UGH!

Am I thankful? You betcha! I have so much to be thankful for. What I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving are my 3 beautiful, wonderful, loving and patient children. God has blessed me in ways I cannot begin to count.

My children were expecting to go to Nashville, Tennessee as soon as I got off work on Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with their Nana and Papa, Uncle Brent and Lee, Bobbie, Megan, Hunter, Hailey, Nancy and Bob. I started feeling pretty rotten on Tuesday, but had fun plans during the day so I tried to buck up and shake it off. We went to visit Grandma Hains, went swimming and went out to lunch with Lisa and her girls. I wasn't feeling so hot at the pool, so after lunch, we came home and Sadie and I slept all afternoon. I hadn't even packed for the trip, but I could not get up long enough to do anything. The kids and I all had haircuts at 5:15, so I rolled out of bed in time to make the appt. Well that did not go well. She foiled my hair and cut all 3 kids' hair and each second that passed, I felt worse. Finally as she was washing out my hair, I knew I had to leave immediately. I left with wet hair and no haircut and made it home just in time before puking for the rest of the night. Ryan was only working until 8:00, so I told the kids to fend for themselves until dad could come home and put them to bed. My sweet, sweet Cobe fixed himself and the other 2 dinner (a small detail I seemed to have forgotten in the midst of my violent sickness), and took care of them AND me until Ryan got home. Ryan said he didn't feel quite right either. He slept on the couch and I continued to be sick all night. I obviously didn't make it to work on Wednesday. Well.... it hit him the next morning. Plus I still couldn't get out of bed. Nice! Once again, Cobe rose to the occasion and took care of his brother and sister all day-right by himself. He is my hero! He enjoyed the added responsibilty I could tell. :-) He kept coming in to check on me as well to see what I needed. And the great part of the whole day- I didn't hear one fight, one bit of bickering, one harsh word- nothing negative at all pass between my kids. All this on top of the fact that they pretty much knew at this point that our Thanksgiving plans were ruined. Cobe was disappointed, but he handled it like a champ- he REALLY wanted to go see Hunter and hang out with him. Hunter is his idol! Ryan and I both were down pretty much the whole day today as well. It has not been a fun virus. I am assuming it is the one that Brooks had 2 weeks ago and Sadie had last week, so now Cobe is the only one left to be hit with it. I am praying he is spared. (Oh and PS- I passed it on to Lisa and she was down and out all day today puking.)

So would I have chosen this? OF COURSE NOT!!!! We would have had a blast in Nashville! My cousin has a webcam hooked up to view his dock (they live on a lake), and they got on the tramp tonight and jumped and waved at us in the 65 degree weather as they were wearing SHORTS and T-SHIRTS!!!!!!!! so we could experience what we were missing. The kids and I all gathered around the computer to watch the fun they were having. Then they headed off to my parents' hotel to swim. Aaaaahhhhh... would have been SO nice!

So my title of UGH! is true- UGH for the way I have felt; UGH for missing our trip to Nashville, UGH for not being with family on Thanksgiving, but how thankful I am that my own family of 5 is SUCH a blessing! All three of my kids gathered in my bed tonight and prayed for everything they were thankful for, and Cobe said, "You know mom, this was probably the best day of mine and Sadie's life; we had so much fun together making up games, and we laughed so much." (I don't know why he left out Brooks because little Brooksie was giggling right along with the other 2 all day). What a Thanksgiving!