On the edge

of sanity, that is.

On January 9, 2011, Drew got sick.

On January 14, 2011, Julianna got sick. She pretty much stayed sick until yesterday. In fact, I can't remember the last day that I actually got her dressed. I just know it was a long time ago. Yesterday was the first day I had seen her smile in a very long time.

On January 17, 2011, Lily got sick. She stayed sick until Wednesday, the 19th. She went to school one day that week. Then she was well again until Tuesday the 25th. She had an ear infection and missed two days of school that week.  Monday January 31, 2011 was the last time Lily has seen the inside of her classroom. Tuesday and Wednesday were snow days. Thursday morning she woke up with a fever of 102.6 and it didn't really go down below 101 for three days. Tonight, when she went to bed, her fever, that was gone all day, was back up to 100.4. Obviously she will not be going to school tomorrow. And if the fever is still here tomorrow, Tuesday is out, too.

Lily went to school 14 days in January and zero days in February.

For me personally, this means that I have not had my normal routine for eight weeks. There have been a few glimmers...but never two days in a row. It's hard not to feel down in the dumps about this.

 I don't know what else to do to keep everyone healthy. I have a can of Lysol that I use to spray every surface all day. (I even resisted the urge to spray Lily down this morning while we cleaned up Legos. ;)) We have been washing our hands like crazy. I've been using paper towels for drying hands and other surfaces so that I don't cross-contaminate anything. I bleach out the bathtub between each bath. I have changed all the sheets on every bed and even washed bedding and pillows. More than a few times.

Besides the fact that I feel horrible when my kids are sick; and, regardless of my mental stability at the moment...what I feel the worst about is the fact that we have planned a vacation for our family during school. Yes, that's right. Lily, who has missed 7 days of school this semester (so far), is going to be missing five days in March to go to Disney World. I cannot get past the mommy guilt that I have over this fact. Tom had to work pretty hard to convince me to agree to a trip during school...but he managed. And now she's going to miss at least TWELVE DAYS in one semester.

I'm sure I will feel better about this when it is all over. I know that I will not regret the vacation with my family. I'm mean, who doesn't want to take their kids to the happiest place on Earth? But, for right now, I feel really horrible about the whole thing.

Okay. Enough already. I've got to go change the sheets on my bed again. Why? Oh, because what I didn't mention is: Tom is sick. Again. For the second time in the last eight weeks.