Just Unspeakable...

It's that kind of week already when it's not even noon Monday and I've done something so frighteningly blush-worthy that I'm hoping I've met my quota. Hollis has been really sick for about three days, with intermittent mega-high temperatures and other weird symptoms we couldn't quite place. Was it stomach flu, or maybe the Fifth's disease the school keeps sending notes home about? Sunday morning, we realized it was respiratory in nature, and we thought he had pneumonia for the third time. We started doing all the home treatments that worked for him in the past, and during the day he looked a little better. Then in the evening, things got worse, so we finally drove him to the Emergency Room. After a breathing treatment and some meds, he is feeling and acting so much better.

The psychological pain began this morning. We were awake nearly all night, checking on him, and not sleeping. We finally dragged ourselves around this morning to get Livvie to school, then aimlessly started figuring out the day. We had to pay some bills, get the rest of Hollis' medicine, and take library books back. Toby would go and I would stay home so Hollis didn't have to get out, and maybe I could sew some bodices. While we were both in the shower, I remembered that we had scheduled a Parents As Teachers appointment for later in the day. I figured I'd call and cancel, since the house was trashed from our weekend of sick-watch. I'm talking jelly-on-the-carpet trashed. Underwear-in-the-entryway trashed. Someone-peed-the-couch-and-it-hasn't-been-washed-yet trashed. Piles-of-crusty-dishes-all-over trashed. Is the picture sufficiently grim? Can anyone guess where this is going?

As we turned the shower off, I realized that Maggie, Hollis, and Ivy were talking animatedly to SOMEONE in the living room. Refer to the paragraph above, please. Toby asked me hopefully if it sounded like my mom, and no, it didn't sound like my mom. I wrapped up in a towel, sprinted to the bedroom and dressed. Then I threw some clothes into the bathroom where Toby was still hiding. If we're lucky, she just thought I was showering, while Toby hung out and kept me company, fully dressed. That happens all the time, right?

So here's to the Parents As Teachers lady. Who was classy enough to not blink, and gave our kids a lesson on emotions. I believe we covered embarassment quite nicely. Now I need to give my kids a lesson on how to come get Mom and Dad instead of just opening the door and letting people in the house.