Child #2 sick now...

Earlier this week, I had to take 2 days off because my daughter was sick. Today, my son woke up, having difficulty in swallowing, red and enlarged tonsils, and talking with a weird voice.

Called my favorite sub...but she was already working. Called the list of subs I love...all of them already working. So, I called "Subfinder" and they just will randomly call me a sub. I like to have substitutes that I know, since they know my class, and I have 2 children in my class with health concerns. It always worries me when I have to be out.

So, because I live only 3 miles from my school, I drove to school and dropped off sub plans. I was excited to do 3 projects with my class today, but decided to hold off on them until Monday. I selfishly want to do these activities with my students, and I wanted it taught in the right way. Sometimes when I leave sub plans for important lessons, I often am disappointed in how the lesson turned out and the evidence of the work the kids do. Since I was having a stranger substitute, I didn't want to leave a lot of complicated things.

My son is feeling better. I was worried he had Strep throat, since it is going around his 4th grade classroom. But the strep swap proved otherwise, and he is just fighting a virus. So hoping he'll be better soon. Tomorrow, he has a big day ahead of him, and I'll be writing about his big day tomorrow...

So today- another day home. I did report cards and talked on the phone to 2 of my best friends who are stay-at-home moms while my son rested today. Still feeling guilty for having to leave my students, for a third day this week.

Why do we feel guilty for calling in sick?

I knew I would wake up this morning, and not know what to do. My daughter, who was sent home from school sick yesterday, by bed time last night, was dancing and playing Wii. So when it was bedtime last night, I was clearly thinking she would be going to school today.

However, that didn't seem to be what happened. I woke her up an hour earlier than I usually do, just so I could evaluate her. She did look a little pale, and her eyes had that weird sick look to them. She told me her throat hurt, and she was tired. I went back and forth, with calling in sick. Should I? Shouldn't I? I wish days like today, I had a magic stick that would really tell me if my child was sick enough to stay home.

Well, I ended up staying home with Maggie. I've learned through the years that my own children have to be my priority over my kids at school. And I knew that if Maggie did go to school, I would be a nervous wreck, worrying about her.

So, it ended up being a good day after all. It was almost 60 degrees here in Upstate New York. Maggie and I sat on our porch most of the day. We did a lot of talking. She did my hair. She painted my nails. Yep, she could had gone to school.

When I picked up my son from school after his Student Council meeting, he threw himself into the seat and complained of a headache. Riley, unlike Maggie, NEVER complains. He told me his throat was hurting too. And a strep throat notice from the nurse was in his folder. So this isn't looking good for tomorrow.

My husband has already told me that he can stay home, if Riley is sick tomorrow. As I write this, Riley is getting ready for bed, so we'll see how he is doing.

Out of the 4 days we had school last week (snowday one day), I was in my classroom for 1 day ( 2 meetings and a personal day). This week, out of 3 days, I have been in my classroom for 1.5 days, since Maggie was sick. I am feeling guilty for abandoning my little kids at school.

Why is it that we always feel guilty when we need to call in sick?

"Your daughter is in the nurse's office, and is sick..."

It's 1:15 PM in my busy kindergarten classroom. I'm in front of the class, going over all of our new literacy centers for the week. In the middle of going over the 2nd literacy station, we all hear Mrs. Millington on our PA system. "Mrs. Walz, can you pick up your wall phone." Thinking one of my students is getting picked up early, I walk quickly to the phone in my room.

"Hi Stacey. The nurse from your daughter's school just called, and you need to call her back."

Then it dawns on me that my daughter told me that she wasn't feeling well this morning. I sent her to school, since there wasn't a fever. And after a cup of hot chocolate, she was her ole self again. Then it hits me that I'm probably not a good mom for sending her to school.

I quietly tell my students that I need to call Maggie's school. Luckily for me, our ESL teacher is in my room helping out, so I let her take over, while I head to the phone. Once on the phone with the nurse and talking to Maggie, I know that I have to leave school to pick her up. My school office already knew about the nurse calling me, so I dart into the office to talk to my school secretary and in 2 minutes, she already has a substitute heading to my classroom. It is amazing how smoothly it all is going down. While writing a few sub plans for the remainder of the day and placing some notes in some folders, I tell my students that I will miss them and to be good. They are in the midst of doing centers, so many of them are so engaged, they don't see me leave.

