Illness in the house!

What do you do when your sick?  I mean really. really. sick.  Last week a horrible illness came to our house (uninvited as always!)  It came home with son #2  in the form of a high fever, lethargy, coughing, stuffy head and general malaise.  It hung on throughout the week...until we finally sent in the big guns (an antibiotic) to help treat the junky, clunky, heavy-duty cough.  It is tapering off in the first person it hit, but not without taking a stab at ever other person in the house.  The big boy is sick... gunky, gunky nose and lethargy.  Slight fever and slight cough.  I got hit with a whammy version of it-- a cough that insists on going lower and lower into my chest, causing fits of hacking-- tearing at the lining of my throat.  Moms can't get sick.  They just can't, because there is just too much to do.  There are too many things to take care of.  But. I. sure. did.  and it's not going anywhere fast.  Nat  is "under the weather" but not like the rest of us.  The illness took a stab at him, but I don't think it's going to take him down.  Take that, virus!!

So what to do?  Here's what we do:  If you are sick at our house (and I mean really truly sick), we do what we can to ease your pain.  If you think french fries and chicken soup sound good, you get french fries and chicken soup.  If you want popsicles and "special sparkling soda", we try it!  There are blankets strewn accross the couch, there are snuggies and pillows and the like!  Beds come down-- from top bunk to a special spot on the floor so pillows can prop you up and moms can check on you in the night.  Mentholatum chest rub wafts through the air, coughdrops sit on the kitchen counter (along side cough medicine, antibiotics, tylenol and syringes!)  Blinds stay closed for a good part of the day.  Cartoons play as kids drift in and out of sleep.  Dishes get done a few at a time, here and there.  The laundry piles up into mounds and mounds.  Did I mention they are huge mounds?  We just do what we can to make it through the day.  We think of better days ahead and remind ourselves that we've been this sick before and managed to get well again!  Any and all water-conservation goes out the window!!  (Not that we were good at that before...)  Nathan takes baths that last for hours and hours... he sits with his head proped on the side of the tub almost asleep, as the water trickles over his sore ear.  We have chairs accross the bathroom for anyone who wants to take a turn staying by his side-- complete with space for a laptop or ipad, a book or a drink.  Anthony asks for steam showers several times a day to clear his head.  We muddle and struggle and just manage through the days, knowing that one day soon... it'll all be a distant memory!

When that day comes...then we'll clean the house-- open the blinds up wide-- tackle the mountains of laundry-- eat healthy-- exersise and organize and maybe even attempt to conserve a bit on the water!  (That'll be the day!  It can't come soon enough!!)

Where's the Sun?

     Every fall, it's exciting to see the leaves turn lovely shades of red, orange and yellow.  The cool air is always crisp, harboring an elusive feeling of anticipation.  We anticipate the changing of the seasons and the prospect of closing out one to proceed into another.  I love knowing that we have seasons and I love that we can look forward to a new one always just around the bend.  However, it's inevitable that every January, I am looking WAY forward to spring!!  When the clouds are grey and heavy and the air is continually damp, when the ground is soggy and the flower pots are brimming with rain water... I crave the sun!

     Around here, the sun does peak out occasionally.  It gives us a reminder that it has not left us alone for good.  We need to know that we are not left to our own devices under the thick, heavy, dark skies.  Even if the sun plays hide and seek, only coming out for a single day or even a single afternoon, we are relieved and refreshed and revived. 

     Yesterday, was a day of sun.  We visited the park and ran and played on the playground.  The families, the children, the dogs were all upbeat and energetic.  It was as if each one was saying, in their own way, "hooray for life!"  Everyone seemed relieved to know that the sun was still there.

     Today, it's grey.  Today it's drizzly and damp and cold.  The sun is hiding and can't be found, not even for a small peak!  But, we know (thanks to yesterday and the many other days it has showed it's smiley face) that it will appear again!

New Day... New Year... New Start...

     While there hasn't been a post on my blog since May of last year, there is quite simply "no time like the present!"  It was just last year that I discoved the world of blogging and have since realized how entertaining, inspiring and fulfilling it can be to follow along on other people's life stories and life perspectives.  I also realized how wonderfully creative some people write and I quickly digressed from my own writing.  Yet, as unsure of it as I am, it's a new day, a new year, and I'm ready to jump back into a new start at this blogging. 

     Being as the title of my blog is 'Moments of our Lives'... it is fitting to simply jump back into a single moment, without the need to recapture the entire last 6 months.  So, I will recount the night, nearly one week ago that we welcomed (ok... maybe I didn't warmly welcome) a large turtle into our household.  The littlest boy just turned nine years old.  He's been asking for a turtle, then a dog, and if not a dog, than how about a turtle... and so it went for the past half a year.  Our response was usually something like "we'll see..."  "not now..."  "save up your money..."  "that's a lot of work..." "hmmm...." and other less interesting responses, like "I just don't know, honey."

     As December neared, and we considered what gifts might be in order for a certain someone (who was turning 9)'s birthday, a turtle came back up for discussion.  Grandparents asked what the young boy wanted, and offered to help with the purchase of a turtle.  Being the frugal parent that I am, I dodged Petsmart and went straight to Craigslist.  To my suprise, there was a turtle up for "rehoming" in our very neck of the woods!  I was excited at the prospect of a turtle and all it's supplies coming home easily and in one fell swoop.

     The night of "pick-up" or "rehoming" eventually came and although the details of the entire encounter are too many and too crazy to include in this particular episode of journaling... suffice it to say, it was a late...very dark... and undoubtedly adventurous night that we experienced!  At some later date, maybe I can take time to relay the experience, but I will now jump straight to end of story:  Late night!  Giganitic (much bigger than I expected) 55 gallon aquarium tank!  Filters, heater, airator, cords!  Buckets!  Foods! Net, pump, book, papers!  Tank lights, covers, basking light, basking platform, rock structures!  And the most important part: a happy nine year old boy who changed the turtle's name from "Stella" to "Harold Salvione", because "how do we really know it's a girl anyway?"  

(And... in case you didn't know... Harold eats 7 goldfish on Sunday, shrimp on Tuesday, and Reptosticks on Thursdays and other times he needs a small treat.)    

(Harold Salvione)