A Plague On Both Your Parents

We have made many changes and my life has been completely without any routine for the past year. We moved out here when I was pregnant, had the baby, then I decided not to go back to my job and have decided to go back to school... and of course, I'm shooting for a spot in a very competitive program and have a ton of prerequisites to meet. If you're an avid Boobs and Pooper, you've already read all about it.

My taking classes and tutoring students are only possible thanks to two reliable childcare options we now have during the week: the assistance of a part-time nanny and a part-time spot at an awesome daycare.

To say I was excited to get back to a routine and let some other people deal with my baby is an understatement. I was elated all that first week. For the first time in forever, I had my own schedule and am able to "do me" periodically throughout the week.

That wonderful feeling of elation was eradicated within that same week.

The Saturday following our first perfectly executed workweek routine, we took a trip to visit some friends at Underwood Family Farms. Our little darling barfed all over herself on the way there. We cleaned her up and she took some water. She didn't get sick again while we were at the Farm, and she ate a lot. She was actually in a great mood.

She threw up all over herself again on the way home.

She seemed okay when we were home and settled, and she didn't have a fever. We kind of assumed she might have been genuinely carsick.

Then on Sunday, the cold symptoms started to appear. By Monday, it was evident she had a bad bug. Monday evening, my husband started feeling it.

By Tuesday morning, I was also not feeling great. And I had two very sick family members to tend to. My daughter was in no shape to go to daycare, so I had to call her out both days. My husband - who never skips work - missed two and one-half days of work.

By Wednesday morning, both my husband and I were referring to our familial illness as the plague... In our separate worst moments (which thankfully didn't coincide), neither adult could be away from a bathroom longer than 20 minutes. To boot both adults and child were completely congested, coughing, sneezing and unable to breathe through a nose in the house.

It persisted Thursday and Friday and through the next weekend. And as it turns out, not only were we sick with our perfectly planned childcare situation blown to smithereens, we were woefully unprepared to learn that daycare still costs money when you're child isn't even there. We learned that you still have to pay for daycare on the days your child is too sick to go. So we paid for 2 unusable daycare sessions, and we paid our nanny to come in for a couple of hours on her off days.

Furthermore, the stress of not knowing what to do (What if our nanny can't make it tomorrow, and we can't take her to daycare, and you're too sick to help me while I work? What if, what if, what if?!?!) was excruciating.

We got our little angel, and shockingly got ourselves, through the first week... and then the second week. Whatever this yuckiness was, it lingered almost 3 weeks. I am finally confident we're all in the clear.

As my husband and I have started to feel better, we've joked that someone at Avery's daycare must have proclaimed "a plague on both your parents!"

And to all of your mommies and daddies stuck at home sick with sick babies, good luck.