Booooo!

Haha!  First, I have to laugh at you Eric!  You weren't supposed to notice this...  Lol!  My own fault for following your blog, I suppose!  :)

It's the crazy, and yet completely reasonable things that run through my head at any given moment that I notice...  I just wish the thoughts could have better timing with their arrival! 

I went to bed last night around 11:30, with Forrest.  He was exhausted, but unusually, I wasn't sleepy yet.  Yay for my Nook!  I can quietly read in the dark without waking Forrest!  :)  Shhhh!!  Don't tell him I got another book!   :)  So, I read til about 12:30 before thinking I better get some sleep, or I'll fall asleep on my 5th graders.  I turn off the book and doze a little.  Woke up at 1:00 with little nagging thoughts running thru my head.  Nothing critical at this point, but one of those little nagging ideas is that I didn't take time to journal yesterday.  Booo!  Eric finds a way to journal daily, some days more than once!  He adds cute little pics to his witty posts, and I didn't even take time to write! 

So, I was fully awake and reading about vampires around 1:30.  Reading fiction is my escape to another world.  I can watch someone else's life and adventures without worrying about my own.  It's my attempt to clear my head of all the silly thoughts running rampant!  Oh ya...  Back to 1:30am...  Benny wakes up, coughs a little and starts to cry.  Damn...  That can't be good.  I jump out of bed, amazed that I was awake to hear this, instead of pleasantly being medicated to sleep.  (I took the meds, the sleep just didn't come.)  Every question I asked Ben was answered by, "I don't know!" and tears.  Boooo!  Are you okay?  IDK.  Does your throat hurt?  IDK.  Are you going to throw up?  IDK.  What doesn't feel good?  IDK.  Why are you crying?  IDK.  Takes longer to type the questions than it took to ask them.  As I guided little Benny to the bathroom, I noticed he was burning up.  Big-time burning up.  Shit!  So, 102+ fever and Benny is miserable. 

After Benjamin is convinced he won't actually throw up, and his throat just hurts, I carry him to my bed.  I lay Ben down in the middle of my bed, and dash to get Tylenol, Advil, little sticky gel thingys that stick to your forhead to help with fevers, and anything else I can find that might help out my little man.  I pop back into the bedroom with an armload of "feel betters" and I find my mind wonder what the hell I'm doing.  Forrest can't handle being sick.  If he gets sick, we'll end up in the hospital.  Last time that happened he was actually even quarentined and I was allowed in only because I'd already been exposed.  Nurses had to put on full body armor just to come in the room!  What the hell am I doing putting a sick 5 year old next to my husband???  Do I have any brain at all? 

As I'm racked with guilt, I quickly ponder the alternatives.  Benny and I could shack up on the couches in the living room.  Not the most comfortable, but it could work.  I could try laying with Ben in his bed, but those Christmas lights he has hanging from the bunk beds are going to drive me crazy.  What am I doing worrying about lights driving me crazy for!  I need to do what's best for my little man!  And ya know what that is?  Cuddling him in "The Big Bed"...  I know in the bottom of my heart this is fully what he is expecting and there's no way he'll settle for anything else.  :(

At this point, Forrest is semi-concious.  He rubs Benny's head and covers him up.  I figure I should stop worrying about it.  Forrest obviously assumes Ben will be hangin' out in bed with us, and he's perfectly okay with that.  I should be too! 

So, I give Ben some Advil, put a strip on his head (as he complains that, "It's just too chilly!")  I pull the blankets up and tuck him in.  Benjamin is a goofy boy.  He's very tender hearted.  As he's laying in my bed, all snuggled up, his fingers wander to my face.  He apologizes for poking me in the eye and then proceeds to run his hot little fingers up and down my cheek.  I swear, even as I'm snuggling and trying to take care of him, he's trying to comfort me!  Silly, sweet 5 year old! 

Turns out it wasn't a night to get much sleep.  There were little moments that I dozed, but it didn't amount to anything meaningful.  It's difficult to get quality sleep when you're up every two hours...  I had to piggy back Tylenol and Advil every two hours to try to keep the fever at bay.  I was also swapping out the little gel fever reducer thingys every two hours, as Benny was burning through them. 

So, between taking care of my little man, and reading my book (I finished it!  Oops!), I realize there's no way Forrest will be able to get off work, and I have to go to school in the morning...  After all, I have the teacher's manual for Math in my school bag.  Oops!  I call to let the principal know I'll have to do a half day today and will need a sub for the afternoon, so I can take care of my little Benny.  Woo hoo!  Gotta love teaching a room full of 5th graders with maybe an hour-ish of sleep!  :)  Actually, the teaching doesn't bother me a bit.  It's the drive too and from school that worry me.  You know, the same drive I've done every day for years.  The long (well, only 35 minutes), monotonous drive...  This down time is my downfall.  This is when I'll feel tired and strain to keep my eyes open.  You'll be happy to know I made it there and back without dozing a bit!  :)

So, I'm rambling...  Forrest took Benjamin to the doctor.  Waited and waited to get in to see the doc.  Ben threw up in the waiting room.  (I can only imagine the fun in that!)  And, found out he has strep throat.  I grabbed his meds, some popsicles, yogurt, Jello, and anything else I thought might go smoothly down that little throat.  My man has been sleeping on and off for the afternoon.  (My eyes might have shut for a moment or two when he was laying on my lap...)  Hopefully he'll be feeling better soon, and no one else gets sick!  :)