getting foggy again. and did i say there was poop everywhere? not that you want this kind of thing to happen on any night, really, but tonite was just not the night. poor caroline was a trooper while we spent the next hour cleaning up ethan and his room and all the toys. (thankfully, there was no poop on caroline. not sure how that happened, but i'm thankful for it!) poor ethan now fully understands the seriousness of pooping all over his room and continuing to play in it. poor brian got the bad end of the deal, scraping poop off the carpet while i hosed off the poop machine in the bathtub, which i then had to disinfect before ethan could get an actual bath. we had to throw away some books, like my favorite board book version of brown bear, brown bear... we chunked some toys that were not wash-off-able, but we needed to get rid of some anyway. and there is of course, more laundry to do now! the saving grace of this whole experience was nature's miracle. i recommend this stuff to anyone who has a pet or potty training child in their house.
after ethan was bathed, his room was cleaned and aired out, and our reheated chinese was eventually enjoyed, i finally sat down on the couch tonite to rest. ethan crawled up in my lap and said, "i'm sorry mommy. i'm sorry for pooping in my room." then my heart pretty much melted. what a blessing to hear that heartfelt repentance from my son. i told him that i forgave him and that i loved him so much. i doubt it is the last time that he will not make it to the potty in time, but i'm pretty sure it will be the last time that he doesn't tell us about it!
so today wasn't exactly the quiet sick day in bed that i thought i needed, but praise the Lord, i am starting to feel a little back to normal, and it can only get better from here. :)
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