Routine (or lack of it)

The kids are back in school which means germs are back infesting the children.  Oh joy!  At the end of the second week of school Jackson started getting a runny nose followed by congestion.  Which he quickly shared with me.  (Someone remind me why I had children).  For some reason, it hit me like a ton of bricks while Jackson was mildly affected by it.  Thankfully I have recovered, however here we are about 3 weeks later and Jackson still has the runny nose and congestion.  Apparently that wasn’t enough, diarrhea then took over his body.  For the last couple of weeks he has had it off and on.  We’ve gone through more bananas, rice, white bread and applesauce than we normally do in a year.  He’s probably missed about a week of school due to the unwanted bowel issues.  There isn’t anything like driving in the car with a kid with explosive diarrhea.  Whatever you are envisioning with that scene is nothing compared to the reality.  Let’s just say days later, lots of Lysol, and car seat washings have not fully eliminated the smell from the car.   Not to mention how many baths I have given the kid on an emergency basis.  He has returned to school today and I am crossing my fingers and toes he is able to get through the day without an explosion.  This Mama needs a break from poop and a grouchy child.  Mostly I long to get back into our school routine.  I want Jackson at school learning and I want to get to my pile of reading and emails. 

The highlight of the last couple of weeks is that [drumroll…….] Kevin and I got to go on a date!  We haven’t had a date night since March when we went away for the weekend.  Two angels stepped forward and offered to babysit.  A big, giant, huge shout out to Summer and Matt.  They have no idea how amazing it was for us to go on a date.  Statistics have shown that the divorce rate of couples who have a child with special needs is extraordinarily high.  Lucky for me I took my time finding a great man to marry so that we would be solid and divorce would never be in our vocabulary.  But, it can be difficult and stressful at times.  We are lucky that Jackson is ridiculously healthy despite his diagnosis.  Nevertheless, we still need couple time.  It is hard for us to find people who are willing to watch Jackson.  I think it scares them that something might happen that they don’t understand and also the fact that he is a big kid and hard to move.  I totally get that.  So when we get an offer to go out we jump on it!  Summer had been around Jackson a couple of times but never to babysit him.  Matt had never met him.  For them to just offer was incredible.  We are very grateful to have people like that in our life.  Thanks Summer and Matt!  You two rock!

The last couple of weeks have been anything but routine but as Randy Lewis said “When the map and terrain differ, go with the terrain.”