Good thing being sick isn't our norm

We have been hit hard with sickness in the last three weeks or so. Both of the kids had fevers three weeks ago and we had our first course of antibiotics for each kid. They actually liked taking their medicine and they had to remind me about it more than once. So I guess I am raising responsible children even if I am not on top of it. It is ironic to forget about an antibiotic dose that is twice a day when I am a nurse.  After the course of antibiotics, Saku got the fifth disease. It didn't bother him too much so he just looked funny with the rash and red cheeks. 

Because the kids were sick during their well child visits, they couldn't get their vaccinations. I rescheduled a nurse visit so we could be up to date on their shots, especially Saku's for kindergarten registration. Eerika spiked a fever two days before the visit and got a nice rash within 24 hours of the visit. Our nurse visit turned into a doctor visit for her and she got diagnosed with hand, mouth and foot disease. No shots for her since her immune system already under attack.  Saku still got his three shots. It wasn't fun but we got it done and we don't have to do it for a while. 

Eerika had only one spot of rash. It seemed like a bad case of eczema, until she woke up (24 hours later) with rash everywhere else too. 

Eerika was miserable all of Wednesday. And when she started to feel better, Saku spiked a fever of 102. Sure enough, he has sores in his mouth and very sore throat. He has lived on few crackers and root beer to wash down the ibuprofen for the past 24+ hours. 

The rash is around her mouth;fortunately, it didn't get inside her mouth. 

And her hands.

The kids handle sickness so differently. Of course I can't tell how they physically feel but emotionally they are very different. Saku is so whiney. It is enough to drive you crazy. Hence I am writing this while Jake and Never Land Pirates gives all of us a little break from feeling "not good at all" as Saku puts it. Eerika gets cranky when she is sick but she is definitely a trooper. Saku will cry and cry and then after a dose of ibuprofen, he will be as good as new until he doesn't feel good again and then he will cry and cry. 

So in between Eerika's new found sassyness and temper tantrums, plus recovering from being sick and Saku's oversensitivity to feeling sick, my patience and charity toward them are being tested. 

It is hard being a mom and taking care of kids who don't feel well. I feel awful for them. I love them so much. But it doesn't mean that the whining, the crying, the neediness, the lack of patience from them doesn't wear on you. Especially when it has been five days of it. Actually I am thinking of that the fact that I love them so much and I think the world of them, it is hard when you want to shut yourself in a room and say "see you in few hours".  While there is so sick day for a mom, Troy has been awesome and I have gotten some good runs in this week. Actually the only way we survived yesterday was the fact that I went for a run before Troy left for a work and I took a nap with the kids. Sick day isn't as bad when you sleep three hours of it away:)

The silver lining is that we aren't sick very often. We don't have chronic illnesses to deal with. We aren't battling serious, life threatening illnesses. So as long as I loosen up a bit and let them watch more TV, we should all survive this.