Don’t you just hate it when you get those? Two of my children are sick, Anika and Kyra. Ani came down with a whopping fever on Tuesday and has been pretty much glued to the couch ever since. Her fever seems a bit lower this morning than the 104 it was yesterday, but now she’s picked up a wonderful bonus cough to make her days more cheery and she’s managed to infect her sister, who acquired her own shiny new fever yesterday.

Kyra’s fever looks like it’s still on its way up. The girls are half comatose on the couch watching movies (”Ghost Rider” at the moment and they’re planning on “The Nutcracker” next. I cannot figure out why the kids like Ghost Rider, which is pretty near the top of the moronic film list, but they all think it’s reeeally cooool, Mom). I went to check on them again after making sure all the orange juice cups were filled, they each had some fruit (kiwi for Anika and apples for Kyra, which is what they each requested and neither are eating), and were ok enough for me to sit down and eat my breakfast real quick (grapefruit with sugar on it. Yuuuummmmyyyyy!!!!).

Kyra looked at me with a tearful face and sadly announced that she had mushroom eyes. Apparently this was something I was supposed to be able to fix. Hmmm, skinned knees, bruised egos, dropped seams on favorite dresses, toys in need of a bit of glue ~ all these things I know what to do with. I don’t remember any chapter in the parenting books about mushroom eyes.

Assuming that “mushroom eyes” was Kyra code for weepy eyes, I told her that they were just teary from her fever and that they would be ok when she gets better. She seemed content with this and settled right back down on the couch to watch some more of Nicholas Cage proving to the world (again) how little acting talent he actually possesses. Ha, look at that! I guess I do know how to fix mushroom eyes.

George and I were planning to have this weekend alone, so we could get some Just Us time in before the new baby comes next month. We had arrangements for all the kids to go places and everything. Unless the girls have some miraculous recovery in the next four hours, it looks like we’ll be postponing that. I told the big kids this morning that we’d have to try again in a couple of weeks, and they were hugely disappointed. Georgie and Trinity both were going to go spend two nights at friends’ houses, which is quite a treat for them.

My husband appears to be nearly equally disappointed. When I told him I was going to call the hosting families for the kids this morning and cancel, he said to wait until this afternoon. This probably means he’s still hoping it will work out. I’m planning to make some cinnamon rolls this afternoon (which I was planning to do for George and I for this weekend anyway), and we can have them tomorrow for breakfast.

All week I’ve been working immaculatizing the house so that it would be relaxing for our weekend away at home (deep cleaning and I become mortal enemies when I’m pregnant. I can keep the laundry and dishes done and the place tolerably tidy on a semi-regular basis, but that consumes most of my meager energy supplies and leaves not much left over for actual proper cleaning). Earlier this week I cleaned my
bedroom and bathroom including dusting, vacuuming even in the corners, and scrubbing the shower, all of which tends to get done once in a blue never.

Then I cleaned the kids’ bathroom, which is a big undertaking since some of them whose names are Kyra and Faith seem to think that toothpaste is an interior design medium like paint. After a good deal of effort, I did manage to remove all the blue goo from the walls, mirror, counter, and floor. The laundry is almost done and I’m going to finish cleaning the house up hopefully today and tomorrow so that
hopefully this will be as relaxing a weekend as possible even though the house is filled with sick and/or disappointed people. I will not be one of them! I will have a good attitude and not complain.

I bought a package of Airborne yesterday and have been wolfing it down in an concerted effort to not catch plague (yes, I have the midwife’s ok. Since I tend to catch everything when I’m pregnant, the choice between a pregnant woman with a 104 fever or a pregnant woman sucking down extra vitamins and stuff seemed pretty easy to make!).

I’m off to go scrub my fangs (that’s one of my favorite George-isms) and then sit on the couch with whichever little girl needs a Mommy pillow for a little bit. Well, after I swap out the next load of laundry, change a stinky diaper, and throw some ingredients in the bread machine for cinnamon rolls (I have this awesome recipe for Cinnabon cinnamon rolls that you make in the breadmaker. They come out sooooo wonderful!). If I get ambitious, I’ll post it here later in the week.

Rachel