April 4, 2008

Last night was the second time in the year and two months that they boys have been home that I had to get up during the night with Nick.

Nick caught another virus from church last Sunday. He seemed fine when we went to MOPS on Tuesday, but by that evening his nose was running. On Wednesday he started running a fever and his nose has been running very badly since then. Yesterday afternoon, he was playing as if he felt fine. I took his temperature and was shocked to see that it was 105.3. We had to start overlapping Ibuprofen and Tylenol to get it to stay down. The Ibuprofen wore off right around 2:00am last night.

When I got him out of bed yesterday morning, he had wet through his diaper and was soaking wet...and he was burning up with fever and clearly felt very badly. I knew that with being that wet and having the fever, he had probably been chilling at some point. I told him that if he wakes up and needs me he should call "mommy! mommy!" and I will come to help him. He repeated the "mommy! mommy!" after me, as if practicing, but I was not sure if he really understood.

This morning at around 2:00am, I heard "mommy! daddy! mommy! daddy!". He was also crying and it sounded as if he was scared. I rushed upstairs and picked him up and he was pointing to his bed, saying "ants! ants!". This is the second time this has happened....that he thought there were ants in his bed, although the first time was towards the end of a nap, a week or so ago. We have been battling ants in the sandbox for a couple of weeks and we have also had some ant problems in the house recently, although none in the bedrooms, thankfully.

Ben was awake and sitting up at this point so I turned on the light to show them there were no ants in the bed. I was going to lay down with Nick but he was frantic about the ants and wanted no part of his new bed at that point. Also, as I was sitting down on the bed, my cheek rubbed against his and I realized that his fever was back up. So I took him downstairs and gave him more medication.

We went back upstairs and rocked in the rocking recliner in their room. Ben sat in his crib, watching (he was in his crib because he still has not been able to stay in his new bed, although he has been, and continues to be, given lots of opportunities....he's just not quite ready yet it seems:). I asked Ben if he wanted to rock with us but he said no. Nick and I rocked for quite a while. At one point I could tell he was a bit restless and was not falling asleep so I asked him if he wanted to get back in his bed. He said "yes, old bed". He did not want to sleep in the new bed because he still thought it might have ants.

So I put him in his crib and rubbed his back a bit and then rubbed Ben's back a bit and then just stood leaning on Nick's crib, watching him try to go back to sleep. I thought he would fall asleep fairly quickly at this point but he was very restless. He finally fell asleep on his back, his thumb falling out of his mouth. Ben was also asleep by this time. So I tip toed towards the door and, just when I was out of his line of sight, I heard "mommy!".

I went back to Nick's crib and explained to him that I was tired and needed to go night night too. When we were downstairs, he had asked me where Daddy was and I had told him that daddy was in his bed sleeping. I think this was all a revelation to him, that mommy and daddy sleep too at night time. Anyway, he told me "hug?" and stood up to give me a big hug and then he was fine.

The funny thing is that I ended up feeling that both of the boys were so very sweet, even though neither of them were feeling that great. (Ben is congested with the same virus that Nick has.) I sat in the rocking chair, rocking Nick and watching Ben, thinking that I could just sit there all night. I am thankful that my boys are such good sleepers but since this was only the second time I have had to get up during the night with Nick (and once so far with Ben), I just ended up feeling privileged and thankful that I am their mom and I could be there for them when they needed me. There is just nothing quite like seeing your little ones sick and feeling badly that brings out that nurturing feeling in a mom.

When Nick's temp spiked yesterday afternoon, it was just before lunch so we had not eaten yet. He was chilling and shaking badly so I sat with him with a blanket over him and rocked, all the while knowing that Ben was probably starting to get pretty hungry. But Nick did not want me to put him down. At one point, he said "night night?" and I asked him if he wanted to go night night and he said yes. I explained that Ben would not want to go night night yet and asked if he still wanted to go by himself. He said no but then a couple of minutes later he asked "mommy and daddy's bed?". I asked him if he wanted to go lay down in our bed and he said yes. So I took him in there, tucked him in, gave him a few small toys and turned on a children's program. I explained to him that I needed to fix lunch for Ben and he could call me if he needed me.

I checked in on him often and he was doing fine. About the time Ben was almost finished with his lunch, Nick was feeling better. The medicine had brought his temperature down a bit so he was ready to eat and he ate well and then they both took a good nap.

I can tell my body is fighting this virus also. I felt great yesterday morning but by the afternoon, the glands in my neck were really sore and by last night my throat was hurting a bit and I was feeling drained.

I am happy to say that the boys both seemed to be feeling better this morning. We read for a while and then had a fun time playing with play dough. After that, the boys had fun playing with buttons. They pretend they are food (they don't put them in their mouths though) and they pour them from bowl to cup and bowl to bowl, etc. Then they had the best time pouring them on the top of the cardboard slide we still have set up in the library/playroom and watching all the buttons slide down the slide. I would help them pick them up and they would do it over and over. It actually looked pretty cool when all of those different colored and sized buttons all slid down the slide:).

In the past, I have not been so easy going about the button play and did not like them to scatter them all over the floor. I have been working on chilling out about stuff like this and I was rewarded for it today. What a fun time they had. They were just giddy and I found it quite funny.

Afterwards, they decided to 'go shopping with/for mama gorilla (Grandma Rilla)' and they pushed their shopping carts all around the house. I made up a grocery list for each of them, which helped them enjoy their shopping adventure a bit longer.They are playing so nicely together these days and we are all having a fun time together.

I recently relocated all of their dishes and cups to a low shelf that they can reach so they can help get their dishes and cups and put them away from the dishwasher. They love to help with everything these days so I look for ways in which they can help. They sit up on the dryer and I hand them clothes to throw into the washing machine. They help get the clothes out of the dryer and they have helped to dust and clean some windows here and there. They love to try to sweep and they love to help stir anything I am fixing in the kitchen. Yesterday when Ben was playing, he did a great imitation of me mixing up some scrambled eggs. It was really funny.

We may all be going to Kansas City later in April to a homeschooling convention. There are lots of speakers I would like to hear so I am hoping it works out. We're still waiting to see if the dad can get the time off. He is suppose to give two months notice for time off and we only had one months notice so we may not get to go but we are hopeful. Also, our friends from KC are coming to visit us the weekend before the convention. So, if we end up going, we will get to see them two weekends in a row, which would be so much fun.

Overall, life is good with us, even though we are going through another round of colds so soon. I am always amazed at how the boys just keep going, like energizer bunnies, even when they don't feel that great. I love spending time with them, playing with them and teaching them things. I have not been spending nearly as much time online lately, since I have been working on lifebooks and also had been doing some reorganizing of my 'stuff' (life/scrap booking stuff and homeschooling stuff mostly).

Well, I have written a book, making up for missing so many days. Time to go get something done before the sweeties wake up:). Have I mentioned that I love being a mom and wife? I love my life. Thank you Lord for blessing me so abundantly:).