Privilege and a general update.

This week I've had plenty of opportunity to identify privileges I hold in my life like they are rights.  Today is the first day in the last 10 that at least one of my children hasn't been running a fever.  It all started with Evangeline last week.  I spent 2 days doing nothing but holding her, per her request.  Every time I got up she begged, "Mommy, please can I hold you?"  She was so pitiful, so I sat and cuddled.  And cuddled and sat.  We watched way too much kid tv for my likeness.  I got coughed on, snotted on, and prayed for God's graces over my pregnant self to avoid such peril.  I washed our sheets and throws and all clothes.  Then, on Saturday Josiah woke up at 5:45am and declared to me, "Mom, I have a fever.  Let me tell you the whole story.  You see, the other day I knew I shouldn't drink out of Evangeline's pink sippy cup but I was so thirsty that I did it anyway and now I have her germs."  Sure enough, he was running at a smooth 102.5F.  Upgrade.  I spent the following two days holding TWO people on the couch.  More cuddles.  More kid tv.  By the end of day four I might have curled up on the kitchen floor and whined to Jonathan about how stir crazy I was.  Just maybe.  Josiah's fever had been higher than Evangeline's ever was, and even giving him medicine didn't break it all the way.  I emailed Josiah's teacher and told her I hoped he would be back by Tuesday, perhaps Wednesday at the latest.  That night Josiah woke up at 105.4F.  That's high enough to make even the calmest mother quiver in fear a bit.  As I sat up and kept watch over him for the hour and a half it took for his fever to break again, I was struck by the privilege I found myself in.  I had access to ibuprofen in my home, a medication that while simple to me was a privilege 100 years ago and is still considered a privilege in many parts of the world today.  As helpless as I felt as I watched his heart rate and breathing and contemplated whether to break out the tepid bath and ice packs, I realized that many people wouldn't even have the opportunity to break the severe fever in their children.  As I reflected on this truth I thought about all our previous four days had entailed--an endless supply of clean water to give my children, wash our hands over and over, wash our germ-tainted laundry 15 times in one weekend, and even run the dishwasher.  It really changed my heart to one of gratitude that I can raise my children with all of these privileges.  

Josiah's fever eventually started to break fully in between medication doses.  He even started to go longer than 6 hours before he heated up again.  We kept thinking he was on the mend.  However, Wednesday passed with a lingering fever.  So did Thursday.  He cried that he wasn't able to go back to school yet.  Friday he woke up again at 102F in the morning.  I was beginning to wonder how long it could possibly go on.  Finally, and I say this with an emphasis on the Hallelujah that's in between the lines, he made it 24 hours without a fever and has been fully himself today after a full week of virus.  It also means that Jonathan and I got our first full night of sleep all week.  We were thankful, as we know such days are numbered.

Yesterday I came down with an eye infection from my contact.  I wear contacts that allow for night and day wear, so I am virtually never without them.  However, I had to resort to glasses to allow my eye to mend.  As I looked around in my state of blindness I realized that I had stumbled across yet another privilege that I often take for granted.  My vision is bad enough that I would have to hold my kids within a foot of my face to really be able to see the details of their expressions and smiles without assistance.  Thanks to access to eye correction, I can see the details of my babies' faces.  All the time.  It's a privilege.

Beyond all of these new enlightenments...

We are in a sweet spot in life.  This is most definitely the easiest way to have 3 kids--one still in the belly.  I'm still in the second trimester bliss.  I am very clearly pregnant to the untrained eye, but it isn't largely cumbersome yet.  Our kids are fantastic and in such fun ages.  Evangeline is rapidly approaching her second birthday.  She is about 90% potty trained and really turned the corner this week in reliably informing us when she needs to go to the potty.  She is fully conversational and it's pretty funny to hear the interactions she and Josiah have.  She thinks she's the boss and has to be reminded that she cannot scold him or tell him what to do.  She has no intentions of being run over by any big brother of hers.  Unfortunately being able to communicate so well does not mean we get to skip the two year old tantrums.  Reasonable is not synonymous with conversational.  Luckily her good times far outweigh the bad ones.

Josiah is at an age that Jonathan declares is his absolute favorite.  The painful consistency in which we had to execute time outs has all but ceased to exist.  He is very amicable to the things we ask him to do, and he very rarely has to even receive a reminder.  He is incredibly helpful with caring for his sister, and when we thank him he tells us, "Well, that's just what a big brother does."  He has been asking me this week to define different phrases he has heard.  It's been amusing to hear what has perplexed him, as the questions come out of the blue.  The ones I recall from the week include what does it mean when someone says, "Suit yourself," "be there or be square," or "I'm pooped."  Beyond discovering new phrases he is surprising in other ways, too.  Today as I walked down the stairs he looked up and said, "Oh, well you look beautiful today!"  Talk about melt my heart.  He still loves to cuddle with his mom and even goes as far as telling me, "I love you and you are awesome."  I will listen to that as long as I possibly can.  Jonathan asked Josiah the other day if he was still going to kiss his daddy on the mouth when he was 15 and Josiah was a little astonished that Jonathan would think anything different.  We giggled as Jonathan pulled out his phone and captured that commitment on video for a later date.

The boys are preparing for the pending girl dominant house by forming an alliance that they call the "Weegee Brothers."  To hear Josiah say it sounds something like, "weejee bwuders."  Weegee became a word in our house when Josiah forgot the word was actually "wedgie."  The Weegee Brothers have taken to fist bumping and planning sneak attacks on mom.  They ambushed me so bad one time that they ripped my underwear.  Talk about two laughing boys.  The Weegee Brother alliance extends beyond wedgies and into a general boy vs. girl alliance.  It's actually really sweet to see them strengthen their bond with this "special" club that we are anatomically excluded from.  The girls are pretty helpless at this point, but I have full confidence that Evangeline will be more than obliged to join me in battling back in friendly family pranks soon enough.