Sick Day

It's been a long time since I have blogged. So many reasons. First, the Internet at our house was broken. Then, we got really busy in the evenings and I couldn't bring myself to type so late at night. Then, we were preparing for a week-long vacation. Then, we left for a week-long vacation. And then we came home from vacation 2 days early because we were sick. And that's where we are right now - at home, still sick.

Really sick, too. Like 102 degree fever for an 11 hour drive with one sick baby and a broken DVD player sick.

Too sick to take care of the kids. Which is a problem when you are a stay-at-home mom and that is your job. We don't get sick days like everyone else. I can't call my boss and explain in an overly dramatic sick voice that I can't come in to work and then spend the day sleeping and watching TV. Instead, I have to hope that my husband doesn't have a super important meeting that day. Luckily, my husband was planning on being on vacation today anyways, and he willingly volunteered to stay home.

And yet, I still didn't just get to spend my day sleeping and watching TV. Don't get me wrong. I tried. But at 8:00 this morning I could hear the baby squealing downstairs. I tried to tune it out but I kept wondering, "What if he needs me and my husband is just trying to hold out because he doesn't want to disturb me?" So, I went downstairs to check; of course, he was just fine without me.

In fact, the whole day would have been just fine without me. But as a mother, it is REALLY hard to just sit on the couch and watch your husband take care of the house and the kids. I was feeling pretty lousy, yet, I couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty that I was catching up on all my Tivo'ed shows while someone else was doing my job. It is my job. Currently my identity is Mom. Really tough to let someone else do it - especially if they don't do it exactly the way I do. My daughter wore her pajamas all day. In fact, so did my son. The only thing served for lunch was chicken nuggets. Nap was a little later than usual. But, you know what? My husband spent almost the entire day on the floor playing with the kids. Playing pretend store and shooting the basketball and having a lot of fun. Made me remember that my job is a lot of fun. I can't play all day everyday because there is other stuff to be done. And I do think we should wear real clothes on most days. But honestly, I have the world's best job. Even if I don't get any sick days.