Time Magazine Take Note

I think at the end of the year when people are naming their "person of the year" they really should consider Joe. Sure they'll consider all sorts of diplomats, dead entertainers and scientists; but really those people haven't had to deal with me and Ari in our present state.

I for one have officially declared myself mentally unstable. All the lounging around, lack of vacations, cravings for strenuous activity and my new love for processed food (specifically corn dogs and Bisquick this week) have taken their toll. I've totally lost my patience, and with it my tact. If the neighbor watches his dog poop on our front law one more time and doesn't pick it up I just might plaster his precious pooch with bear spray. When people ask me how I'm doing I can no longer in good conscious smile and say "fine". If Joe asks me one more time what I want for dinner, despite his being justified and generous in doing so, I'm going to snap...oh wait, that already happens.

Ari (not that it's his fault) is no longer helping the cause. The last two weeks Ari has been AMAZING. He's been SO happy and has entertained himself really well with blocks, puzzles, duplos, trucks, books on tape and kid songs. Then his cousin Adan stopped by leaving all the germs necessary for Ari to contract hand, foot and mouth disease. Talk about a nightmare, this thing is brutal. I don't think even I could handle ulcers in my mouth. Today he can't really eat or drink because he says it hurts, or rather he cries "it hurts"! Last night he would wake up and cry and cry and cry and sit up on his bed with drool dripping from his mouth (must hurt to swallow) and there was nothing we could do about it, it's such a helpless feeling. I finally went to sleep in my room with the door shut and white noise cranked and tried to get some sleep so that Joe didn't have to stay up with 2 crying loved ones.

That doesn't mean I slept well, I was up most of the night paranoid that every little pain meant labor was eminent. My Doula was out of town and what would we have done with Ari? There's no way we could take him to someones house with kids and to even call and ask an adult to come stay at our house with Ari screaming and drooling in fits of delusion wanting his Dad. It would have put me in fits of anxiety to leave him. It seems that as long as he has some Tylenol in his system he can handle the pain; as in he's winy, ornery and throwing weird fits instead of constantly screaming and acting like he's out of his mind. Getting him to take Tylenol is another matter...5-7 days; we can do this?

I don't tell you this to muster up sympathizers, I have to admit I start laughing at the situation far more than I teeter on a mental breakdown. Really I can only think of maybe 2 other times in my life when I've felt this crazy; that's not too bad. I suppose despite the fact that were kind-of a mess I still can't help but feel extremely blessed. Joe's been able to be home a lot the last 2 weeks and has shown far more patience for Ari being sick and my being immobile than I would be able to muster. How do some people do that? He's added all my responsibilities to his own and still manages to work at home and be totally sane, dare I say even chipper. Time magazine take note.