Day Thirty-Three, Cornbread

Today the cold has completely taken over and I am the definition of the word miserable.  The itching in my ears, throat and sinuses is absolutely unbearable.  Therefore, I've been in bed all day.  I'm really, really dizzy, but it's not the diet, it's all the fluid in my sinuses.  I have my respite provider for part of the day to help with the kids and this is a huge relief.  Abigail has been laying on me all day long, she is sick too and we haven't slept in days.

By the time that Tim gets home that night, I am so overwhelmed I can't stand it.  I ask him to bring Justin and Abigail to the Urgent Care because they are not getting any better and I honestly can't survive another night without sleep.  I need to go myself but I am too sick to go and bring them so I decide to stay home and stick it out another night.  We agree he will take them after dinner.  We had our meal delivered and unfortunately I knew from the second I took it out it was not going to go over well with the kids.  So as Tim served it, I decided I needed to do something nice for them all.  I made them cornbread with honey for dessert.  This is one of my kids and husbands favorites.  I told the kids that if they ate a decent amount of their dinner, they would get some cornbread.

Dakota, our most picky eater, gobbled it up before my eyes, I was shocked!  He wanted the cornbread and he wanted it bad.  Abigail and Jamie seemed to be able to eat it too without a problem.  On the other hand, Kaylee was really struggling.  Kaylee has been having "issues" with lying lately a phase I expect she will grow out of.  After Dakota finished his and we were distracted, she went and emptied almost the whole bowl in the garbage, but left enough to not be suspicious.  She ran up to tell Tim how she ate it with a big smile.  That's when Dakota (our little family police officer) yelled, "No she didn't, she threw it away!"  Tim verified that indeed her food was in the trash can.

She ran up the stairs sobbing uncontrollably and Tim yelled to her back, "Kaylee, lying is not acceptable."  Seconds later I made my way up the stairs into her dark room and held her while she cried.  I told her that I understood she didn't like the dinner but what she was in trouble for was lying.  As soon as I could get her to calm down I told her that we can solve any problem if we work together and tell the truth.  We then decided that she would try again as long as I picked out the peas and added her favorite seasoning.  She smiled in delight as I blended the left overs up for Justin's tube feeding and thanked me for not saving it for "Restaurant Night".

"Restaurant Night" happens  a few times a month at my house.  It started when my sister and mom were out visiting.  One night when there were leftovers my sister put on her apron and was the "waitress" (which she is in real life after her day job and a great one at that!)  I typed up a menu of all the leftover items and the kids came and rang the door bell, were seated, listened to music and made their order.  Since then, the once dreaded "Leftover Night" has been a favorite night in the house!  If you want to do it, just type up the leftover options (entree, drink, veggie) and let them "order".  Then we serve them a mint.

I'm usually the "Sergeant" of our home, while Tim is the "Sergeant" on the police force...however, tonight I got to be the "good guy" for once.  When I came down the stairs Tim said to me, "So, you gave two gifts tonight!"  Oh brother I thought, here he comes with another corny punchline.  I bit, "Oh yeah?  What's that?"  He replied, "Well, you made cornbread and saved Kaylee from Daddy's wrath" and he proceeded to attack her with tickles.

Then my amazing husband took clinging Abbey and Justin in a wheelchair to Urgent Care.  It took two and a half hours but they left with antibiotics and cough syrup and it was the first night that everyone got some sleep.