the circle of life

A week ago at about this exact time, I got a phone call from Kendall's school saying that she was in the nurse's office with a fever of over 102.  I went to pick her up and took her to the pediatrician, where we found out that she had pneumonia.  We picked up the prescription and went home to settle in for a few days of hanging out inside and getting better.  That first day was pretty crazy.  She had a fever of almost 103 and the ibuprofen was doing nothing to help bring it down.  When it was time for bed, she said she was freezing cold.  Patrick put one of his sweatshirts on top of her pajamas, and then we tucked her into bed with 6 blankets on top of her-- and she still said she was cold.  We told her that she'd warm up and to just try to relax and go to sleep.

About 30 minutes later, I was downstairs and heard Kendall calling to me.  I went up to her room and she said, completely calm, "Mom, I just puked."  I look in her bed, and somehow, she had managed to get it on every single blanket and sheet we had put in her bed, and all over the sweatshirt.

"Oh, I'm sorry you puked, sweetie," I said.  "Could you not make it to the bathroom in time?"

"No.  I just puked because I was SO hot!"

Of course she was!  She must have had every spare blanket in our house on top of her!  So I start cleaning her up and stripping the bed and trying to make light of the situation, I said, "It sure isn't much fun cleaning up puke!  When I was little, my mom cleaned up my puke, now I get to clean up your puke, and when you're a mom, you'll get to clean up your kids' puke!"

I'm pretty sure that's the first time Kendall's ever thought about that, and all she could say was, "Ewwwwwwww!"  Oh, honey-- just a very small glimpse into the life of a mom!

**Update:  She stayed out of school all last week, but went back yesterday and is doing great.  Unfortunately, all of the rest of us (including the baby) came down with colds of varying degrees that we're still working through.