If there is a downside to being the stay-at-home parent, it's that you're on duty 24-7. Sure, there's a lot of downtime or simply fun time, like afternoons at the park or the pool or whatever. But days like yesterday, when I could feel the onset of a sinus cold, are not fun. There are no sick days for Mommy.
And, of course, I had to start getting sick the night before Connor's preschool field trip, to the local children's theatre to see a production about pirates. We had already paid in advance, and the show must go on. Luckily, Daddy needed to run an errand down town this morning, so he offered to take him. I'm not sure I could have made it through a front-row seat to a loud children's show with a pretty severe headache and ringing ears. I'm not even sure I could have managed getting us there and parked with my fuzzy head.
Option number two was to stay home with the little guys, get them dressed and fed and ready for school. That went pretty well, despite Sawyer's recent aversion to being dropped off at school. And it would be nice to tell you I came home to rest in the empty house, but that didn't happen either. The floors were quite disgusting after a week of wet puppy and messy boys, so I swept and washed them. I also took the same needy puppy for a much-needed walk (it's been raining here since Sunday morning).
Essentially, the day must go on. Kids have to go to and from preschool. Meals have to be made. Whims gratified (at least enough to keep the screaming at bay, for the headache, of course). Laundry and housework must be done.
The one break I did take, a little siesta on the office couch (protected by baby gates), resulted in chaos - couch cushions all over the floor, toys scattered from one end of the house to the other, and some shaken pastries. What, you ask? Oh, my two little guys have discovered that by moving the trash can around, you can climb on top of it and reach things on the island bar in the kitchen. Like the container of pastries, which they proceeded to shake until they're more like pastry bites. Kind of like the cookies from earlier in the week.
It's been an interesting day, to say the least. Here's hoping that my second night on the couch helps with the cold (and doesn't infect the rest of the family) and that the little people will stay in bed longer than the 7:30 a.m. they came bouncing down the stairs this morning. If she can't call in sick, she at least expects to sleep in until our normal 8 a.m. or so!
