In fact, I’m on Day 12. That’s right, I got a respiratory infection on top of the flu. When I do something, I go all out! LittleBrother got sick late last week, the flu as well, and got a double ear infection on top of it. Apparently we’re just overachievers. BigBrother, on the other hand, is fine and dandy, moving at speeds I couldn’t keep up with even if I was well. The good news is that we’ve had lots of quiet moments, cuddles like we had yesterday.

And so, really, this has been “our real life” since Thursday of last week.

I’d share a picture of BigBrother but, as I said, he’s well and moving at lightning speeds. I simply can’t keep up. (As a side note, I am finally on antibiotics for my respiratory infection. I hope to feel better before BigBrother’s birthday next Tuesday.)

Hopefully someone else who participated in this week’s You Capture challenge has some pictures that really show their lives. But, really, that’s all we’ve done. Most of the week we didn’t get out of our pajamas. Mmm, pajamas. Next week’s challenge is Sunrise/Sunset which makes me think of the song which makes me weepy as my sons will both be turning another year older in the next week and a half. These sniffles? Uh, they’re just because I’m sick. I swear…

(As a side note, my $100 Visa gift card giveaway is ending today! It’s sponsored by Ragu. Go give it a look!)

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For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Did I mention that FireDad was working his normal 24 hour shift on Saturday?

Have you ever tried to parent from the couch or the bed? I have before, having been placed on Level III bedrest while pregnant with LittleBrother. BigBrother was not-quite-two during those ten long weeks of my life. To be honest, I wasn’t all that great at bedrest. It was hard to be good at it when the not-quite-two year old needed to do things like, oh, eat on days that FireDad was off doing his duty. Still, I did my best. My best then, while hugely pregnant with a malfunctioning kidney, was a million and one times better than what I had to offer two children, not-quite-two and not-quite-four, this past weekend. We seem to have survived. I think.

I am thankful that they are quite adept at amusing themselves and one another. It would have been a smidgen more awesome if BigBrother had napped considering that he was sick as well (read: whiny) but you take the good with the bad. Or, really, the bad with the bad. He did not attend preschool today though I did manage to drink enough cold medicine to make it through my first day of work. I did, however, forget to take my own camera to my first day of work… as a photographer. Medicine head fail. (That said, I will be getting a swanky Nikon for the newspaper. Hooray!)

I must admit that this illness did me one fabulous thing. How can an illness give you anything fabulous? Since I was so sick and so preoccupied with being sick, I didn’t have time to be nervous about today’s first trip into work. Or leaving my kids (with their father, mind you). Or any of that normal anxiety that creeps into my psyche on the eve of any big life change. In fact, I wasn’t all that nervous this morning. You know, when I was busy leaving my camera behind. Maybe I could have stood to be a slight bit more nervous, no?

We’re all on the mend. I can’t tell if LittleBrother is getting our cough or not. BigBrother’s temperature did spike to 104.3 on Friday night but came down immediately after a dose of ibuprofen and never went back over 101 after that initial spike. We were afraid, as we usually are when it comes to his health, that he would lose the ability to breathe properly. So far, knock on wood, he has not. His cough is mostly dry and scratchy now, like mine. I had some pretty nasty junk going on in my chest for most of the weekend. As the flu, whatever the variety, is a manageable illness as long you are a healthy individual who pays attention to your symptoms or your kids’ symptoms, we didn’t take a trip to the doctor’s office. I won’t be able to tell you if this was “the” flu that everyone is freaking out about unless we end up with the letters-and-numbers virus at a later date in time. (Like any flu virus, you can only get it once (per strain, per year). That means we can still get that “scary” flu if we haven’t yet or another strain such as the normal seasonal flu.) Whatever the case, we are feeling much better. Glad to be on the mend and looking forward to a busy November.

But, please, could you wash your hands? And teach your children not to cough on my children? As much as I can handle the flu, my poor little nose is tired of tissues, however soft and lotion-laden they claim to be.