What a day today has been.  I knew it was going to be a busy one but I underestimated it by a long shot.  It has been a day filled with frustration, reliable friends, errands, sick husbands, chores, exhaustion, second winds, and just enough "awww" moments to get me to this point...and here I sit and write.

Darren is home sick.  His doctor said something along the lines of "It could be the H1N1 virus.  Stay away from your family, monitor your symptoms and contact us if they worsen".  He doesn't appear to have many symptoms different from that of the "normal" flu but he has complained that his eyes hurt and his face aches.  He also has an ear infection.  He has been stowed away upstairs pretty much all day. 

I had an annual checkup doctors appointment this morning.  Darren was in no shape to watch the boys.  Thankfully I had already called upon my friend Deb to watch the boys from 9-12 so I just needed to get them out the door and to her house on time.  We did!  and with time to spare to walk across the street to see a brand new baby calf...maybe 40 minutes old.  Truly a special thing to see.  He?  She?  was still covered in that gooey stuff.  Jacek was in awe and Aidan just kept saying "Wow" and pointing.  I am glad we got to see that.

Leaving Deb's place I thought to myself how FUN it would be to take a different route to my doctors.  It didn't take me long to wish I hadn't but at the time it sounded like a great adventure..haha.  With the use of my GPS I figured I would let her, I call her Jane, take me a different way.  Well, Jane apparently likes to trick people, meaning me, into going the wrong way down one way streets.  Terrible terrible.  I knew where I was but I couldn't quite figure out how to get myself to my doctors.  I finally pulled over and got my thoughts straight and then got there in plenty of time....with Jane unplugged and stuffed into the glove compartment.

I love my doctor and the office but even familiar surroundings couldn't calm my frazzled nerves and my blood pressure was 148/100.  Yikes right?  I am my father's daughter.  So, they had me stay there for a few extra minutes after my exam to retake my blood pressure.  It had gone down but not to the point that satisfied them.  They told me to keep an eye on it.  Yea Yea.  (Then I went out opened the glove compartment...made a grimacing face at Jane and then slammed it shut again)

The rest of the afternoon was busy.  I went back to Debs.  Got the boys their lunch, changed Jacek into his BLUE day clothes for school, dropped him off at school, went to Candaces to feed the kitties and then drove a very tired little Aidan home so he could get his nap.  It was 1:15pm. when we got home.

I got about 40 minutes to sit and relax, check email and visit facebook then it was time for me to go back and pick Jacek up.

I love picking Jacek up.  Sometimes I get there early and I get to watch him being him.  It's such a weird thing for me to watch my little munchkin man being a kid in school.  He is a lot like me in his quiet observing way.  He really seems to think about things before doing.  He was outside playing on the playground today and he was the leader when the teacher finally brought them back to the classroom.  He rushed back out to me excitedly holding a scarecrow with, what he exclaimed was "crinkly" hair.

Getting back to the house, after stopping for gas so we didn't stall out,  Jacek and I got the mail and there was a toy catalog for him and a toy (haha) catalog for me.  We sat on the couch and looked at our respective catalogs pointing out things of interest to one another.  Then we chatted a little more about his day at school and then we heard Aidan above us in his room banging his crib against the wall.

Darren made a few appearances through out the day, dawning his fancy surgical sick mask.  His fever keeps coming and going but he doesn't seem to be getting worse.

I got Slow Cooker Enchiladas going in the crock pot for dinner and with that set and the boys playing I started cleaning up the house a bit.  Never did do the smaller dishes.  I did do a bit of painting down in the side entrance hallway.  I know, I know, insane but I couldn't wait to see the color on the walls.

Then I ran out of steam.

Dinner was ready and the boys were hungry.  Before dinner I brought Aidan into the downstairs bathroom to change his diaper.  Jacek came with us and delighted me when he started blowing raspberries on his brothers tummy.  Them two got to laughing and as contagious as laughing is...I joined in.  That, right there...gave me the omph I needed to hang in there a few more hours.  My boys, giggling...that's good medicine..that cures many a thing.

Aidan did great with dinner and Jacek only had to be reminded like 15 times to eat but he eventually did.

After dinner Aidan decided he could ride the floor lamp we have in the parlor.  He crashed it to the floor, broke the bulb and blew the fuse.  He is something else.  Never quite encountered this kind of behavior with Jacek. 

After that debacle we cleaned up the toys and went upstairs to get the boys cleaned up and into their pajamas.

Came back down after a small melt down on Jaceks part over his underwears being inside out, had snack and watched Aidan get wild on us.  He is a pistol and very stubborn, refusing to sit down on the couch and whining non stop if he didn't get his way.

At 7, I went up with Aidan and did story and cuddle time leaving Jacek downstairs watching a video.  Darren made an appearance to semi hug and kiss Aidan goodnight.

After laying Aidan down I came back to the living room with Jacek.  He snuggled right up to me.  I miss not having a lot of one on one time with him or Aidan for that matter.  It's hard always making them share me, they deserve to have me to themselves every now and then.  I need to work on making that happen more.  I know they'd appreciate it.

While Jacek was dancing and singing to a song on the Thomas video, he just stopped, turned around to me and said "Mommy, I'm ready to go up".  He is always tired out on school days but hasn't quite asked to go up to bed before.

We went up brushed his teeth, read "What's the matter Davy" and then went into say good night to Darren.  After they semi hugged and kissed Jacek turns to Darren and says "You'll feel better tomorrow Daddy".

The love overwhelms me.

So my three boys are in bed.  I am done writing for the night.

A little bit of flipping through the channels, 2 tylenol PM's and nighty night for me.

Tomorrow is appointment day #3.  My Mom is coming out to watch the boys so I can go and finish up with Aidans health insurance.

Alright....I'm out.