As Joel stated in his last blog, Nicholas and Dexter tried to take me out with a cold this past weekend and I’m still fighting. Laura finally succumbed this morning so I’m at home with the boys today. Anyway, in the past, when I’ve had colds, I’d usually grab the Kleenex box and my blanket, and curl up on the couch. This time however, Nicholas and Dexter just wouldn’t give me that luxury. So instead, I had to shove pieces of Kleenex up my nose on Saturday, which they found terribly amusing and tried to pull them out, and work really hard at not spreading germs.

Then, on Sunday, the cold moved to my throat. This day the boys choose to test me by climbing into their camping chairs and standing up on them – over and over again. You know the drill. Look at Mommy. Smile. Climb into chair. Look at Mommy. Smile bigger. Stand up. Mommy asks nicely to sit down. Smile and sit. Smile again and stand. Mommy just says “sit down” no please involved. Smile, laugh and sit. Stand again. Mommy yells.  Multiply this by 2.  Chairs go into timeout. Boys cry. Not talking was out of the question. By the end of the day, I had no voice.

Monday is my traditional day at home. Now the cold had moved into my chest. Oh, I sounded lovely. By 5:30pm I’m thinking, hold on for just two more hours….. The next day I attempt to go to work for some peace and quiet. After three hours my coworkers ban me from the office and send me home. Luckily, Laura is working that day and for the first time since going on bed rest, I’m able to crawl into bed with my Kleenex box and watch bad TV for two blissful hours.

Now you might be wondering why this post is titled Appreciation and not Whining. Here it is. On Sunday, I dropped my mom’s birthday presents and cake off at her house because I banned her from mine. I think I might have given her the best present ever when I turned to her and said “Mom – I really appreciate you. Taking care of kids when you are sick and all you want to do is curl up in a ball, sucks. WOW – Thank you.” Thank you to all you moms out there who shove the sickness to the side and put the family first. You are amazing.

Don’t get me wrong.  Joel helped out immenselybut he was sick too so that meant little sitting around.  Anyway, that’s about it for today.  I”m ready to crawl into bed and hope my developing sinus infection takes a hike.