Three pieces of ice, a killing spree and fb

Evie is on the mend from her bout of herpangina, though Tilly has joined the party and is now in bed feverish and with a sore throat. What a difference age can make in taking care of a sick child. And personality too I suppose.

When Evie is sick, she is sick. And she will let you, anyone in the room, the neighbours and potentially anyone down the street know that she is sick. You can't hold her, yet you can't put her down. She'll squirm and yell and cry out with the pain and injustice of it all. This particular illness really set me on the edge of near madness. Her throat was covered in ulcers that were ripe and sore. She couldn't even feed on my own milk because my mlk machine makes the milk nice and warm. The doctor said, feed her only cold. I hadn't realised that snuggling and drinking my warm milk would be like pouring burning coals on to her tiny throat. Poor sweet baby.

The previous evening and yesterday was like walking through a nightmare in slow motion. I think Evie doesn't do sick because I don't do it either. Without your usual go to for fixing a tired, whingey sick baby (i.e. breastfeeding) you have to suddenly find other ways to fix the problem. But nothing but time can get rid of the pain. I even offered her ice cream and cartoons at 12 in the morning. To me, this is like walking into the danger zone.... Ice cream and cartoons at 12 in the morning for an 11 month old??? Fortunately (retrospectively) she was having none of it. I had to use a syringe to get some fluids in to her because she was having none of anything for two whole days. Added to this was the high pressure scene my husband was creating the next day by leaving his bookwork to the last minute and getting me involved in it. Never again do I want a day like yesterday.

Anyway, I just got 6 hours of straight sleep!! WooHoo. I don't think I get that even when she is well. It would have been more were it not for Tilly waking up with a fever. What a remarkable difference age and understanding can make. She woke up Evie, but agreed to lay still while I fed Evie and put her back down so I could concentrate fully on her. I gave her a cup of water and a cold washer for her head before that though, I'm not totally insensitive. Evie went back down quickly and I took Tilly to the living room. We talked about her illness. I got her some medicine. I found three pieces of ice to put in a glass of water. I refilled the ice cube tray. I had time to go to the toilet and violently dispose of a few coachroaches while I was there. (They come out in the night time when nobody is around and this big mama gets her blood flowing with a bit of random killing). I had time to walk around and get more wet cloths to cool her down. I talked about how she needed to go back to bed to get some rest, but if she needs mama to call me one time and I'll come. Tiily's personality has a lot to do with this too.

She is a self sufficient well oiled machine. I went back to her five minutes later and she was on the bed covering herself with the wet cloths she had asked me to put to the side. She didn't realise I was there and said, Oh mum, you scared me! In whisper voice because she knows I don't want Evie to wake. "Here, let me do that for you baby." "Oh! Thanks mama" She's nursing a high fever and a wretchedly sore throat but can still handle herself like that. All she asks is that you talk things through with her and be reasonable.

I felt worn out and ready for the rubbish heap yesterday. I was in bed reading a blog I like on my Ipod - Pratical Theology for Women. I love this blog. Her entry yesterday was, Facebook and the Kingdom. How Christians interact with facebook. When Evie got sick I posted on fb to let people know and to indicate where I think it came from. I'm pretty sure she got ill from a play area for kids we visited on Thursday last week. This is because I didn't take Evie anywhere else for a whole week, not even after that visit to the indoor playground. Much earlier in the week I had taken her for a hep b shot at the clinic down the road, small clinic with hardly any patients. My intention in posting was for those who were there to be careful and watch their own kids. However I think I may have unintentionally stepped on a toe or two. But I won't go into explanations about that. So, back to point. Added to that, with this illness you can't take the kids out or have other kids with you. I had planned a big day of play for Tilly at our house with one of her best friends yesterday. Instead we were descending into a slow madness that was our day yesterday.

I deleted my facebook post, but that's no big deal. I do that all the time. I hate facebook and always mildly regret anything I put up there on the spur of the moment. And I suffered away with my poor sweet baby and my soon to be sick 4 year old, on my own. Well, if Steve wasn't going through his own madness in his office I might have been on my own. Then I saw the post last night on Pratical Theology for Women - Facebook and the Kindgom. Go there, read this blog. I can't get the website anywhere but my Ipod. I have no idea why, both our computers won't let me open it. My friend explained this to me once and now I forget why, something about my computer not supporting something else. A quote or two from her blog:

"In this age of social media, many seem to clamor for a larger public presence. I have been guilty of that at times. I'm thankful for my grounded, private husband, who reminds me regularaly that the kingdom comes quietly, slowly over time."

And this one I like:

"If you struggle with the value of what you do privately verses the exciting things others seem to do publicly, don't be discouraged. The kingdom is like leaven, Jesus taught. It starts small but spreads along and along slowly but surely."

She is talking about top down public ministry versus ministering to people bottom up one on one contacts. Different to my situation here, we all know I'm not ministering to anyone! I just liked it enough to want to share it. Random non-relevance. I seem to have taken the 6 hours straight of sleep to mean a full nights good sleep (I don't know how long it's been since I had one of those). Waking at 4:30 this morning will put the kybosh on that I'm sure when I am still up at 10 or later tonight.  Now Evie is up and the day begins. I should have gone back to bed!!