Possibly the worst day of my parenting life

So I've been sick all weekend. Not getting better, but getting worse. We went to Tapestrama on Saturday night. I force Marc to go to this ethnic fair every year, but this year I think he actually liked it and didn't complain too much about the price of the food. As I was putting on my eye makeup to go out that night, I noticed that it really hurt to put even mild pressure on my eye. So I was worried I was gettting some sort of eye infection, or ear infection, as I was feeling it in my ears too.

We stayed up WAY too late on Saturday night and Madeline "helped" out by waking up scared, and as a result I didn't fall asleep until after 5am -- not what you need when you're sick. So Sunday was a total write-off. Luckily the kids were good. Luke slept in his crib and Madeline watched TV downstairs when Marc went to church, so I could sleep (and sleep I did) while he was out. I had several naps yesterday, but was stilling feeling pretty crappy. The "Martha Behind Bars" movie did cheer me up. Nothing like seeing one of your heroes getting a body cavity search on primetime television!

But Monday morning came and I was not doing well. Not at all. I was exhausted, stuffed up, groggy, fevered, lightheaded, and certainly in no condition to look after two kids all day. Luckily for me, my husband works for my father, so Marc got to take a day of "parental leave", and he stayed home to take care of his family. This went well until noon when Marc got the initiative to haul the concrete from the deck we've been in the process of tearing up for 3 months (!!) to the dump. He finally got a vehicle to move it, so I was glad to see him working on it.

Until... Madeline would not go to sleep, at all, and decided that today would be the perfect day to whine, cry and blubber for 3 hours about not wanting to sleep, and upon whining about not wanting to sleep and resultantly getting her TV watching taken away for the rest of the day, whined and blubbered and cried about wanting to watch a show. After insisting that "daddy would say yes" to the TV, even though daddy was the one who took it away in the first place, she actually spent 45 minutes crying & whining at the front window while Marc was loading concrete in the driveway (I did manage to get a short nap in during this crying spell -- cruel mother that I am), Luke also decided that he'd only sleep for 40 minutes instead of his usual 2+ hours in the afternoon, and instead spent much of the afternoon kicking me while nursing, arching his back and making his screechy "I'm uncomfortable" noises. And though it doesn't sound like much, you have to recognize that I'm sick and tired (in all of the areas those terms can apply) and had to handle 2 unbelievably whiney and irritating children by myself for 5+ hours on a day that my husband was supposed to not only be looking after the kids but me too. Plus, you guys have never heard Madeline whine. She is one persistent little girl. Marc is a very patient guy, and even he's been getting fed up quicker with her this weekend.

So too many tears were shed and too much yelling occurred between the women of the house today. Hopefully when Marc gets back from his 3rd load to the dump shortly, I can get that rest that I've been looking for since noon. At least he's bringing home supper (and even Booster Juice!), so things should start looking up soon... I hope...