Crazy, crazy week

I may have mentioned before that I need to adjust my idea of "normal". This week just proves that again. What is normal when you have little kids? They are constantly growing and changing, so our lives seem to be in constant chaos. I know that it is not really chaos, but it is constantly changing, and that feels like chaos.

This past week has been an especially challenging one. We are getting close to the end of school, so I am trying to take care of things that need to be done without the boys. Unfortunately, my boys decided to get sick this week. Now, I know that they didn't really plan this, but if they had they would be in a lot of trouble. It's hard to get upset with them when they are sick, but after a couple of days of crying, whining, complaining, and arguing about everything I try to do for them - it gets much easier!

It started with Evan complaining about a headache when he was supposed to be getting ready for bed on Monday night. When I got home (from a meeting at church), I checked on him and he looked bad. He woke up around my bedtime crying with a sore throat. The thermometer confirmed what I knew after touching his forehead - high fever. He ran the fever all day Tuesday, even getting up to 103.8 degrees. I looked in his throat that afternoon and saw red spots, so we went to the doctor. The strep test was negative, and the doctor wanted to do a mono test, too. It was also negative, so we got the "viral infection" diagnosis. His fever finally broke overnight, so Wednesday we dealt with a sore throat. By Thursday he was able to go back to school. I was very thankful because: 1. he had a special "writing open house" event at school that day 2. I needed a break.

Unfortunately, I didn't really get a break because Joel started running a fever Wednesday night. He missed school yesterday with a fever and a sore throat - complete with red spots on his throat. His fever seemed to break last night (pretty much on schedule with Evan's run), but today his temp is a little elevated. It's below 100, so it's not really a fever. Joel is actually eating food, though. This morning he had peanut butter toast for breakfast. (When Evan was sick I would only get him to consume smoothies and applesauce. Joel, on the other hand, won't touch the smoothies or popsicles that I bought for him.)

In the middle of all that, Joel had his spring program on Tuesday. When I started to take pictures, I realized that my camera battery had died. When I tried to get it out to charge it, I couldn't. (This is my new camera.) After checking online and calling Sony, it was determined that I needed to send it in for repair. Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh! It's tough to get to the post office with sick kids, but I finally made it yesterday. I am relying on friends for pics from Joel's program. For Evan's writing open house (and in anticipation of his last football game and the awards night to follow, and the pool's opening), I went back to old-fashioned film. That camera has a zoom, so I am hoping I can get some good pics at his last game. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find film easily, but I did, so all is well.

I really feel like I need a nap! Poor Steve has been getting the kids to bed without much help from me this week because my nerves are pretty much shot by the time he gets home. I won't say that I hope that we are getting back to normal now, but I will say that I hope that I am getting more sane!