Be Wary of Your Thoughts!

So, this morning I wake up on my own (unusual given how exhausted I always feel) and think maybe I should check out the time to see how long I can lounge in bed before getting up.  What's this?!  The alarm clock is flashing.  Oh no!  We've lost power, I bet it's late.  YUP!  About 8:30 AM, quick light on in Lorelei's room and telling her to get up.  Get the pets taken care of and check up on Clayton, who is at the hospital, to let him know I'm running late.  Look outside, and what the?!  Yesterday, most of our previous snow had melted...but this morning the ground and car and backyard things are COVERED!!  Buses aren't running and I decided to keep Lorelei home.  In discussion with a friend I found out that the roads are pretty slick and the snow is very heavy.  Good choice to stay home I guess.

Alright, not the end of the world...I'll work from home and we'll see about heading into the hospital later.  I feel like dirt anyway.  Seems to be common side effect, anytime Ethan gets sick - I'm not far behind. 

Lorelei and I get through the day and since they're calling for freezing rain tonight I decided to head out and shovel the driveway so it isn't an ice pack when I go to bring Lorelei to her early morning swim lesson.  Wow, my friend wasn't kidding!  That snow is H-E-A-V-Y!  Great, just what my back needs!  This is the third time I've had to do a lot of shovelling while Ethan has been in hospital for different admissions.  It takes about 3 scoops to get close to the driveway in one shovel sized spot.  The snow is very moist and packs really well...probably great snowball/snowman weather if you're into playing outside in wintertime.  I get to thinking and grumbling about being out shovelling snow and how miserable this winter has been (with so many admissions for Ethan) and how I can't wait for it to finally be over.  I say to Lorelei, "I guess it is a good thing your brother is in the hospital right now.  It's not like we'd be able to get him there in a hurry if he wasn't."  I try to think of positives.  Then I do it.  I go there.  I don't know why I did.  I jinxed us!  I thought, "well at least Lorelei hasn't been sick much this year."  An innocent thought, no?!  NO!

After I get her to bed, I take a warm bath to try and soothe my aching back.  Then I hear her whining and coughing a bit.  This is not like her once she's asleep she's out good.  I still hear her making noise and I figure she must be having a dream.  Then I hear it...that unmistakable sound...someone has thrown up.  It sounded a bit like the dog, perhaps it was him.  Then I hear it again.  I call out to her, "Lorelei?  Lorelei are you okay?  Lorelei?  Did you get sick Lorelei?  Mommy's coming, just let me get out of the bath."  I turn on her light as I enter her room...but the odour tells me it wasn't the dog.  She's gotten sick on her pillow and is still sleeping.  That's never happened before!  I wake her and get her to the bathroom.  She's been sick on herself so I have her climb into the tub (that I was just draining) to clean up.  She is shivering and whining and saying she hates sicknesses.  Me too!  Now I'm up late again because I've been in several times to check on her.  I've set up the baby monitor we used when she was younger.  We haven't used it in forever with her...but I want to be able to hear how she's doing.

Have I mentioned, I'm so done with winter?