Spring is/was here, Part 1- annual avitaminosis

Hi, friends! May has been "sick month" here. Or I guess I should say, since Easter.

From a post I started about a month ago:

The kids are both sick for the first time, and I realized that part of me has been waiting for this moment: to play nurse and coddle with soft blankets, juice boxes, and all-day cartoons.

What are the things you said you'd never do, as a parent? I think I planned on being fairly strict, and I wanted to encourage my child(ren) to be independent. I love those lists going around with chores for each age, starting at 2 or 3. BUT...another meme caught my eye recently. It goes something like this: If your child is asking you to do something that he(she) can do himself, that simply means that he LIKES when you do it for him. Imagine if you asked someone for a favor and were told "nope, you're capable of doing it yourself." I remember as a child what a treat it was to be carried even when I was "too big" for it. Or when I got to watch more TV than usual, or have dessert anyway, or be helped with my chores. It is always a joy to be shown grace. (But of course a loving parent disciplines, too)

So that was fun for a few days until the cold virus hit me full-force and I wasn't so willing to be awake at night tending to the other patients. Then comes the "who's sicker" competition!

In the end I "won" and lost my voice and needed antibiotics, which is kind of a long story. Have you ever needed to be hospitalized/on medication with young kids?

We've all continued to have symptoms on and off, but we did make it to church and have a few other social events in between.

So, "just a cold" is nothing to scoff at! How did I use to keep up with all my activities when I was sick? I remember going to work, class, teaching Sunday school, singing (!) on the worship team, all with a sore throat or worse! And Andrei had a really bad throat infection one time, like mine this time, and initially continued to go to work and preach at church, but then he had to take a break and it took him like a month to get better. Seems harder to shake it off as we get older...but then again, you do what you have to do for whatever season you're in.