Two weeks

Two weeks of illness. Two weeks!! It might be more than two weeks too as only three out of the five have been ill so far.

Three weeks ago I mentioned to my husband that nobody had been ill so far this school year. When I was working part-time last year, I felt like I was off work more than I was actually there thanks to a constant stream of sickness, viruses and other unwanted bugs.

That was my main reason for giving up and trying to make a living, working from home.  My children never seem to have the decency of being ill at the same time (although that is probably a good thing) but what that does mean of course is that we can spend several weeks playing ‘pass the bug’.

So we have had two weeks of doing very little.  School runs have had to carry on although trying to carry a sick nine-year old to the car must have made for a very entertaining sight for the neighbours as I can barely pick him up, let alone actually move at the same time.  But the rest of the time has been sofa time.

Two weeks of boosting the sales of Calpol and Nurofen.  When the temperature really sores, I know you are supposed to try to give them both but my children are a funny lot and I have one that will only take Calpol and two that will only take Nurofen.  We seem to have got through a lot of both.  There has often been a heady smell of Vicks filling the house too.

Two weeks of running up and down stairs.  I  may not have left the house much over the last couple of weeks but as our living room is on the first floor of the house, I can’t tell you how many times I have run up and down with drinks, snacks, more drinks, medicines and anything else they could think of the make me go downstairs.

Two weeks of children’s television.  You know how it is when they are poorly, they want to be on the sofa, under a duvet with you at their sides and the television on.  I had a week of Cartoon Network which nearly sent me doolally.  The 9-year-old did choose a couple of films for us to watch although the Moshi Monster Movie was not a highlight, in fact I think I may have slept through most of it. When the five-year old fell ill, we switched to the gentler realms of Nick Jnr but even the constant oink of Peppa Pig started to get on my nerves after a while.

Two weeks of cuddles and snuggles.  I do miss the kids when they are at school and the one positive thing about them being ill is that you get to spend some one-to-one time with them.  We had some nice chats and played a few games and it was nice to have a bit of quality time before they headed back into the school routine.

So far this week, everyone is back at school *touches wood furiously*, the house is a tip and I have a list of jobs to do that is taller than me. I feel like I have lost two weeks and my new year momentum but I gained two weeks with my babies, so I don’t mind a bit.