Once at my daughter's school, I go to the nurse's office to sign her out. She doesn't have a fever, but she has some chills. Her face is kind of pale, and she is relieved to see me. We hold hands walking out of the building, and then I feel like a good mom again.

While Maggie was resting on the couch this afternoon, I decided to be Super Mom, and I made some baked goods for when my son walked home from school. And dinner was on the table at 5, which never happens.

It's now 5:30 PM, and my daughter is sleeping on the couch. I may need to think about doing sub plans for tomorrow...

Child #2 sick now

I guess when you have 2 kids, and one of them gets sick, it's pretty probable that the second child will be sick as well. Maggie was sick during the Christmas Break, and now Riley is sick.

The kids take a school bus to the school I teach at. After I walked my students to their buses yesterday and greeted Riley and Maggie, I could tell in seconds that Riley was really sick. Last night, he coughed all night, as well as blowing his nose. When I woke up at 5:30 this morning and opened his door, I saw tissues all over the floor, his comforter was thrown to the end of the bed, and his face was puffy. This wasn't a "borderline" kind of day; I knew that he had to stay home. Quickly I wrote sub plans and contacted my favorite substitute teacher, who luckily wasn't already working.

I remember before I had kids, having a conversation with my good friend Susan, who I taught with in WA state. One time, Susan had to take a couple days off since one of her kids was sick. She later told me, secretly, that she enjoyed taking time off when the kids were sick. She got to nurse them back to health, but while they were resting, she was able to get things done around her house.

Riley is laying on the couch, watching TV, and resting. After I write, I plan on doing some housework, bake some gluten-free things, and do some reading. If I'm home, I might as well enjoy it.

Sick kid + full time job = Nightmare

One of the first challenges of being a full-time mom and having a full-time job is when you have a sick kid. This week, Maggie is sick. Because we are on our Christmas vacation, my handling her sickness went smoothly.
You see, usually what happens when one of my kids is sick, and I discover this when I wake them up at 7 AM for school, is I have a list of questions in my head. Can they go to school like this? Do they have a fever? No fever, should they go to school like this? Sometimes I discover too late that one of my kids is sick, and it's too late to call a substitute. Like the day when I sent Maggie to school with a rash to school, that was all over her face. I ended up emailing her teacher that morning, and she was sent to the nurse. The nurse called me at my school to tell me that she's was alright, to my relief, since I was calling myself a Bad Mom all that morning. So, when my kids are sick, and I discover it in the morning, it can be stressful.
Once I discover that I need to take the day off to be with the kids, then another wave of things need to be completed. Calling the Sub Service to get a substitute. Writing up sub plans. Going to school and dropping off the sub plans. It's always hectic, and I always have to make that decision, "Are they sick enough to stay home all day."
When I was living in Germany last year as a stay-at-home mom, it was nice. If I thought they were sick, they just stayed home. Those questions, "Are they sick enough to stay home" never crossed my mind. If I simply thought they were sick, they just stayed home. I'm not saying that my kids go to school sick all the time, but it's those "Borderline Sick" days I'm talking about. Those Borderline sick days, while living in Germany, I would keep them home. But I guess I had other stresses while living in a foreign country: Like visits to the kids' doctor, and hoping that I would get the fluent speaking English doctor (which I only got once). The other times I went to their doctors, I got the German speaking doctor. And the best was when I got the medicine, and had to go to Google Translate to figure out what the heck I was doing with dosages.
This week, Maggie had to go to the doctor's on two days. So if I were working, I would have to have taken a couple days off this week. She's still not better. She was first diagnoised with a sinus infection, then on the 2nd visit, bronchitis, and now she's on an inhaler and steroids. I'm hoping she's not getting pneumonia. Yesterday, she was complaining of her chest hurting, so that worries me.
Some people would feel an inconvenience with their child getting sick during their vacation time off, but I'm feeling relieved that it happened when I was home.