Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Mother Of The Year...again...

Regretfully, here I am again.  Nominating myself for the Mother Of The Year.  I'm not sure these nominations will ever end, so I will embrace them with the knowledge that I am doing the best I job I can do.  We all fall short of the mark and none of us are perfect, although the perfectionist in me just doesn't want to accept that.  

Here's my latest shortcoming...
So just this afternoon I posted about thoughts of beating Tucker within an inch of his life.  He has been screaming, crying, whining and being a total pain in the behind for several days now.  He has also been sick.  For the first several days, I blamed his behavior on his cough and cold.  Who wants to think their child has turned evil over night?  So I babied him for days on end.  Finally, I just got tired of it.  The last 3 days have been so incredibly painful, both Matt and I are ready to take a permanent vacation from parenting.  
We have been giving Tucker 'Tussin and Tylenol for 7 days now, EVERY 6 hours.  On the back of the 'Tussin bottle it says that you shouldn't give this medication for more than 7 days, if the symptoms persist, call your physician.  So this morning I called our beloved doctor to get an appointment.  We got a call this morning saying that they had a 3:45 pm appointment available for both Tucker and Addie...WE WILL TAKE IT!  Three days ago, Addie started in with the same cough that Tucker has, so I wanted to get her checked out too.  
Fast Forward: In the doctor's office.  Addie gets checked out first.  Other than major snot and cough, she is fine.  There is nothing "wrong" with her.  As long as she doesn't get a fever greater than 102 and/or starts eating or sleeping less...no worries.  My poor baby Tucker, on the other hand, DOUBLE ear infection and a lung that doesn't sound clear.  NICE.  I feel like the worst Mommy.  I've been yelling at Tucker, sending him to time-out non-stop, and really wanting to just runaway from him...and he is sicker than snot!  I really, really hope that these antibiotics are the magic potion that Tucker needs to become himself again.  I'm going to assume that my child has been sicker than he can explain and that's the reason for all this nonsense.  I'm not sure how I'm going to excuse my impatient behavior, but then again, maybe that's why I'm nominating myself.  I own the fact that I've been treating my dear, sweet child like garbage for the last few days.  Why does motherhood come with a load of responsibility, two loads of love, and three loads of guilt?  

4 comments:

christyephillips said...

yuck, sick kids are the worst! even if you know they're sick it's so hard to have patience for sooo long! B had an ear infection last week, and they prescribed ear numbing drops with the antibiotics! they're great because they work right away! check into it, now I give it to the girls if they wake up screaming in the middle of the night, hey why not drug them?

Angela said...

oh you poor thing...those antibiotics will work wonders...hang in there for about 48 more hours and they will kick in. I think some kids can't tell you when they feel so crappy, and they whine like no body's business. Cameron is the same...he's had a double ear infection too and after the meds he was as good as new. But you're right...they do work it good huh? Then after the sickness you have to re-train them to be "big boys" and stop whining with some tough love. ((((hugs)))) my friend...you are an amazing mother who is dealing with all this stuff with such dignity and patience...!!!

Dottie said...

Tami, your human..don't get too down on yourself, its simply hard to know sometimes the reasons behind behavior. You are a good mommy because you took him to the doctor and are getting him on meds. I hope he feels better soon!

Dory said...

Tami, My sympathies for the ears... it's definitely no fun and so hard when they can't or won't tell you what's wrong. As you know, we've had double ear infections three times and I'll definitely second the numbing ear drops and motrin. Has he had a fever? That's usually our tell-tale sign after cold symptoms. Anyway, hang in there for three doses of the antibiotics and then he should be doing better. We've always had to sleep "retrain" Ronan after an ear infection, but since Tucker's older I'll keep my fingers crossed that you don't. So sorry!! Is there anything I can do to help??