All Work, No Play

Eric had the day off today for Veteran's Day, and we made all kinds of plans. We were going to use some of his birthday coupons to go to lunch, do some shopping, spend some time together while the boys napped, and enjoy the day while the girls were at school.

We were already having a rough weekend with Henrik just getting over an illness. He'd been waking up all through the night just crying for several days. Then Mierae got sick Saturday night while I was at Stake Conference. Eric went to conference alone Sunday morning. After he left and I had just given Ollie his bottle, Ollie threw up. Things were looking grim.

Mierae wasn't getting any better either. We wondered if she would be well enough to go to school on Monday. In the middle of the night Sunday she came into our room saying her head hurt really bad, and then she had to throw up.

We were able to get her settled back into bed and get a few hours of sleep before Ollie woke up at the crack of dawn. Bless Eric's heart, he got up with him and took care of him while I slept. Then Henrik woke up in our bed, and he threw up.

By this point I had given up moping about mine and Eric's fun plans, and instead I realized what a tender mercy it was that his day off was the one when I needed him home the most!

After I got Henrik in the tub and cleaned up his mess, I headed to the shower to wash off what had gotten on me. And then I got so ill in the shower I couldn't even stand. After waiting it out and finally being able to get up, I got myself dressed and then had to just go back to sleep. Sweet Eric took care of everything. He got Jolie fed and off to school (thank goodness she hasn't been sick!). He did the laundry and re-made our bed. He put Henrik and Oliver down for naps, and he took care of Mierae. He did a little bit of work. Then he raked up all the leaves in the backyard and took them to the green dump, mowed the grass and trimmed the front yard. He fed the boys lunch, picked up Jolie from the bus, made dinner, did the dishes, swept the floor, and prepped our Family Home Evening lesson. He put Jolie to bed, helped put the boys to bed, and resigned himself to the fact that he had to just go to bed after that, instead of watching a movie or doing something else to unwind.

I don't know many men who would have such a great attitude about working ALL day on their day off. A tender mercy indeed.

(I felt much better after sleeping for about 4 hours this morning. It just took a while to eat and get my strength back to help out. Henrik was much better after his morning nap, and Mierae seems to be on the mend as well. Hope tomorrow is much better than the rest of our weekend was!)