Tuesday, September 2, 2014

A sickly Labor Day weekend, and Henry's first day of 4th grade...

Happy Tuesday everyone, and I hope you had a great Labor Day. I love Labor Day weekend, so crisp and fresh-feeling. This year, I was sick for the entirety of the weekend, unfortunately, and in fact I'm still not back to 100%. I did have a lovely time with Mike and the kids, but the sick thing stunk a bit. Let us chronicle...

On Friday evening I was really stuffy, a hair headachey and generally feeling wimpy. We went to my in-laws to have cake in celebration of my father-in-law's birthday, and while pleasant, I was just *dying* to get home, put on pajamas, and lay on the couch doing nothing but breathing. Since I didn't have dance class this week, I was able to do that.

By the time I awoke on Saturday, my nose was an entity. I think I went through about 500 pieces of tissue. I was contemplating amputation by mid-afternoon. Aren't you so glad for these details? You're welcome.

:0

Mike and I had dinner plans that evening, and I really didn't want to cancel, so I rallied. I had things as under control as I could so that I could enjoy dinner. Which is to say ibuprofened-up with a purse full of tissue. It went pretty well.

During the night, I heard Anne crying. I go into her room.

"Mommy, could you take my temperature? My throat hurts."

UH OH.

She didn't have a fever, but definitely seemed a bit "off." By Sunday, I was only going through maybe 250 tissues so there had been some improvement. :0 I was, however, starting to cough.

WHY DOES GOD HATE ME LIKE THIS?!

I loathe coughing because it means I can't sleep well. And sleep, when you are a parent of young children, is a precious, precious commodity.

I didn't want to miss Mass on Sunday, so I dragged myself with only minimal hacking and tissue-related activities. As discreet as I was, it was still evident that there had been germs amongst us, and I thought that would have discouraged the people sitting near me during the Sign of Peace. I was wrong.

I'm sure all of you introverts out there are with me when I saw that the Sign of Peace is the most stressful part of Mass for me. :0 Eye contact needs to be made, a greeting, *touching*, it's just not my cup of tea. But I don't want to be rude, so I let the other person lead. I will either shake their hand or nod happily in their direction while wishing them peace, depending upon what they do. But yesterday? I wasn't shaking anybody's hand after all the nose blowing I was forced to do, it just would not have been seemly. When the eager hands came my way, I politely whispered that I had a cold and gave them a friendly wave. I hope they weren't offended. :-)

So I was managing the coughing by Sunday evening as best I could, and since Anne seemed to perk up a bit, I was hoping she was already on the up swing and maybe had only a very minor cold. I did, though, have the fever rash to end all fever rashes on my neck. You've all heard my tale of woe on this one before. This time at least, besides Mass, to which I wore a high-necked top, I could stay in. But still. Oy. My own mother saw me and exclaimed loudly:

"OH MY GOSH!! What is wrong with *your neck*?!"

"It's a rash. I get them all the time now when I'm sick."

"Well, you didn't when you were little, I WOULD HAVE REMEMBERED."

"Yes, it seems to have developed about 10 years ago." Lucky me.

"Well, you can't go to work like that. Good heavens."

*Tiffany frowns*

And then, to add to the fun:

5 am Monday morning: *Anne is crying* "MOMMY!"

She didn't feel good. She was stuffy and having a difficult time breathing out of her nose, keeping her awake. She said that her head hurt.

Poor, poor babe. Yesterday afternoon, after trying to sniff a scented candle, she came running up to me saying "Mommy, MY NOSE ISN'T WORKING!!" She was quite distressed about this. #precious

So I coddled her all day yesterday. My nose is now doing pretty decent, but my lungs and throat clearly aren't happy. I'm coughing more than ever and have developed what Mike calls my "sultry voice." While not nearly as much fun for me as it is for him, he enjoys this side effect quite a bit. :-)

This morning we also got Henry up for his first day of fourth grade. My baby! He seemed apprehensive, and change is always hard for him. The kid is so much like me.

I wanted a picture of him for his first day, looking adorable in his school uniform (approved summer wear permissible until October 1st):

"Henry, could you try and smile so that you won't look like you're about to be incarcerated?"

:-)

And so then we got this:

Eventually. There were multiple failed smile attempts in there that were...Henry will be very glad I deleted those. :0 But photos are not his favorite thing right now, to be sure. I'm very anxious to hear about his day.

All right, I need to go make more tea for my throat. How was your Labor Day? Do comment. :)

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