Sick Day

What do you do when 2 of your kids wake up puking at midnight and seem perfectly fine the next day? Well, keep them home, of course. I'm not going to share whatever bug they're harboring with an unsuspecting group of school and daycare friends, even if it is my only day of the week to go to work. (Sigh. There have been a disproportionate number of snow and sick days on my only day to work. Sigh.)

Well, after you drop off the healthy sister at school, you heat up the bathroom. You fill up the bathtub. And you let your vomit-smelling kids play in the tub as long as they'd like. We're going on well over half an hour now.

And the rest of the day? Well, naps are a good bet. And I've found some Bollywood dance workouts on Hulu. And the puke bucket is clean and ready for more action, if needed.

Wish us luck.

Spinach and Self-Righteousness

Spinach and self-righteousness. They don't really have much in common. 

Except that my day was full of them.

The day started with the self-righteousness. The Sundays in June are when our church does its yearly Vacation Bible School (VBS). We don't have enough stay at home moms and retired ladies to host a week of daily activities like we did in my church growing up. So we do it on Sunday mornings, in lieu of Sunday School. I'm helping in the craft room this year, following the instruction of a master crafter and helping young children produce her genius craft ideas. (This year, we're making a suit of armor. We did the belt last week and the breastplate today. It's pretty amazing to see what even the 3 year olds can do...)

We were in the middle of our largest class, when one of the little boys suddenly threw up all over the place. He hosed the floor, the table, and his brother. The room was full of mom helpers, so we were all over the situation. Except that we couldn't locate his parents. They dropped off the boys and left. (Sunday brunch perhaps?) And none of us actually knew his parents or how to call them. And the boys didn't know their phone numbers. 

"Busted." 

I know these parents to regularly drop off their kids and leave. They don't attend adult Bible study. They don't attend the church service. They take advantage of some free Bible-themed childcare and bolt. And now, they were caught in the act. With a miserably ill son who just wanted his parents to come and take him home. 

"Maybe this will teach them." 

I was feeling pretty smug about all of this. Meanwhile, their poor son was lying on the cool brick of the church courtyard, because it felt nicer than the benches. When the parents finally returned, we handed over one sick son, one healthy son, and a bag with a vomit-covered shirt. And shot daggers with our eyes. Ok, I did. I can't really accuse anyone else of doing so. But I shot enough daggers for all of us.

I was feeling pretty smug and outraged about the situation until late afternoon, when my attention was taken by spinach.

BestestHusband planted quite a bit of spinach for me, and it was ready to come in from the garden. Some of the plants were on the verge of bolting, and we have a warm sunny week coming up. So I brought in this lovely arrangement of spinach.

I was washing the dirt and bugs out in the sink when I realized how grimy I was, too. The smug self-righteousness ("Hmmph. I would never leave my sick kids at Sunday School and sneak off.") that I was actively entertaining throughout the day was like the bugs hiding in the spinach leaves. The bugs were small and few in-between, but until I expelled them from the bunch, the spinach was not fit for eating. And the self-righteous thoughts that filled my mind were polluting me, as well. 

One of my current favorite Facebook pages is Sanctimommy. It's a satire page devoted to laughing at the self-righteous parents out there who look down upon other parents who don't share their parenting philosophies. I derive a great deal of amusement from reading some of the ridiculous and judgemental statements made by other parents, most of them indirectly directed at people like me. (You know, a parent who doesn't slavishly follow the trendy new parenting habits like constant co-sleeping, nursing past toddlerhood, attachment parenting, serving only organic food on a paleo diet, etc.) I figure they deserve my laughing, because judgemental people suck, and if you think you can judge me, then I can laugh at you. 

Except I was the sanctimonious one today. I was the one doing the judging. I suck.

The kids today at VBS were learning about the concepts of Law and Gospel, as they pertain to our relationship with God and the world. "Law" is our mirror, our curb, our guide. It shows us a better God-designed way to live. It keeps us on a path designated by God. It shows us where we go wrong. And it tells us that we will never be perfect. "Gospel" is about grace. It is the reassurance that God loves us anyway, and that Christ washes away our bugs and dirt to make us clean. We will always be full of bugs and dirt, judgement and smugness. But Christ's death and resurrection provides us with the cleansing we need.

