Sleep Deprivation

I have friends who, when their husbands go out of town, place the baby monitor by the front door with the receiver in their room so they can hear anyone that might try to come in. I have other friends who, when their husbands go out of town, find a babysitter and hang out with friends the whole time. I have other friends who, when their husbands go out of town, carry on with life as normal, and things seem more disrupted when their husband arrives home.

When my husband goes out of town, I stay up extra late so I will sleep better. That's how it's supposed to work, right? Exhaust yourself so much that you fall into a deep sleep at night so you don't know he's not laying next to you in bed, so that you don't hear the noises that go "bump" in the night and worry about who or what is invading, so that you don't have to think about all the things that could happen to him and make it so he might not come home...

I enjoy spending time with my daughters. They are clever, fun and happy people, as long as they are fed and not ill. However, since Travis left, my oldest developed Strep on top of a viral infection, and my two-year-old currently has a fever over 102 F. My infant has some rotten sniffles that I'm terrified will turn into a fever with an ear infection. I'm just waiting for my four-year-old to get something horrible, too. I thought waking up once at night to feed Veronica was bad. Then I only got 1.5 hour stretches. Last night it was every hour.

And, despite the wonderful and kind offers of friends to take one or two of my kids to help me out this week, I have to decline all of them because my kids are CONTAGIOUS. Drat.

So, if you see me driving or walking around in a daze. Or sitting on my living room couch bawling, it isn't just hormones, nor my back or leg bothering me, nor the fact that I really really miss my husband. No, it's the fact that I will not have slept in days, and have four kids crying/cranky/fighting/feverish.

What do I do when my husband goes out of town? Well, I don't sleep much. But, it isn't because I miss him or I'm worried so much about somebody breaking in.

It's because all my kids are S-I-C-K!