My week (in novel form)

Today is a frustrating day to be a parent in my house. Rory and I had a great, if somewhat claustrophobic, run as a duo at our house. Ryan's been gone three of the last four weeks, including this past one (he lands in a few hours). I had a rough week. My friend who sits for Rory went out of town and had car troubles. She was supposed to be home Monday, and she still isn't back (her week wasn't that great either). With Ryan gone, I have no childcare back-up, sas none of my other friends are really in a situation to watch her.

So Monday, I knew I'd be home with Rory, and I did a few work things. Tuesday I got the alert that Bekah was stuck in California, and immediately started hunting for child care. After asking five people, a friend's teenage daughter was the only option, but it meant driving an hour to drop her off and another hour to pick her up. I figured I'd just deal. I quit my job, but I still have an obligation. Between gas and paying the sitter I was not going to make any money for going to work that day.

Wednesday, we were up and having breakfast. I was gathering her things when she said her belly hurt. I told her she needed to eat two (thus far it had been zero) bites of breakfast (as I'd made what she requested) before she could get up. She said her belly hurt again and then started throwing up. Multiple times. I could no longer leave her with the teen, it would be cruel to everyone (but birth control!). And I called into work.

After a few more sessions to establish her stomach was really empty, which was followed by diahrea, I called her doctor for an appointment. Rory'd been exposed to a baby with Hand Foot and Mouth (and seriously? If you can pronounce "pneumonia" I think we can handle the latin for whatever HFMD is. Hand Foot and Mouth is a stupid name). With Bekah being back Friday, I wanted to make sure Rory wasn't contagious.

Well, she was contagious. But not with Picornaviridae (see?). With your average stomach virus. Which, it turns out, Ryan had already contracted and was spreading around Virginia. And I called Bekah and told her not to bring herself and her baby over on Friday, and I called work. Again. But then Rory and I spent the day snuggled up (she was all done vomitting, and wrapped up the other end of things by bedtime) and hanging out.

Thursday you would never have known Rory was sick except that she kept solemnly telling me that she wasn't going to "throw" (she leaves out the "up") and she kept asking me to lie down so she could palpate my abdomen. So we went to the petting zoo to get out of the house.

At this point, I had not seen a single person I know since Ryan left on Sunday. But I was coping! And my pal Casey came over and hung out with Rory so I could go box and tan and get an hour to myself. Then we went out for pizza. And Rory was a dream all day.

Which leads us to today. Bekah is almost to Colorado, so no chance of saving me.

And she has not been a dream.

She woke up whiney. We went to the zoo. She whined some more. Everything I've said today has been met with "no" or some repeated variation of it. Her usually great listening skills are not there. After talks and time out and discussing respectful behavior and not going places because she's arguing, I'm tapped. I think the biggest problem is just being sick of each other. When Casey came over yesterday Rory handed me my shoes so I could leave faster. I was grateful for the assistance.

Surprisingly, I'm more convinced than ever that quitting my job is the right decision. Through all of this I've been grateful to be home, and haven't missed work at all. I have some great ideas I'm going to implement into our schedule.

However, I need to figure out some kind of support system if I'm going to do this. The one I have isn't varied enough or something. My mother and husband were the only ones who called me all week. Or answered their phones. And they're on the east coast. And I'm not saying this in a judgemental, irritated way. I'm really not upset. It's just a fact. And I survived, obviously. But, I don't want to be in that situation again. As much fun as Rory and I've had together, we were a little extra isolated because of the bug, and I think we're both feeling lonely.

T-minus four hours till Ryan lands.