I went to my water circuit class on Tuesday and felt kind of …. off. Like I had too much coffee sloshing around in my stomach and it was putting me a little queasy. And sure enough, by noon, I was on my way to being down for the count. Shaking with cold, puke bucket close by, it was a good thing my husband was working from home that day. I crawled up to my bed while he picked up the kids from school that afternoon, oversaw the homework, while I dozed, freezing and sweaty at the same time, every now and then dragging myself to the comode to once again empty the contents of my stomach.

James had a hiking workshop he had to attend that evening though, so he put the kids in their jammies and told them to take care of Mommy, and off he went. They watched TV and played downstairs while I dozed in my bed upstairs. I was feeling a touch better, and was dying for water, so I whistled (we have a family whistle that means “come here!” — same one my dad used for me and my siblings) and up came Jocelyn eager to help take care of Mommy.

“Can you get me a glass of water honey?”
“Sure mommy!”

She came back up with the glass, and then scampered back downstairs to watch TV. I tried to sip the water slowly, but on the 3rd sip, I couldn’t help myself — I gulped it down and then prayed it would stay down.

Ethan came up next of his own accord — “I’m so sad you’re sick Mom!”
“Thank you my sweet boy — can you refill my water for me?”
“Of course!”

That glass went down quicker, and since it stayed down, I risked taking some ibuprofen.

Bedtime approached, so I called the kids up, they got their books and nestled down with me to read on their own before bedtime.

“OK guys, we have a problem,” I said after a half hour of reading time. “I can’t put you guys to bed. I might puke, so we have a few choices. You can put yourselves to bed, or Ethan could put Jocelyn to bed, and then Jocelyn can put Ethan to bed.”

“Mommy!” Jocelyn protested, “I’d have to get back out of bed to put Ethan to bed!”

“Yeah!” Ethan agreed.

Can’t put anything past these guys.

“I know,” she continued, “I will put Ethan to bed and then I’ll put myself to bed.”

“Sounds good.” I replied.

And she did — Jocelyn tucked Ethan in, turned off his light and closed his door, and then came gave me a kiss and put herself to bed. They are 8 and 9 years old after all, it’s not like they can’t put themselves to bed, but it was pretty cute of them to do it this way.

I drifted off, finally free of the fever chill and slept from 8pm to 8am. I felt much better the next morning, though a bit weak and shaky.

And now it’s Friday, and I’m still catching up on my orders!

My sister and her daughter are coming to town tonight, so I’d better get moving!

-Amy