A sick day.

It's 10am, I'm on my third - or is it fourth? - cup of coffee, the whining and fighting is at an all time high, and there is green snot running out of three of four of the boys' nostrils.  Everybody is still in pajamas, the tv is turned up as loud as I can stand it, and I'm seriously considering opening a bottle of wine.

Yep, it's a sick day.

Both zj and cj have some sort of general crud.  It's not serious, but a little fever means that zj is home from school, and an even littler fever means cj won't detach himself from my person long enough for me to pee.

It's super awesome.

When I was working, taking off at a moment's notice wasn't an option for me.  I was the one with the keys to the store.  I kinda had to show up.  So whenever the kids were sick, either RJ would stay home with them, or our super duper kind sitter lady would let them come anyway.  She would spoil them and let them lay on the couch and eat popsicles all day, and I could swoop in at the eleventh hour and take them home just in time to go to bed.

It was a good system.  For me.

I was proud of the fact that until last year sometime, I had never been in the "sick" side of the waiting room at our pediatrician's office.  RJ always had that job.

But since becoming a stay at home Mama, sick duty is mine.  All mine.  And to be quite honest, I'm not particularly good at it.

Oh, don't get me wrong.  I hate it when my boys are sick.  I want them to get better.  I'm not TOTALLY heartless.  But the actual dealing with sick kiddos?  Not my strong suit.

The whining and the snot and the whining and the "Mama!" and the whining and the "I'm thirsty" and the whining and the "Mama!!!" and the whining and the general crabbiness and the whining and the "I WANNA POP-A-SICLE!!" are a bit much at times.

But I'm here to do my job, and do it I will.  My main goal at the moment is to get zj well enough to go to school tomorrow.  I will do this by general care, magic, or brute force if necessary.

And now if I can just find my corkscrew, I might make it through the day.