Hard to Believe…But Even Superwoman Gets Sick

I’ve realized something about myself this week.  I REALLY do bitch rant a lot more than I should.  But in my defense, I have more than enough reason lately.  Take this morning for example.

Last night, after I dealt with the nightly bedtime battle with both kids (which by the way was harder than usual and I had to exercise serious restraint from completely flipping my wig), I started feeling sick:  sore throat, chills, aches, and a fever.  So I loaded myself up with cold medicine and went to bed.  It’s almost funny really.  As the pills were sliding down my throat, I was thinking to myself that I would regret taking them in the morning.  Not because they wouldn’t help, but because I knew I wouldn’t get enough hours of sleep for me to not have that awful cold medicine hangover in the morning.  I was right.

My older son came in our room and woke me up at 6:30 a.m. because he had just had  a bad dream.  Of course with as much effort as I could muster, I welcomed him in our bed but in my head I was thinking “WTH?  Why TODAY of all days?”  I would never complain about being woken up to comfort one of my kids for something like that.  But seriously…today?  When I am the one who is sick and in desperate need of a good night’s sleep?  Bad timing is an understatement.

I never did fall back to sleep completely although I kept drifting in and out of consciousness.  Soon enough BOTH boys were up and asking me to please get up and go downstairs.  All I could think to myself was “why ME?  What do I have to to to get  a solid night’s sleep?  For the love of God I can’t even be sick.”  As much as I would like to believe that I am Superwoman - like my husband thinks I am - I AM only human and I DO require basic human needs like every one else…sleep being one of them.  Why is it that when I am the one who is sick I’m expected to ignore it and go on with my motherly duties as if everything is peachy?  I always have to be the one to “suck it up” ?   Does my husband do that?  Ummm….not even close.

When my husband is sick the world might as well end - for him AND me.  He is ten times worse than our kids when he has a cold, never mind something more serious like the flu or stomach virus.  He moans in agony like he is some dying moose on the side of the road.  He whines and complains the whole time while sniffing and sucking it all up his nose instead of blowing it out into a tissue.  I think I would rather be caned than listen to that!   Add the moaning to the nose opera and I practically force feed him the cold medicine and anxiously wait for it to kick in and knock his whiny ass out.

Now I know I sound like a heartless witch and I admit that I am no Florence Nightingale, but there is only so much I can take.   There have been a few times when all four of us were sick at the same time and guess who had to suck it up those times.  You got it.  Me.  Again.  So now I’m taking care of THREE babies instead of two.  My husband will say ” but you’re Superwoman.  You can handle much more than I can.”  Gee ya think?  BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE  A FREAKING CHOICE!!!  Why are men such babies?  Why couldn’t I have one that just wants to be left alone when he’s sick?  I know they’re out there.  Most of my girlfriends say they have the “baby” version of a sick husband too but it still doesn’t make me feel better about him acting like that.

Unfortunately, my HusBaby is not gonna change so all I can do is pray that he stays healthy (while I try to load him up with mega doses of multi-vitamins, OJ and Emergen-C).  I know in the grand scheme of things it could be worse.  And if this is the worst I have to deal with then I should just accept and get over it.  Yeah I can think that way when I’m NOT having to watch a grown man whine like a two-year old while he’s calling out my name and saying “oh God help me” a hundred times.

In the meantime, I get to carry on the with my perceived Superwoman status and “suck it up” yet again.  Funny because when I’m sick, I am the one who wants to be left alone yet I have no choice because evidently, Mommy’s aren’t allowed to get sick are they?

Will I EVER Get a GOOD Night’s Sleep???

If you’re a mom, then you probably already know that once you have kids, life as you once knew it is OVER!  Unfortunately…that includes SLEEP.  It has been over six years since the “Sandman” last visited me.  I say over six because not only am I including the years of my oldest child, but let’s be honest…a solid night’s sleep went out the window the minute the stick turned pink.

You all know what I’m talking about.  Having to pee every 5 minutes during the day.  Well HELLO….that continues all through the night as well.  I’m referring to the part of the night when you are supposed to be SLEEPING!  So at the beginning you’ve got the frequent trips to the bathroom but then as your baby inside you grows bigger, you can no longer sleep in your favorite position because it becomes too uncomfortable.  Side or back are the only choices so if you are a stomach sleeper sorry ’bout your luck!

So pregnancy is over and the beautiful baby that you have been preparing for is finally here.  By preparing I mean reading all the best baby books out there like What to Expect When You’re Expecting (a given read for pregnant women), Your Pregnancy Week by Week,  The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Your Child from Birth Through Weaning by Dr. William Sears (if you’re planning on nursing your baby) and maybe you subscribed to a pregnancy website like Babycenter.com to get weekly updates on your baby’s growth and development each week.  I bet you even subscribed to Parents and/or Parenting magazine to read while you wait and prepare for the birth of your baby (OK…I did).

It’s true that all of those resources are wonderful and can be extremely helpful with a lot of things.  However, what people don’t tell you is that instead of reading and researching things on what to expect while you are pregnant, what you SHOULD be reading are books and articles about how to get your baby to sleep - and sleep through the night!  WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME THAT???  Well I AM telling YOU.  Forget all the other stuff.  Let your doctor worry about your baby’s growth and development.  If you are curious about it, go rent or by the DVD  The Miracle of Life and that is all you’ll need because I am here to tell you…it’s ALL about the SLEEP!!!  I have an entire library of how to get your baby to sleep through the night.  In fact, check back for books I recommend on that very topic.  Now if only I had read them BEFORE I had the baby, maybe my current sleep habits/schedule would be very different.  Translation…I’d actually get some sleep!  Trust me on this, I really DO know of what I speak.  Read the “sleep” books and skip everything else and a good night’s sleep will be yours for the taking…hopefully.

I’m JUST a Mom…try again!

So here I am-another woman with a ton of things to say.  Who am I?  I am a mom.  That’s all you ask?  You’re JUST a mom?  JUST a mom?  Are you kidding me?  You can never be JUST a mom.  Because a mom IS a job!  In fact being a mom is the absolute HARDEST job on the planet.   If you are not yet a mom yourself, then you probably won’t agree with that statement.   

Remember when you were a kid and your own mom would say “wait until you have kids of your own!”  You know…when she was screaming at you for something you did or didn’t do and “can’t wait” until the day when your own children pay you back for everything you did to your parents when you were a kid?  I remember hating to hear my mother say that to me and thinking…”yeah whatever!”   Well I am a mom now and I am here to tell you…now I “get” it!   Soooo…. my blog is about just how MUCH of a job being a mom really is.    

Being a mom is a profession really. 

I guess I need to tell you a little bit about me.  I am a thirty-something year old stay-at-home mother of two boys ages 6 and  3.  Before I had my first son, I was a middle school teacher.   Teaching was the hardest job I’d ever had…until I had kids.  However, teaching prepubescent preteens was certainly a good lesson in patience, discipline, and guidance (”training”  if you will) for what would later become the teaching  job of a lifetime….motherhood.