The Joy of the Flu

I thought since everyone else was posting about puke, I'd better jump on the bandwagon! (Sorry Alicia!) I don't get sick very often. When I do, it's usually a cold that lasts for a few short days and goes away without incident. I did have a pretty nasty cough a couple of months ago, but no big deal right! Who has time to be sick when you've got a husband, 3 kids, a house to keep in some sense of order, and a dog?

Of course when Spencer gets sick, the world stops. Literally! I remember one year he had a cold, and I could have sworn that I had gained another extra whiny child. One night while he was lying in bed suffering so, he yelled for me to come upstairs quick. I thought he was in major pain so I book it upstairs to find him lying there, patheticly reaching for his glass of water that could not have been more than 3 inches away from him on the nightstand! He actually called me up there to get him his glass of water!!! Maybe I'm heartless, but I don't usually have much sympathy for him anymore if he has a cold or sniffle. I'm the kind of person that usually thinks, "Okay, I'm a little bit sick, no big deal. I don't have time to be sick. Get over it already!"

Well, yesterday was a completely different story. I woke up yesterday morning with a stomach ache, but just chalked it up to all of the crap that I've consumed in the last five days. So I went on through my morning as usual, only having to stop whatever I was doing about every 5 seconds because I was doubled over in pain. No biggie. "You kids want to go out and ride bikes? Sure. Let me just hold Jake who by the way, weighs 35 lbs, because the grass is wet. Okay, Jake you're really hurting me now, let's switch you to the other side. Okay, that's not working either. Kids, sorry but we have to cut the bike ride short cuz Mom's in pain here".

So we go in and get lunch going, but not before I tripped over Jake's cool new scooter(that he doesn't have to use his feet for by the way. How cool is that! Way to go Grandma!) holding Jake, and we both tumble to the floor. Jake was obviously scared, but was fine. I, on the other hand hurt my back and both legs in the process. Seriously!! What is it with my tripping lately? As I'm lying on the floor face down in pain from my stomach down to my feet, Hannah offers to make lunch for the boys for me. What a great kid! Josh then offers to pick up all the toys too! Seriously, let's all feel like crap everyday! That's how you get your kids to help without complaining!!! Anyway after a few minutes on the floor, I peel myself up and make lunch. By the time that Spencer comes home at noon, I'm totally wiped out, practically laying on the counter and counting the minutes until naptime.

I thought for sure that after a little nap that I would feel loads better....Or not. I went to sleep at 1pm and the kids woke up at 3. But I still felt like junk. I took Jake downstairs and told Spencer that I was going back to bed for a while. Well I wasn't in bed 5 minutes when lunch came up for a visit. You know that feeling where you just want to puke to feel better? I was feeling that desperate. I puked again at 5, went back to bed and heard the kids run upstairs. Hannah comes in with pure delight on her face and says,"Mom, it must be your lucky day cuz you don't have to cook! Dad's taking us to McDonald's!" I was never so happy for them in all my life. Finally I could have an hour of sleep without noise! She and Josh also informed me that they were going to clean everything up so I would feel better. I love kids!

Anyway, I spent the rest of the night in my bed and slept until 8 o'clock this morning! I still can't believe that I spent 19 hours in that bed! Boy was it nice though. I woke up this morning feeling much better and as today is our 10th anniversary I even felt up for going out to dinner tonight! It was great. We went to Outback and I had the No Rules Pasta and a surpisingly yummy Mango Lemonade. Very tasty. So now I'm stuck with a stomach ache again, but at least I know it's only because I gorged myself at dinner and not the trusty flu coming around again!

So for all you sickies out there, stay in bed, it's worth it!