My own little madness

I'm always conscious of trying not to be too negative. I don't want to sound whiny or full of self-pity. Nobody wants to hear that, I'm sure.

However, I'm struggling to say much of anything right now other than: I'm having a hard time.

Here are the players:

*I mentioned before that a few people close to me are going through some legitimately difficult times. It's hard.

*We are getting ready to get a new roof, sooner than we had planned, and the purse strings feel tighter than usual. I feel a little squirmy about the whole ordeal.

*In the next 8 weeks, I have 2 kids' birthdays, my sister's bridal shower, and her wedding. By the time all of that is over, it's time to have a baby!

*We went to Pittsburgh last weekend to visit Mom and Greg, and the kids developed fevers before we left. It was great to see Oma and Opa, but the fevers persisted, and the kids were definitely feeling worse by Monday (insert Mommy guilt here).

*On Monday, the doc reported strep throat for Katy and ear infection for David. We started both on antibiotics and Katy missed another day of school (St. Patrick's theme).

*On Tuesday, David was in so much pain that he cried inconsolably for several hours. It was so awful that I called the pediatrician again to make sure it wasn't the meds, but they assured me it was his ears.

*Tuesday evening, Brian came home with body aches and an upset stomach. He felt so badly that he missed both Wed and Thurs at work.

*David slept horribly all week - not taking naps longer than 45 minutes and waking up frequently at night. I haven't slept more than 6 hours total any night this week (hi, newborns!).

*With the gorgeous weather outside this week, things really perked up by Thursday. I took Katy on her fire station field trip (she did great), and we spent lots of time outside. Everyone was feeling a little better so I thought surely today would be better. Surely.

*Last night Katy woke up screaming for 30 minutes with leg pain (growing pains, I'm assuming?).

*Then David woke up crying with...you guessed it...another fever. He was very fussy and had me up at 5:30 again this morning (which of course feels like 4:30 with the time change). David has now had a fever for 12 of the last 20 days.

*Took David back to the doctor today. His ears are clear and this is a new illness, most likely a virus since he's already on antibiotics, and possibly related to Brian's illness (please, Lord, no). Just waiting to see who else is going to get what at this point.

So I'm tired. And frustrated. And emotional. And oh, yeah: 6 months pregnant.

And I have to go back to this discussion: how does this happen? the constant sickness? I feel like we are sick so often it's ridiculous, and I know that lots of other families are too, but not all of them. So what am I doing wrong? I could keep them home and away from other kids, but that is almost as miserable to me as the illness (not to mention that we didn't go anywhere this week and David picked something up). And is this going to pay off at some point? Perhaps they won't be as sick as others when they start school? Or are they always destined to catch everything in sight? Perhaps I need to research boosting the immune system.

Or perhaps I just need a nap.

Next week will be better. It HAS to be, right? Or maybe I just need to change my perspective.