What a week!

I've just about had it with flus, colds, and a list of other ailments that have been taking over our house. The girls have been sick for a week now, after a short one-week respite from having the stomach flu before. This time they have some kind of combo - head colds and stomach flu. Just when I thought we were past the worst of it, Maija threw up out of nowhere this morning (all over the couch, I might add.) Argh!!!

I'm sure the girls feel miserable, and I'm pretty miserable too. I'm amazed at how much everyone's life is completely transformed in our house by one of these little bugs. What I hate the most is being stuck in the house day after day. Last night I was feeling so closed in (hadn't been out for 4 days, except for a nice drive with my brother, Rusty, in his rented hummer...very cool!) - Kent told me to go do something, so I wouldn't go crazy. As he put it, "You're entitled to sanity just as much as I am." I thought that was nice of him to recognize that my sanity was at risk *grin*. Seriously, though, I'm so grateful for an understanding husband.

So, for my little escape I decided I did not want to do anything resembling errands. I went to the mall knowing that I had almost zero money to spend. I'm not a window shopper; I really hate shopping when I know that I won't be buying anything, but I couldn't think of anything else to do that didn't...well...require money. I wandered in and out of a few stores and read signs that said, "Sale! 60% Off Everything!" I'd go in with the hope that maybe 60% off meant I could buy something I liked for $5. Yeah, that didn't happen. I think the closest I found was a shirt I thought was OK for $15. So the OK shirt stayed on the rack, and I decided to get a hot chocolate for $5 instead, which was delicious by the way. Although I was only gone for an hour and a half, I felt completely revived and ready to face the night of crying, achy, sick children.

Despite the frustrations of taking care of sick children, I'm brought back to reality pretty quickly every time I talk to my sister, Barb, or one of my single friends who either say or imply, "Stop complaining! At least you have kids!" It's true. I wanted a family for so long, and I finally have what I wanted. I'd rather have puking babies than no babies at all.