Taking care of little kids on a daily basis is not for the faint of heart, and taking care of sick kids can be even more of a challenge. The hardest few weeks of my journey as a parent (so far) was when we moved, my youngest turned 1, and then he and the 2yo came down with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease within 2 days of each other.
The house was full of boxes (the Motrin was in one of them!), neither kid was sleeping, and it seemed like it would never end.
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Now, flu season is upon us. I’d be lying if I said my kids had been healthy since Christmas, even though I take hand sanitizer everywhere we go and wash hands like a woman on a mission (which I am).
There is nothing, nothing harder than taking care of sick kids when you yourself also feel like crap.
When little kids are sick, they don’t understand what’s going on. They don’t want to rest. They don’t want you to wipe their noses 16 times an hour. They don’t want to take their medicine. They don’t want you to put them to bed early and they most certainly don’t want you to stop holding them.
Like, ever.
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There’s nothing you can do but try to distract them, try to keep them clean and comfortable, and try to hang onto the last shred of your sanity (and patience) until the ride comes to an end.
But here’s the thing that 3+ years of parenting have taught me – it always, always comes to an end.
There is a season for everything. Everything is a phase.
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And one day, the thing that’s going to come to an end is your babies living under your roof, needing you every single day, and when that happens, I doubt we’ll even remember how we felt like worthless zombies during the long days and nights when they were sick.
You’ll be happy you were there for them, that you gave it your all, and I know that deep in their little souls, they’ll always be better for it, too.