And so I'm thankful for smugness and bugs. It's a reminder that I'm not clean, and never will be on my own. And I'm thankful for the Gospel, and the knowledge that faith will be what I need. Because I'm sure tomorrow will bring its own version of bugs and smugs. And my grimy nature will get the best of me again.

Poor Puking Second Child...

I woke up this morning with grandiose plans. I had made lunches last night. (Pre-planning is not a given these days...) I had worked out a plan with my boss that I would go into work for a bit, then go tour the (low-on-my-choice-list) school HeyMama had gotten assigned to. It was going to be a busy and productive day. I was PREPARED! This has a way of setting me up for failure...

MeToo was up early. I heard her padding around upstairs. She woke up thirsty, and was helping herself to some water. I'm so thankful they can help themselves to necessities now, especially with baby #3 on the way. Except when they think a 7am necessity is eating the ears of their chocolate bunny... But that's a post for a different day. She came down to tell me she had spilled something. I couldn't quite understand her story. But that was ok. I was dressed. My hair was ironed. My makeup was on. I was ready to face the day, go upstairs, and remedy whatever the situation was. (Yes, our bedroom is downstairs. The rest of the house is upstairs. This is backwards from every other house I've ever lived in. But we have an actual master suite. I'm ok with it being downstairs, next to our unfinished basement, even if that sounds odd.) I carried her upstairs and into the kitchen to investigate. Nothing seemed amiss. Until I heard the sound. 

Hork... hork.... SPLAT! The glass of water she drank and some undigested carrots made their way onto the kitchen floor. I put her down, jumped back, and managed to escape the splatter zone. Poor MeToo did not. She threw up some more. Today was obviously not going to happen as planned. My day immediately re-organized itself in my mind as I wiped vomit off the floor. BestestHusband asked the question, "So, are you still going to the school tour?" Now, I'm extremely relaxed about sniffles, aches, pains, and the random preschooler medical complaints. "You'll be ok. It's time to go to school." And generally, they ARE just fine. If MeToo had puked in her bed last night, but awoken cheerful and ready to eat a big breakfast, I would have sent her to school. Bugs happen. Germs happen. She probably got it from preschool. So if she feels ok and is behaving normally, I'll send those germs back to preschool. I only work 2 days a week. Missing one of those days is kind of a big deal for me. But not with active puking. There was no way the child was going to leave the house today. I made BestestHusband take HeyMama to preschool. The puker was NOT going in the car.

Poor puking second child. Is it bad of me that my second thought was, "Whew, another day at home to catch up and recover from the last few weeks!"? Of course I feel bad that she feels bad. But it's a stomach bug. She's 3. She's healthy and hearty. She'll puke a bit, sleep a bit, watch some extra TV. The bug will eventually pass, then we'll pump her with some Gatorade and eat a BRAT diet for a day or so. She'll be fine. Chances are good that her sister will show the same symptoms tomorrow, and we'll do it all over again for her. I get some extra time at home to continue to process laundry, sweep floors, and sort clothing that needs to be moved to the basement. The last few weeks have been a hectic time of planning events at church, cooking, hosting house guests, late work nights for BestestHusband, Easter festivity planning, and general pregnancy exhaustion. The house is a disaster. I'm a disaster. Oddly enough, a puking 3 year old is not a disaster. Especially since she has mastered puking into a bucket.

I've been doing this mommy thing long enough not to feel guilty. A stomach bug is not a real cause to worry in our household. So I'm not worrying. I'm not fretting. I am taking the opportunity to get stuff done for ME. Guilt free. And cuddling my pitiful little MeToo, of course. In-between rationing her toast and banana intake. And sorting through clothes that my amazing Clothing Fairy, Jen, sent me from Texas. 

Now my only real worry is my Camelback water bottle. I'm thankful that MeToo is willing to drink water and keep herself hydrated. But does it need to be from my new water bottle? Do I try bleaching the germs off the bite valve? Or just burn it and get a new one?

I hope you all have a puke-free week!