Bumping Along

Bob and I have been sick. I started it. Actually, the boys started it. I saw runny noses and knew I was in for it. To be honest, I don't even try not to get sick any more. What's the use? Unless I hop into a hermetically sealed bubble there is no way to avoid their germs. They touch everything in my house EVERY THING! They climb into bed with me at night. Sometimes I catch them but usually I just wake up with them clinging to me. And then the usual little boy stuff....dragging their hands on everything as they walk, Coulter sucking on his clothes (Yeah, I know it's gross. I'm working on it.), Kees sneezing on me, on everything, etc., etc., etc.

Usually being sick is just part of the territory. This weekend we were signed up to watch some friend's kids for the weekend. They dropped their kids off at school and then we were to pick up after school and carry on from there until Sunday.

I started feeling a bit "slow" on Thursday night. I attributed it to a bike ride I took. It was a short one but I haven't been riding much. Friday morning I could feel it coming even more....CRAP! I couldn't tell my friend because I know she would have cancelled her trip and it was the first time they have been out of town as a couple in years. Besides, I wasn't feeling that bad....yet.

Friday Bob took the day off. He needed a mental health break. It was great. We ran errands and had a nice lunch together. We really enjoyed each other's company. Kees was at a play date until we picked up the big kids so we had quiet a bit of time.

By Friday afternoon I had rebounded quite well. That is good because we had plans to go out to dinner with the 7 of us, 5 Leeks and my friends 2 kids, and another family of 4 and another friend and 2 more kids. 14 in all.... THEN, we went to the Portland Pilot's Women's Soccer game against the Ducks where we met up with 2 friends of Bob's from work. We were up to 16. It was a beautiful night, it was a great game and I think everyone had fun. I did. The Pilots won 4-1. After the game it was straight home, PJ's and time for the smalls to go to bed. They all did great.

Saturday Bob got up and took care of the preliminary needs of all 5 of the kids. I got up shortly after him and got Sophia ready for soccer. I was moving slowly but I made it. I discovered that I was snack mom for her team. And off I went to the grocery store. I got back shortly after the game started. It was tied at half time. Sophia had been the goalie and did a great job defending the goal. In the second half she was a forward and scored 2 GOALS within 2 minutes of each other. It was awesome!!! The game ran over by a minute and a half and the other team scored in the last second to tie the game. WHAT THE???? We convinced the crying girls that they had really won the game and that the last goal didn't count. They hadn't won a game yet. They seemed better but continued to talk about how it wasn't fair. Man, do they have some "Life Isn't Fair" lessons to learn.

Mean while back at the ranch..... Bob had just made breakfast for the remaining kids at home. Hello, it was 11. My friend's kids are going to think this is child abuse. At our house, it's Saturday.

After brunch I took Coulter to his soccer game. I was still a bit slow but doing pretty well. Who knows who won there. It's like watching a bunch of crazy mice fight over cheese except that some of the mice forget they like cheese half the time. Watching these kids play is hilarious....Chase the ball, lift your shirt over your head, "Hey there's a bird", get hit in the face with the ball "Where'd that come from?" Cry. Run to mom. Pick your nose. Talk to your friend. Hey cheese, I mean the ball. I'm hungry. "Hey there's that cool bird again." You get the idea. Half of them have no idea what is going on. Coulter is in the game about 20% of the time.


Back at the ranch, Bob has been getting the other 4 ready for a swimming adventure. He took them to the East Portland Community Center where they have a lazy river, big, winding slide, a whirl pool, hot tub, and so on. Coulter and I met the group there after soccer. We all had a fine time. I was only there for just over an hour. Bob was there for over 3 hours. I would have been whacked.

By the time we were thinking about dinner, I had almost forgotten about being sick. We set up a movie for the kids in the basement, ordered pizza and left them with a BIG BOWL OF CANDY. There, that ought to do it. They watched in the basement and Bob and I had some quiet time up stairs. Ahhhh, quiet. 5 kids, no prob.

My girlfriend ended up coming home early and picked up their kids after their movie. The kids went to bed. Bob went to bed. And I stayed up. Why? I was feeling better, I am a night guy and I didn't know any better. As it turns out, it's a good thing I did.

Another friend of mine from out of town's son called me at 11:15. "Do you know of a park that we could sleep in downtown that would be safe?" I said, "Don't be ridiculous. Come here and sleep in my basement." I know this kid, he's a good kid and I trust that his friends would be too. They were. Now their judgement on sleeping in a park. Not so good. They are teenagers.

I ended up staying up until 1 in the morning. There is something about a quiet house that just holds me up at night. I love the quiet.

Sunday morning. I was pretty good. Hey maybe I wasn't going to get as sick as I thought. Cool. Bob made a lumberjack breakfast for the big boys. Kees sat right down with them as if he was one of them. Coulter chose to eat in the dinning room, alone, where he would be safe....from them. I sat with him. After breakfast we all watched a movie. That was fun on a Sunday Morning, totally decadent.

The big boys packed up, packed up their sleeping bags. That's about all they had. My friend's son told me about the heart ache that brought him to Portland. Oh, teenage angst. I was sorry for his pain and kept thinking...."I have to go through this 3 times. Yikes." He's a sweet kid. How could that girl do that to him?

Maybe it was the relaxation of the day, or time, or just quiet but by about 3 I was hurting. My body was hurting, I was tired, stuffy, coughing and congested. And it just got worse as time went on. My girlfriend brought me soup at about 7. I had on my PJs and went to bed at 7.

Monday morning Bob was feeling bad too and called in sick. We were quite a pair. He did some work in the morning on the phone. We decided to play hookey. We couldn't do anything anyway. We went to a movie, the Social Network. We liked it, though it did almost make me late to pick up Coulter. It's a strange feeling to go to a movie in the middle of the day.

I was so tired on Monday but we stayed up until 10. I knew if I went to bed early I wouldn't have been able to sleep. As it was ......I still couldn't. I laid in bed until midnight when I decided to just get up. I stayed up until 4 when I thought I should go to bed to get a couple hours of sleep. I tried but I couldn't sleep. Now here's the weird part. I got up at 7 and felt fine, like I had a full night's sleep. I kept expecting the other shoe to drop. Not only did I feel like I had a decent night's sleep, I felt better, way better. Bob was good enough to go to work.

I went on my usual Tuesday morning hill climb / walk. Still fine. Threw the ball for the dog, went shopping, went to Costco, unloaded, picked up the boys...fine, fine, fine. I finally had a time to sit down when the boys wanted to play on the playground. Awesome. Some time for me. We came home after an hour. I made dinner, got Coulter ready for soccer and pressed on.

It's now 9:15 and I am still fine. Go figure. I can't figure out why I feel so good. I still have the runny nose and stuffiness but I am much better. I hope I sleep well and am all better tomorrow. Bob is better too. We are on the mend. I am pretty sure it's just the first of many colds this year.

We're just bumping along. Trying to get better and taking care of our family and any other kids or families we can along the way. Stop by if you need a place to stay or someone to watch your kids.