Even Boogers Have Requests Now!

I took a bit of an unplanned break last/this week. Between two family parties and a sick kid (again) my laptop ended up more as a decoration on the dresser than anything else. If I was smart, I would have taken out stock in Walgreen's back in the fall.

Lena still isn't feeling 100% but she's certainly feeling well enough to leave me commands.

I just discovered this little love note on the door. I'm guessing it's a "reminder" for when we're leaving the house tomorrow. Apparently, toilet paper is no longer suitable to blow snot into.

We're Still Here!

Oh boy what a week it's been. I haven't been on even though I've been home for the past four days because we've been down for the count with a wicked cold. I slept through New Year's day, I think I was only awake about an hour total. Thursday I drug myself into work only to be sent home and went promptly back to bed. Friday I stayed home because I just couldn't function. Saturday was the same. All I could manage to do was sleep. Finally on Sunday I managed to get out of bed and started cleaning the house. I knew we were not going to get better if I didn't sanitize everything. I stripped all the bedding, Cloroxed every surface, sprayed enough Lysol to put a mushroom cloud to shame, and despite the cold I opened up a couple of windows for a little while just get some fresh air in the house. I'm fairly certain at this point that Nipsco is going to love me for that one.

As if that wasn't enough, the Midwest had a blizzard Sunday evening and the state of Indiana declared a state of emergency. Starting at 6pm Sunday night they had pulled all the plows off the roads and decided it was illegal to be out. So many people were getting stuck that they threatened to issue a $500 fine to anyone caught driving. The risk was just too great and every extra driver on the road was a potential hazard that rescue crews might have to retrieve. They even shut down the two major highways near us. From what I understand, all of Porter County is still under lock down due to the high wind gusts creating insane snow drifts.

Due to the extremely dangerous driving conditions, my manager made the decision to shut down all 7 of our locations today. I'm certain it wasn't a decision he made lightly, but I was certainly glad that he did. We live in unincorporated area, which means that we have to take what you'd consider "back roads" to get to any main street. These of course are the last on any list to get attention from the plows. It wasn't until around 3pm today that I finally started seeing trucks coming through our subdivision.

School is still cancelled for tomorrow for Lena thanks to the negative temperatures, but sadly I will have to return to reality tomorrow. Even though I was sick, I was really enjoying being home. And the kitties certainly have enjoyed having us home too...

When Germs Attack (Insert Horror Music Here)

Well, I'm 100% certain now that school is back in session (as if there was any doubt). Lena, who seems to be feeling better today has managed to pawn her grubby little germs off throughout the rest of the house. James just tucked himself into bed looking a very ghostly shade of white with sweat pouring down his head. I'm seriously considering sleeping on the couch tonight in fear of climbing into a swimming pool under the covers. Which, needless to say, I'd really rather not.

Last night, even I was in bed by 9:30. That's unheard of in our house, because I'm typically a night owl. Even when I know I'm going to regret it in the morning, I still tend to stay up late. Plus, my sister, who was over this weekend, has also come down with the lovely wet hacking cough that both girls were kind enough to spread around the house on various surfaces. Despite my Clorox wipe rampage, it appears it's a battle that I have lost. Oh joy!

It occurred to me this morning, that the same thing was going around our house last year at this time. The only reason I know this is because she was coughing her first day of choir... Coincidentally today was the first day of choir and again the same thing. I'm positive things like this are the culprit...

Parade and a Meltdown

The day started out wonderful. We got up this morning, had our coffee in peace while the children slept on. Then proceeded to go to the parade.

As I mentioned earlier, Lena and Anne have both been coughing this weekend. However, Lena has it way worse. She's stuck in that horrible in between phase right now where she's not big, but she's not little. Last time she got sick it was an argument getting her to take the liquid cough medicine. She wanted a pill because she's "not a baby anymore MOM!" 

So this time when I went to Walgreen's I grabbed her the liquid gels instead. Turns out that ended up being a knock down drag out fight today that I ended up losing in the end. She was terrified to swallow it. She kept insisting she was going to choke if she had to take it. Of course, this pissed me off. Those things certainly are not cheap and we're working on a limited income at the moment.

I certainly didn't put my best mommy foot forward because I ended up yelling at my scared sick little girl. What I should have done it just gone back up to Walgreen's right away and bought the liquid. What I should have done was comfort her when she wasn't feeling good. Instead, I tried to force her to take it. This only brought her to tears, made me look like a monster, and didn't end up helping her cough at all.

Thank goodness for James being my voice of reason. After a good half hour battle he pulled me out into the garage and told me what a grade A moron I was being. He reminded me that the point was to help make her feel better, not worse.

Total mom failure today on my part really. In all truth, I originally had the children's liquid in my hand because I already knew this could potentially happen. Silly me, I listened to my 10 year old and got what she wanted and not what I knew she needed. He ended up going into town, getting the liquid, and then I proceeded to lay on the couch with her for the last 3 hours watching movies and cuddling to make up for my previous lack of empathy. I guess I know better next time.

No Way to Win This One

What better way to spend a 3 day weekend than with two sick kids right? Here in Lowell, Labor Day weekend is the biggest celebration in town. Are we out enjoying all the festivities? Nope, of course not. I'm sitting around in a pair of workout pants (that haven't really seen any working out) and a t-shirt dusted in pancake mix instead.

Both Lena and Anne have been hacking their brains out for the last two days. I tried good old faithful Robitussin which basically just cut the wet hacking cough down to every 10 minutes instead of every 5. Oh goodie! I finally gave up hoping it would help about an hour ago and ran up to Walgreen's to get some Nyquil.

Last time Lena wasn't feeling good she complained that I had bought the liquid cough medicine because, let's face it, it tastes like crap. It's basically like sucking on an alcohol prep wipe with a hint of cherry to make it extra disgusting. With that in mind, I purchased the gel tabs, thinking that this would make her happy. Instead, it turned into a 20 minute long ordeal about how I was purposely trying to choke her. Seriously?

In the end, I cracked the capsule and put it in a cup of juice. She couldn't taste it, but she was still complaining that I put too much juice in the cup and I was going to make her throw up.

It would seem that there is no way to please a sick, cranky kid. Go figure!