Forced Relaxation

Tova was sick the first half of the week but it was no big deal. She threw up every six hours, napped a bit longer than usual and otherwise was her high energy self. We figured it might not be a contagious bug and even if it was she made it look like no big deal. Wednesday evening Sophia ran into Jakob's arms to inform him happily "now it's my turn to throw up." She threw up the rest of the evening but in her usual Sophia way was pretty good-natured about it and elected to sleep early. Aurora and I looked at each other nervously - were we next?

In the middle of the night my belly began to feel like jelly. It was a rough night. But hey, I thought, a few bad hours and then I should be done. But the morning revealed more drama. I was sick in a big way. Aurora was sick in a big way. Jakob felt sick. And Sophia and Tova were balls of energy. Aurora and I each lay on a couch moaning while Tova bounced back and forth prodding us and yelling in our ears. Thankfully, Jakob was also sick enough that he came back around 11 at which point Aurora and I crawled back into bed together and slept and moaned and slept and vomited while poor sick Jakob tended to the bouncing children. By evening we could manage to walk across the hall. By 7:30 p.m. our whole family went to bed. It was a rough day.

The next morning things were cheerier. Aurora was still vomiting but the pink was back in our cheeks and we could walk. Jakob felt well enough to go work for a few hours at a cafe. Just as we were expecting him back we got a phone call from Jakob. His back went out at the cafe and he was stuck on the floor trying to figure out how to manage to get home. Still weak and still vomiting we trekked over with the stroller to work through this brain teaser. He had called a taxi but he couldn't stand up, let alone walk to the taxi or up to our apartment. The overly nice and resourceful waiter went to the health clinic next door and borrowed a wheelchair and Jakob got to go home in pain and still nauseous but in style.

And so we spent the weekend lazing around the house. A most unusual activity for our family.  It always seems like such bad timing when a back goes out but after the initial irritation we were pretty thankful at how it all unfolded. Thank goodness Jakob had been working two blocks from home. Thank goodness we were all still weak and sick anyhow and needed a good reason not to overdo it. And it was really pleasant to just laze around in bed as family until the early afternoon. The kids were very happy to be at home and Sophia was over the moon happy about Jakob being stuck in bed. Finally her father was in one place and couldn't go anywhere and didn't have any other plans. She refused to leave his side all weekend and nuzzled him and brought stacks of books, and reveled in his presence. So all is well that ends well but we will be happy to move past our illnesses and finally make our beds.

Sick days are fun

Especially when you are not sick