Germs

Sick. Sick. Sick. I'm sick of being sick.

We've had a fun summer, despite the bouts of sickness. Lots of swimming, grilling out, bike rides, two 5ks and one 10k race, visit from friends and grandma and grandpa, a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City (I enjoyed half of that one in bed with a stomach bug), and even a yard sale (what was I thinking?!).

In the past six months, Gideon has become even more of a riot (is that even possible?!). He LOVES to dance, and he has this incredible shoulder dance that fit right in with the island-reggae beats on our recent vacation to the Bahamas. We are in the middle of vocabulary explosion, which is so exciting! He finally started saying "mama" regularly, and now says it when he wants something he may not be entitled to having. While we were on vacation, he said "bye-bye" and waved to everyone, which made him friends with just about every other person on the resort. What a little heart melter. Oh, and he has 14 teeth now. He's basically a piranha.

But, back to the sick. Growing up, I was sick all. the. time. Over recent years, though, it's become more of a rarity for me to catch the gunk. Even once we had Gideon and started putting him in childcare for short periods of time, like at church, I didn't get sick. This summer, though, I've had two stomach bugs, two sinus infections, a head cold, and HFM (hand, foot, mouth) disease. In three months. Gideon has been sick twice (I passed him a stomach bug, he passed me HFM disease - we believe in reciprocity in this family). Grant got the same stomach bug Gideon and I had, and he's had some allergies, but he has otherwise escaped illness.

How is it that I keep getting sick and they haven't, even though they live with me, the walking virus?

I have no idea. It recently dawned on me, though, that perhaps I need to learn something from these illnesses. I'm not saying that they are some sort of trial or punishment. We've been busy, I've been pushing myself this summer, and I've probably eaten too much ice cream (and other immune killing foods). Perhaps Gideon's exposure to all of the germs from other children are passing to me, and my immune system is weaker than his (if his is stronger than mine, it is an answer to prayer!).

I do know that no matter my circumstances, I ought to be looking for the lessons and the silver lining. Being sick this week has been miserable, exponentially worse than my other illnesses of late. I have been blessed with several people taking care of Gideon, my husband has been taking care of things at home (many of which I never even prompted him about because I am too brain dead right now to think of what needs to be done), and I've been reminded of my complete and ultimate reliance on God.

In health, it may appear that I am chugging along on my own accord, when in reality, I'm one germ away from complete submission. Whatever the reason for this awful period of illness I've been experiencing, there is one thing I know: God is faithful. God is always with me. God provides, and sometimes He provides by sending others to stand in the gap when I cannot. I just need to ask.

Lessons from a year in the trenches of mommyhood

Lessons I've learned from the first year of being a mommy:

1) I have no clue what I'm doing, and when I do "figure it out," something changes. We had a rough time with sleep schedules for the first seven months(ish). Then, munchkin started sleeping beautifully. He sleeps a LOT - we wake up early, but he is happy! A few weeks before daylight savings, he started waking up earlier and earlier with the sunrise. It was rough for a while, but now we are back on schedule. We tried many things, and I have no clue what it was that helped him.

2) Life is exponentially harder with a child. I thought that having a kid would (simply) be one more person to dress and get out the door. Reality is all like, "Munchkin goes poo just as you're ready to leave and then you'll be frustrated and totally forget to grab a blanket, which baby needs because it's cold and raining outside, so you will have to go back in the house and get it, at which point you will realize that you don't have a jacket and are dying of thirst because you haven't had a chance to eat or drink anything all morning, so you grab some water, get into the car, and realize that you forgot to grab the keys. Wait, where are they keys?!.." Which leads me to...

3) Organization? An elusive dream of the past. I like to be organized and have my act together, but there are so many things that go on inside of a mommy brain that it is near impossible to have everything together these days. I mean, I make lists and lose them. Not so helpful.

4) You worry about stupid things. Like the fact that munchkin isn't walking yet. This one in particular is exacerbated by the fact that he rolled over at just a few weeks old and started crawling just after he turned six months old. Everyone expected him to be walking before the new year, but he is just now starting to take his first steps. It's perfectly normal, his development is excellent, he's just not completely confident with walking. No need to fret. (But I do.)

Hopefully I'll be more consistent with writing on here, but that whole organization thing usually puts a kink in my plans.

Happy Birthday, little man! You've taught me so much!