Little Guy's Been Sick

Maddie left the flu bug on our back doorstep on Tuesday morning and Jackson, not wanting to be left out, decided to pick up said flu bug, so we've been busy helping Little Guy feel better since Thursday night. I'm oh-so-hopeful that he might be on the mend today. I've been up since 3:30am with him, and finally was able to put him back in his wee-little bed around 5:45am and just decided that I might-as-well stay up.
Now normally, that is NOT my first choice, however, in my older age {I am getting reading glasses, remember?} I'm discovering that I feel ten times worse if I go back to bed for an hour or two than if I had just stayed up. I mean, it feels like someone hit me upside-the-head with a rather large 2x4. So today is an experiment. It's only 6am and I've already got a roast a roastin' in the crock pot. I might fall asleep right there at the Sunday lunch table, but I'll be okay with that. Hopefully our company will, too.
I was reflecting about having ill children and came to an interesting conclusion. I'm most definitely a sleeper. I hate getting up in the morning. HATE IT. I really don't like interrupted sleep but have, for the most part, learned to cope with it because that is life with little kids. But usually, too many nights with too little sleep makes this mama one grumpy little mama. {Honestly, one night with too little sleep makes me a tad bit irritable with the kids. I need my sleep.}
However, when my children are sick I find that somewhere deep within me comes this compassion I never knew I had, and I am willing, {and actually enJOY} tending to them through the night. It's weird but that's when the 'nurturing' kicks in for me. When they fall and scrape their knee I'm like, "You're alright - here's a little hug - go play." Not much compassion.
But when they're ill I just want to hold them forever and rub their backs and let them sleep on me and wipe their noses and everything else and just care for them. That, I LOVE. That's not exhausting to me. {Well, I mean I'm exhausted and have been going on very little sleep the last 10 days, but somehow I can push through that.} It feels good to have that sort of selflessness. So often in mothering I am confronted with my self-ish-ness. I mean, daily people, I am slapped in the face with my desire for self ... so it just feels good to WANT to lay self aside and love on and nurture and take the sickness away. And I certainly don't want them to be sick, but somehow there's this "feel good" part for me, when they're sick and I'm doing my nurturing thing.
So while the last ten days have been over-run by illness, it has been a good thing for me. Learning just a little bit more about how I'm hard-wired and I suppose, just learning more of who I am.
I don't know. Am I weird or are there others out that that somehow get what I'm trying to say?

And just a few random pics from the last few days. As you can tell, Jackson didn't feel so good on Friday.
But he did love the fish at the Garfield Park Conservatory.
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