Saturday, February 2, 2008

All Worth It

Yesterday was a horrible, yucky day. Cameron had to work and right after he left Olivia started throwing up. Caleb and I already have head colds and sore throats and then to throw the stomach flu into the mix... not fun. I've never been so relieved to see Cameron walk through the door in the evening and to have an extra pair of hands! During the day whenever she'd start to get sick I'd have to set Caleb down and run to help, during which he'd scream at the top of his lungs the entire time, which stressed me and poor sick Livvy out even more. Yesterday was the true "can you handle two kids and be a good mom" test. (The jury is still out on whether or not I passed.) Anyway - she was still pretty sick around bed time, so I got a bottle ready for Caleb, put it in the fridge for his middle of the night feeding, put Cameron on Caleb duty and dragged a blow up mattress into Olivia's room. (We've discovered she takes after her mother - throw up makes her freak out.) Anyway - to sum up a very loooooooong night... my blow up mattress had a hole and promptly deflated, putting me flat on a very hard, cold floor. And of course every time Olivia moaned or rolled over or coughed I was leaping up, expecting another round of throw up. She actually did really well and ended up not getting sick again after about 10:30. But by the time I got through all of the ups and downs, stiffness from my hard bed, exhaustion and then feeding the Caleb man again at 6:30... I was beat. I was laying with my blanket on the floor feeling very frustrated and tired when a very small, sleepy voice said from the bed, "Mama? I love you!" And then she fell back asleep. That moment made my heart leap and I realized that despite all of my shortcomings and craziness, Olivia loves and trusts me. I couldn't make her better, but I could help her feel safe and loved last night when she was sick and scared, and knowing that she appreciated me and loves me back made our super crazy, yucky day all worth it.

5 comments:

Diane Owen said...

Isn't it nice when they can make you feel appreciated for all the yucky things you do for them! Livvy is such a sweet kid. I hope she is feeling better and that the bug stops there for your family!!

Nunes Family said...

I hope everyone starts to feel better. Its always nice to hear from your kids that they love you, just at the right moments.

Stacy said...

What a precious moment!! aside from all the bad. I hope that you guys get to feeling better so we can play soon!

Stacy said...

And you do pass the test cuz your kids are still alive!

Unknown said...

You are such a good mommy! I had a day kinda like that today. It makes you appreciate the good days a lot more. And the "I love you, makes it all worth it." What a sweetie.