I’m a stay-at-home mom with two sick kids this week. It was just one sick since Monday, but last night another child succumbed to some type of germ. Other than the 6 hours per week he’s in preschool, I’m always with my 3-year-old, but he’s typically healthy and we can run our errands, keep appointments, go to the gym, meet with friends and so on. This week so far, other than transporting kids to and from school, I’ve been confined to our house. This is a good and bad thing.
Bad because
1) I haven’t been to the gym all week and I’m really itching to go so I can attempt build some muscle before summer.
2) I had to cancel the kids’ dentist appointments. They love going to the dentist.
3) The poor sick children. My heart aches to see them suffer.
The good of this confinement is
1) I’ve gotten a ton of housework done, especially attempting to conquer the paper clutter. Paper clutter is my nemesis and I haven’t conquered it. I almost don’t have hope that I ever will, which is tough for me because I am a very optimistic person. I struggle with where to put the stuff I think I need to keep. I am fairly good at immediately recycling or shredding what I don’t need to keep. I’ll have to look into scanning documents and storing them electronically. Maybe I should move this to the top of my “To Do” list.
2) I’ve had the time to try some new recipes. Fun and so delicious.
3) I’m caught up on e-mails and volunteer obligations.
4) Quality time with my sick child(ren).
5) Not much driving – saves gas and it’s been raining a ton in my corner of the world this week, so staying home is safer than braving the slick roads.
6) Slowing down. I think I’ve enjoyed this the most. No one has any sports practice. I already mentioned the cancelled dentist appointment. We’ve had to skip some other engagements because of the illnesses, but this is temporary, and if it weren’t, it’s been great for my mental health. I think I’m good at not over-scheduling/over-extending our family, in fact, I work hard at keeping balance in our schedules, but having nothing this week has been awesome! It’s been like a stay-cation in our house, I guess. Keep in mind that the constant rain has squelched any urge to venture outside to garden, plan or plant the summer veggie garden, pull some weeds or play catch, shoot some hoops or play fetch with the dog.
So far, it’s been a productive and relaxing week. And I see the good doubly outweighs the bad!
How do you do when you’re confined to your home when it’s wet outside?
