Sick Days

Don't you just love it when you go in to check your sleeping beauties in the night and find that you stand in sick and then put your hand in it as you try to pick up your baby who is rolling around in it? No? Just me?

Honestly I am not weird, it is disgusting but as every mother knows it is the natural course of motherhood to be covered in this vile substance at various points, particularly when our children are so young. I've had my fair share now of vomit covered clothes. Mr Social started it off by having reflux as a baby and he could have entered a competition of projectile vomiters and would have had a good chance of winning not only distance but volume. That was a lovely introduction to motherhood. But milky sick, although smelly, is almost pleasant compared to what it turns into when you add solid food into the diet. This is where Mr Cheeky wins the prize for a truly horrible moment when he was 2 he came for a cuddle which I freely gave only to be rewarded by being covered head to foot with his dinner, lunch and breakfast. So bad was this the only option was to carry him up to the shower and stand in it with him fully clothed.

Now Mr Smiley has joined the club and spent this last week attempting to see how much sick he could get on me and eventually succeeded with a sneaky hit from behind.

It has been stomach bug central in our house now for 2 weeks. Mr Social was the first to be struck, which he politely passed on to me. I had a brief few days where I thought we had got off lightly if only 2 people in the house were only affected, but then Mr Smiley came down with it and the day after the back hit of vomit I was struck again...thank you my dear son. Again another few days has gone and Mr Faithful is now suffering so that leaves only Mr Cheeky in good health. I fear that this week Mr Cheeky may well be dealing with the effects of this particularly nasty strain of stomach virus but I do hope he remains unaffected.

Now as a mother we all know that we are not allowed to be sick. Extra sleep, feet up, no chores, fresh drinks delivered to order, extra cuddles, soothing words, all of which we prescribe for our poorly patients is not something we have available for ourselves. As hard as it is we have to drag ourselves from our beds and see to the needs of our family. When sick I go into survival mode, energy conservation for the most important tasks...mainly providing food for the hungry mob. I am in a fortunate position though that I have another mother close by who loves my children as much as I do...my mother-in-law. She was my super hero this last week. I had to call for reinforcements and she was here, but not wanting to infect her either I asked for her to take out the now healthy Mr Social and Mr Cheeky, which meant that I only had to take care of Mr Smiley who was still recovering so I was hoping to lull him into dreamy breastfeeding sleep whilst I got over the worst of it. My mother-in-law was a life-saver last week, but then she always is. She is kind and generous, helpful and loving, respectful and genuine. I am very blessed to have a mother-in-law like this and deserves a medal for her years of service to her own family and now for her grandchildren.

Life in our household has been topsy turvy now for 2 weeks and looks set to be still muddled this week as I am still waging war with a mop and bucket and plenty of bleach and disinfectant against a stomach bug that seems to enjoy the hospitality we are offering it, but this is one guest I do not want. This guest is not a guest and is trespassing in my home and it's high time it left without delay. War has been declared and we all know that when her family is under threat and peace has been disturbed in the home then the mother who declares war will surely see to it that peace is restored.