In Sickness and in Health

In Sickness and Health

I know it’s been awhile but after my recent trip, re-entry into Mommy world has been a little rough.  I’ll explain.

I had the opportunity to take a work assignment out of town and I jumped at it.  The details of the work and location aren’t even that important, just the chance to be ALONE for a couple days sounded like a dream comes true and it was (thanks husband and baby).  I love my family but sometimes you need to just leave them for a break.  How did I leave my toddler for 3 days? Planning.  Am I a bad mother?  Don’t think so.

The first step is lining up responsible childcare, and the second step keep them busy.  My husband was able to work from home and I had a sitter in the morning.  Sasha was at day camp at Congregation Sons of Israel and we scheduled a sitter in the evening.

I left my itinerary and I got her essentials together for each day.  I mean basic stuff – An outfit for each day in a labeled bag, her day camp lunch each day in a labeled bag and a schedule detailing her daily activities and word translations – i.e. Nuk (Milk) and Elmo (Sesame Street before bed).  Things went pretty smoothly.

But I came back after 3 days and she’s sick with a virus for 7 days.  My relaxed demeanor quickly changed to never-ending exhaustion, with some hyper-anxiety thrown in.  How do we do it Mommies?

Toddlers are not like grown-ups when they get sick.  We know to lie in bed until it passes, they want to keep moving and that means crying incessantly because they feel bad.  I had summer cleaning plans and now it’s not summer.  It’s almost been a month since I've been away and I can’t believe she’s sick again.  This motherhood thing – keeps you on your toes!  Still it's worth the effort motherhood and getting away - alone.