The good, the bad and the ugly.

Let me first apologize for the lack of photos in this post.  I know they are more interesting than my words.  But suffice it to say, the bad and the ugly in this post should lead you to believe the pictures may not have been worth seeing anyway.

We'll start with the 'good' of the past few days.  It was definitely good that I was able to be home with the kids on Friday.  I also found it good that the bit of freezing rain we had here early that morning was enough to delay school and therefore cancel morning kindergarten for Joshua.  That meant no bundling of the girls to go out to pick Joshua up at 11:00.  We spent the morning baking cookies, watching Christmas shows on TV and giggling together at home.  After a 2+ hour nap for Mara in her crib (go ahead and pause as you listen to the angels singing about that).....................I treated the kids to some play time at The Well, a new indoor playland that is attached to a coffee shop at Joshua's school.  They ran and played while Mara and I hung out in the toddler area.  They were sufficiently hungry and tired by the time I got them home for supper, which made for a pretty painless meal/bedtime routine.  I was feeling like I had this Mom thing licked.

Even on Saturday morning, we were firing on all cylinders crossing things off of the to do list.  The girls and I made a Target run to pick up a few last minute things that we needed, while Jason and Josh hit the mall for a little shopping of their own.  Saturday evening, Jason and I even managed a night out, albeit for an event with his business team and clients, but we were out of the house on a Saturday night without the kids.  It didn't hurt that it was for the Martina McBride Christmas Concert at the Community Arts Center.  Since Jason and Donna sponsored the show, we even got a chance to meet Martina and have our picture taken with her.  Amazing.  Everything was going great.  Until...

And here's where the bad and ugly start.

Oh how quickly things change in the land of motherhood.  We walked in the door on Saturday night to find Joshua crying on the couch saying that his mouth hurt and he couldn't get to sleep.  The girls were asleep, although Mara was hot.  Like fevered hot.  It was as if we were being punished for having fun.  Jason got Joshua settled while I worked with Mara- because she was wide awake and fussing at the sound of our voices.  Bless her heart, Lauren was fast asleep and remained that way.  She was my favorite that evening.  (Just kidding.  Sort of.) 

The bad is that Mara's fever remained an issue all night and all day Sunday.  She was obviously not feeling well, as evidenced by the fact that I literally could not put her down.  I didn't even manage a shower because she was screaming if I wasn't holding her.  We obviously didn't make it to church.  Joshua was a continued mess on Sunday, as he developed ulcer like sores all through his mouth.  We had been down that road once before, and I wasn't looking forward to where this was headed.  Mara seemed to be the one in the worst shape, though, so we just kept cuddling her and trying to help her feel better.  Lots of nursing, lots of snuggling and a very long night in the rocking chair were the prescription for the littlest of us.  The brightest spot on Sunday was a yummy shepherd's pie supper that Jason cooked for us.  It was so good!

And here comes the ugly.

Joshua's sores really turned into a mess on Sunday night/Monday.  All day Monday all he did was cry, and nothing I was giving him was coming anywhere near touching the pain he was having.  He hadn't eaten since Sunday at lunch time, and even that wasn't an impressive meal.  Getting him to drink was just about impossible, and getting medicine into him was even worse.  We went to the doctor to have him looked at and they don't know exaclty what is causing the problem, but said that some kids develop sores in their mouth when their bodies are stressed, like with a virus, etc.  He said Joshua's were really nasty and said he would give us some medication to try to help.  So we spent the rest of the night trying to make him as comfortable as possible and trying to keep him from crying.  We failed miserably and he sobbed, even in his sleep, until about midnight.  Finally, at that point, I moved him to his own bed and he managed to get a good night's rest.

See, I told you that you wouldn't want pictures of all of that.

Today he appears to be on the mend at least a little bit.  He had a pancake for breakfast with some encouragement.  Actually, I kept chanting to him, "You are brave, you are strong, you are tough!" while doing a silly dance to get him to focus on how silly I looked instead of how much it hurt him to eat.  Hey, whatever it takes, right?  Reports from the homefront this morning are that he is crying off and on, and staying pretty quiet since it hurts for him to talk.  Poor buddy.  I really hope he is feeling better soon.  It breaks my heart to see him hurting like this.  And I may have discovered the culprit for Mara's fever.  While playing last night before bed, I discovered two new top teeth, and one more almost through on the bottom.  She only had one the last I had checked, so the little lady has been pretty busy!  No wonder she felt crummy.

Today I am back in the office, trying to catch up from the Friday and Monday I spent at home as well as to sneak in a few Christmas tasks on the list as I am able.  This is going to be a jam packed two week stretch between now and Christmas, but I am determined to focus on JOY and PEACE instead of stress this holiday season.  I love Christmas so much and will just not let the to do list overshadow the happiness and celebration that the holiday deserves.  Somehow, everything will get done.  It always does.

Just call me and read that all back to me in the middle of next week when I'm having my annual meltdown, OK?