Sick of September

We've been sick since August. The kids had little allergy-type colds that just haven't gone away. Erin has had her phlegm/cough/congestion/runny nose yuckiness for 2 weeks. It has been 12 days since I have had a decent night's sleep. Since she is so stuffy, it is hard to lie down flat (even though she is using one of our pillows to elevate), so she gets up a lot in the night. So I hold her and walk back and forth in the living room until she 1) coughs up all the yuck that is keeping her from sleeping well, 2)warms up and 3)falls back to sleep. Number 3 isn't always accomplished as fast as I would like. I'm not saying all this as a contest, like some women do. One person complains and the next person says, "oh yeah? Well, I haven't had a decent night's sleep in 6 months!" and then it's some sort of weird, deluded competition. No. First off, I'm saying it in disbelief because I can't believe it's been that long, even though the rings under my eyes could tell their own story. Second, in the middle of the night, it seems so much longer than that. Third, it's only because of how great God is that I am even functioning right now and haven't been late getting Ian to school.
Saturday night, Ian had a really nasty bout of cookie tossing. He had eaten his lunch in his room at his little table so he could watch whatever movie he wanted to watch in there and he had gotten some pizza on the floor. Before bedtime, I asked him to pick up the two little pieces that were under the table and throw them away. I'm not sure if he was just grossed out or bending over made everything in his stomach shift or what, but he proceeded to eject everything that was still in his stomach all over his rug. Then he took a deep breath and did it some more. I just stood there, holding Erin and watching in some kind of suspended animation horror. Then my adrenalin kicked in and I herded him to the toilet, where he stood there and stared (like "Ew! I'm not throwing up in THERE! I pee pee in there!").
I dumped (with a very fast song) the baby in bed and she stood there and protested missing all the fun (one of those times that it's completely gross to be the only grownup) while I cleaned Ian up and made him stay in the bathroom until I had cleaned up his room (nothing like the sight and smell to cause a relapse!).
It took a while.
I can tell you right now that we won't be having chicken divan again for about 15 years, if ever.
We ran out of carpet fresh. sigh.
I found the baking powder.
I was leery about putting Ian in bed because I didn't want round 2 to get the mattress. He didn't want to go to bed, so I made a little nest on the floor and gave him a pot in case he had to upchuck again. He asked for milk. Um, NO! So I got him some juice that he said tasted yucky and popped a movie in for him. An hour or two later, he had round 2 in his sleep and there was no clean floor left for him to sleep on and no clean blankets left (or stuffed animals).
So I covered his bed with towels (that's a trick that a great doctor gave me from when Ian had the stomach flu and I couldn't keep crib sheets clean) and got him a big beach towel to use as a blanket. Thank you Lord that there were no more eruptions.
Except this morning Chris felt queasy and nauseous. Groan! I took Erin to the PA (physician's assistant) and she got some Z-pack and better allergy meds to get rid of her bug (thank you Lord! I need Zzzzs!). I am very optimistic about this treatment. It's been really rough since the FDA or whoever has declared that any kind of cough meds, etc are not to be used on a child under the age of 6. Tell that to a parent who hasn't gotten more than 2 hours of sleep at a time for almost 2 weeks. I dug some old cough meds out of the bottom of my medicine chest and gave the proper dose to Erin anyway. And no, I don't feel bad at all. Or like a bad parent. It's hard to listen to your miserable baby cough and gag and choke. Then you're supposed to suck out their nose with the Blue Beast (nasal aspirator), slap some Vick's on and call it a night? Ha!
Anyway, I hope this z-pack works really really fast. Because tomorrow is grocery day and bill paying day and I won't have time to take a nap then either, even if I had the opportunity.
But that's okay, because I am thankful for medicine and for a little boy who is happy to see me after school and who is not throwing up gallons of supper. And for a little girl who can feel like the inside of a dirty diaper and still give gorgeous smiles and be happy to see me when I come to get her out of her crib.
So we've been through another one of those Parenting Trenches and boy are we happy to see the other side. Now if I can only get rid of the Marianna Trench under my eyes...