Sick bubba, tired and emotionally wrung out!

I haven't been able to write anything this week until now.

One sick child.....

It's all it takes isn't it to throw you totally out of whack!

We are on to day five of high fevers now and I am hangin' out for the immune system to kick in- like NOW! It's not a nice thing to watch your littlies suffering so.

I remember that feeling of being a sick kid in the early hours of the morning,  woken by fever and feeling as if your world was ending as you knew it and that all you wanted was for your mumma to hug you till it all went away and life returned once again to normal.

For me this week Mr.9's illness has reminded me that my life as a parent of 5 is always running on a finely tuned wheel and it only takes the tuning to be out by millimetres for it all to run off kilter......

This week it's soooooooo out of tune the wheels have fallen off!

I am so aware that I am totally over committed and that when everything is going ok I have got things generally running well.  Well enough that most of the time being in our house is pretty fun for me and for the kids.  But it doesn't take much for that to all go to mush!

This week I can't wait for bed time to come along for all the kids (sick or not) to go to bed, so I can take my first deep breath of the day.  What is that I hear you say?- a 5.30 bedtime is unreasonable for Mr.11, Mr. 7 & Mr.3.  Well  Mr. 1 goes to bed then anyway so it's not like I am punishing him. Bonus!

Well let me tell you it isn't unreasonable when otherwise they will be faced by a totally dysfunctional, overtired, emotionally wrung out mumma! And anyway you can get a lot of quality reading done when you go to bed early!

Jeez,  I certainly wish at the moment it was me going to bed at 5.30!

Yesterday I had to call in a friend to rescue me- rescue me by coming to sit with the little kids while I made my 4th trip to the Doctor this week and to the supermarket.

The fridge was bare and I NEEDED to be cooking restorative soups!  I normally take the kids shopping with me but I just couldn't face doing that this week.  So my beautiful friend (to whom I am eternally grateful for EVER & EVER for always rescuing me when I need it most!) came so I could go out alone!

Came back and cooked about 4 soups all at once so I could just sit down with Mr.9 and cuddle him.  I have told you before how being in the kitchen gives me respite- so I felt better after being able to do some cooking.

And..........today I am trying to remember that going forward I need to stop over committing myself.  Managing my family is huge and sometimes it all falls apart.

So there is no recipe on today's post- just a reminder that we don't have to "do it all" to be doing a good job.

But I will post a song that I've been playing this morning.....