Sick baby-itis

Having a sick baby is absolutely exhausting! I feel like I need treatment for surviving 'sick baby-itis.' I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. No, I'm not dying. I'm living again! Ah, the sweet sound of a baby napping (that lasts longer than 20 minutes and doesn't involve baby waking with a piercing scream).

Here are some funny things I learned this week:

- You can go to a well check up, be given a clean bill of health, only to be back 48 hours later with pink eye, a horrible, wheezy cough and a myriad of other ailments.

- Wal-mart is the LAST place you should take your prescription when you have a sick baby. True, I got all the groceries and remedies I needed for cheap, and while I waited. But it cost me 1 hour and 45 minutes. That's right. It took them an hour and 45 min just to fill my prescriptions! (I will never be going back there, to say the least).

- Sick kids makes me brutally honest. When the pharmacist says nicely to my screaming baby (an hour into my wait), "Poor baby. Are you hungry?" I respond curtly, "No, he just needs his prescriptions, thank you!"

-You know you are desperate when you put your kids in the car, 1) hoping baby will fall asleep, and 2) hoping to minimize messes from bigger kids ('cause you can't handle cleaning up anything else right now). All while you bawl to your husband on the phone, who listens helplessly, but empathetic ally from across the country in his big rig... and then you feel better.

- Falling asleep giving nebulizer treatments at 1am will give you a serious neck ache.

- Sleep deprivation + regular daily life = 'senior moments' such as leaving my keys IN the ignition WITH the doors unlocked...ALL night long. Oh, and your neighbor, who's kid I'm supposed to take to school, is the one that spots them in the ignition when I panic that I absolutely cannot find my keys. Oops. I feel really responsible. Sure you wanna send your kid with me today?

- If in doubt, shampoo twice. While sneaking my 5 minute shower, I'm so dazed, that half way through I find myself standing there trying to remember if I already shampooed my hair or not. Luckily I pulled it together and concluded that shampooing again instead of wasting valuable shower time thinking about it just make more sense.

- One handed food (meaning food you can prepare with one hand while holding a fussy baby) will make you gain weight. 1 1/2 lbs, to be exact. This throws off my 'Biggest Looser- Sister's Edition' contest that I am...not really winning anyway.

- Though you've a cool plan going to get your kids to eat their veggies first, you're just happy they are eating something for dinner...besides cold cereal, which they had for breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks. And they loved it each time.

- While most weeks I am annoyed by the recent Power Ranger obsession at our house (have you SEEN their movies? I can hardly keep from gagging at their special affects and terrible acting. Yes, I went through film school vicariously with my husband), this week I am thrilled they are glued to the TV while I keep my head above water. Did I mention I especially love the Pink Ranger?

- When your oldest child reminds YOU to say prayers in the morning, you know that, a) you've totally lost your routine, and b) you either did something right or you've got an incredibly sweet child. Either answer brightens my day. Then he prays that Dallin will not cough at night so mommy can get more sleep. (Is it that obvious?) I'm grateful for the plea anyway.

- As my father-in-law says (this is his life motto), "The sun will come out tomorrow!"

Dallin is back to his sweet, smiley self again and tomorrow has never looked brighter! Baby is laughing, the sun is shining... holy cow, my house is a wreck and my to do list is 6 feet long!!! Looks like I'll need to renew Power Rangers from the library to catch up.