Just when you might get it together...

Just when I thought I might be able to get it all together. You know how it is in January catch up laundry, catch up on housework and get some of this Christmas stuff put away. The boys are back in school and I'm ready to spend all day today working on the house. Get the kids in bed last night (Tues.) and Sean & I watch a little TV and start to clean up the kitchen.

That's when the scream came. The piercing wail followed by "MaMa!" For those of you who are mothers, I think you'll know what I mean when I tell you I knew from the moment the cry started that Rebekah had thrown up. I had 3 dishes left to load in the dishwasher and Sean was taking off at a run. I yell, "I'll be right there--she just threw up." He can't understand how I knew. It's a mom thing and something about 'that' cry. It's the throw up cry.

Poor kid had to get a shower while poor daddy had to deal with bed linens. (Please note: Sean can not stand anything involving throwing up. Just a minor whiff can send him racing for fresh air trying not to lose it himself.) So while I scrubbed it out of Rebekah's hair, he put fresh sheets in the crib and set up another set of clean PJ's in case it happened again. Which, of course, it did. I believe she was sick at 10:30pm. 11:15, 11:45 and 1:00am. Then she woke me up at 2:00 and 3:00 and got up at 3:45 ready to have a day. I wrestled with her until 4:30 when she woke her dad up. We both wrestled with her until she finally collapsed at 6am. I slept until the alarm at 7:10 and got up to face my day.

Today I found myself playing the role of Zombie Mom. Just trying to stay awake and do anything that resembled an accomplishment. I was able to grab a couple hour nap with Rebekah in the afternoon which kept me going until bedtime.

HERE'S MY POINT IN TELLING YOU THIS:
But through it all, I decided there isn't room for "poor me" in all of this. My friend Holly has 4 girls all born within 2.5 years. When they had the icky-sicky at their house, she was sick with 3 girls. The laundry that piled up was as tall as the washing machine. I'm sure it took her weeks to dig out of that ordeal. So I'm tired---big deal, get over it. Our new cyber-friends Chris & Ann Marie would give anything for their baby Coy to be well and out of NICU and at home. (While I don't think they'd be thrilled about the ickys, just having Coy at home would make it worth it.) So I threw myself a 20 minute pity party, nobody seemed interested in joining. What can you do but move on?

Rebekah is fine now. Went to the doctor today and it was a virus going around. It comes with either nausea or vomiting or diarrhea accompanied by a major league headache. She's over it and looking good. I'm feeling better after a good night of sleep.

Now all that's left is to pray for my friends. Coy is off his IV and infection free. He's having some breathing issues, so pray his lungs will mature. Holly's hubby is currently deployed and she is doing a marvelous job of being mommy and still heading up her ministry projects. Pray for her strength and wisdom and for her to continue being able to focus on the big picture.