Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Sick Child Syndrome

Some days, all else fails. Plain & simple. Not to be a pessimist, but with a statement like that I suppose I have outed myself. Yes, hard as I may try to be ever & uber positive, I often see the glass as half empty. Especially when I have two sick children. Two sick kids who are only fifteen months apart and both under four years old AND who love to fight. Or rather, one who loves to antagonize (the recently turned two year old boy) and one who hates to be antagonized (the three year old going on eighteen girl). So all I have heard for three days straight has been "Ow!!" Whine. "Ow!!" Crying. "Stooooop!!!" Crying & whining. "Owstop!!" (Ow & stop said all at once). And so on.
Two sick kids who desperately need sleep, but refuse to close both eyes at once.

So now it's my turn, "Ugh, groan, sound of hair tearing out, s%#x@!!!!!!! bleep..profanity, profanity, profanity!"
Once I saw an episode of Intervention devoted to a woman by the name of Leslie. Leslie would wake up every morning and say, "I'm Up!" then head directly to the kitchen in search of alcohol, which once she found, she guzzled right in front of her kids who were readying themselves for school. It was so very, very sad to watch. In fact so much so, that I have never watched Intervention again.
Today, the thought crossed my mind that living like Leslie, just for a day, didn't sound so bad.
You'll be proud though. Instead of drinking a Sam's Club sized bottle of mouthwash, I opted to pack the kids up and head to the beach instead. The warmth of the sun paired with the sound of the waves crashing in was enough to make me forget the long, hard last few days and get back to where I needed to be.
Do you ever have days like this where everything just builds and builds and needs some type of dismantling (mine usually involves immersing myself in nature) for you to forget your troubles and get back to being the you, you like being?
I'd love to hear your stress coping secrets.

6 comments:

Rosa said...

Hi Karen,
I can relate to your situation, with three kids ages 11, 8 and 3, there's constant bickering, whining, crying, it seems like it never ends!. All I can say is thank God for sleep and school. Otherwise, I would have been in the looney asylum a long time ago. I try to think of the little peaceful fleeting moments to keep me going! And sometimes, like you did, a change of scenery for everybody does the trick!
Take care,
Rosa

Leigh said...

I have no good advice for you, but I do think your decision was a good one!!!

The Rozell Family said...

hi,

i received my cute bird, thank you thank you! I would send a thank you not but I am out of stamps:(

thanks again, the swap was GREAT. Sign up for my bitty swap! are you goign to have another swap soon?

Kai said...

I'm embarrassed to admit my coping mechanism for stress. It's been the same for - gasp - over 25 YEARS. When I can't handle the 'real world's' noise and the chaos around me, I go into my lil' room, pop something. No, not a PILL! I pop in one of my dvds (I have every single episode from all the years) of ... Little House on the Prairie. I'm dead serious. Watching the familiar, happy-ending hour will calm me EVERY TIME. I can laugh (good for the soul) cry (also good for the soul) and go away from the tv an hour later, knowing Ma, Pa, & the whole wholesome gang will be there for me NEXT time I need to breathe. How corny is THAT? But it definitely does the trick for me! Glad the beach outing worked for you!

The Dunton's said...

I always try to remember that no matter how big my situation feels or how catastrophic the circumstances that in the grand scheme it's really not a big deal. Knowing God is always there and in charge is a great stress reliever for me. That and iced lattes. :)
-Ginger

Anonymous said...

oh, no, never.....not true!! any house with kids there are going to be days like that. and when they show up, do like you did and create a change of scenery. if nothing else figure it's a day when everyone just needs to be let off the hook a little.