Our Invisible Guest

Aside from the fact that January was full of appointments, cleaning out of closets, preparing some important paperwork, and the regular things of laundry, cooking, cleaning house, playing with the little girl, and such....we've also had an invisible guest living with us. I'm not sure of his (or her) exact name, but he/she has made his/her presence known and have multiplied themselves over and over again. I guess the title should really be "Our Invisible Guests." Those of you that are now concerned about staying with us because we have bugs, well, I'd be concerned too. Except that these bugs don't crawl around on the floor, ceilings, walls. (Aside: if they did, you would not find this mommy living in her home. I would do anything and everything I could to get these bugs out of our house, but I'm not above staying elsewhere if the need arose.)

Nope, these bugs reside internally and are passed through the sticky hands of a 17 month old, or through her a-choo's or coughs. They might also reside on anything that she touches, which, if you've had a 17 month old, you know is e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. Oh she loves to come and blow kisses with her snotty little hands, and loves to give pats to you as well (thinking that you need to be patted like her little baby dolls), and thinks it no greater joy than when Mommy agrees to pretend to drink out of her cup when we're playing in her kitchen. Except that her kitchen seems to be carrying out the bug's prescribed duty--to make all of us sick. As Hudson told me the other day, "I feel like we've been sick since December." And unfortunately, he's right.

The clorox wipes have come out and been used on surfaces that she can reach, and our hands have been washed so many times that they are cracked and bleeding. We've been through approximately 15 boxes of kleenex since early December as well...(actually Puffs because they don't tear up Micayla's nose as much, if you want to get technical.) We've taken Vitamin C and Zicam, drank hot tea in efforts to soothe the very sore throats that we've had, and put lotion on our hands and noses. I'm quite ready for these invisible guests to be shown the door, which I think I've done now, several times, but they keep coming back. We've missed church, Bible study on Tuesdays, playschool, Ladies Night Out, and just being well. I'd like to send an eviction notice to the guests, but apparently they don't listen very well.

So if you've wondered where we've been, and wondered why I haven't blogged, it's because if I'm not blowing my own nose, finding a cough drop to soothe the pain in my throat, or drinking gallons of water to flush these uninvited guests out, then I'm wiping the dripping faucet of snot from Micayla's nose and trying to teach her that she can't wipe her nose/snot on the dog, or I'm rocking my baby back to sleep when she wakes up because she's having trouble breathing through all her congestion.

Ahh...the life of a mom. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world...it's the greatest blessing I've been given (aside from being saved and my dear husband) and I'm so honored to be Micayla's mommy. But I don't have to be happy about the unwanted, uninvited, invisible guests that have seemingly taken residence in our home, and I'm letting them know that today is their last day to live here. Excuse me while I go get another kleenex.