Last night, James started coming down with the same thing Isla has had the past few days. Congested, runny nose, real gross cough. He luckily slept through the night but woke up pissed off. My wife used the baby boogie sucker to pull out an absolute monster of a snot blob that covered half his face. Ibuprofen at 6:30am set us up for a decent morning. He started sounding better and was pretty much a toned down version of his normal self. He took about 2/3 of a normal nap, and woke up relatively happy. I had a mandatory work meeting as usual on Tuesday so that took up most of the morning for me while he entertained himself with some TV and toys.
Optimizing time when you get it…
Taking advantage of time available is critical with kids, especially when they’re sick. While he was sleeping I knocked out some household chores, hit some quick stuff for work and got the ball rolling on some tasks there. My wife came home at lunch to check on him herself, apparently my report wasn’t sufficient. I don’t know if that happens to you or not but because I didn’t take note of his respiratory rate and whatever else she was asking she had to come do it herself. What do I know, he was acting normal enough for a sick kid (he’s fine).
We have a dry erase calendar on the fridge, there’s some blank space for notes. We always use this space to write medications and time given. That way, no one forgets and everyone can reference. When we’re in an active sickness we’ll even write the dosages for everyone on the board too.
If you’re struggling to find things to do while the kids are down and work is at an OK place, I always try and save up the things I don’t like doing when they’re awake… if that makes sense. For example, unloading/loading the dishwasher – they can’t keep their stinking hands out of it and it’s very annoying to try and do. Folding laundry is another one in the same vein. Also, going outside to do 1 or 2 little tasks that take mere minutes (like take the trash out) but if they’re awake get turned into a half hour ordeal. I keep a little notepad on the counter that I’ll jot down the tasks that pop in my head to do as soon as they hit the pillow. If I can prep any of these tasks while they’re still up, all the better. For example, washing pots isn’t bad, they can’t reach the sink. It gets that whole “dishes” project on the right track. Not that dishes take a noteworthy amount of time anyway, but I’m all about efficiency.
Another note on efficiency…
I’ll end up writing multiple posts on this topic in the future but one thing to note with regards to being home with the sick kid. You have to wake up knowing the day is not going to be normal. What are tasks that you can do to feel productive with that in mind? Things that don’t take “active” effort or attention? Laundry is one, starting a load of laundry takes 30 seconds, another minute to switch it, put away while they’re napping. Food wise, can you start a crockpot recipe in the morning so the evening dinner rush isn’t hectic and you don’t have to spend time prepping anything?
Flat pancakes…
For dinner, made some pancakes, half regular and half with a scoop of chocolate protein powder mixed in. I don’t know what happened, I’m thinking the box mix was old because they turned out terrible. Flat, no rise, and gummy. Gross. Pivoted to some canned biscuits.
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