"You fake a stomach cramp, and when you're bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It's a little childish and stupid, butthen, so is high school."

Sometimes I write a post and for some reason or other  it doesn't get published so every now and again I'm just going to publish them as it seems a waste, so here's the first of my belated posts.

I don't have a great recollection of my time at primary school, I'm not really sure why? I remember the big events, marrying my girlfriend of 3 years at the leavers assembly in a mock wedding set up by the teachers (weird) followed by everyone in our year holding hands in a circle while me and my new wife danced at the leaving disco definitely stands out, but the general events have always been a little hazy. What I do remember about school overall though was the uncertainty and the never really feeling comfortable in my surroundings. When it came to getting out of school I was terrible during the secondary years, skiving off lessons and forging apparent notes from my parents. At primary school though I hadn't reached that point so all I had to play with was good old fashioned physical illness because I craved that mythical sick day so much. Back then in the 80's there was a movie knocking about that gave me all the motivation I needed for staying home and doing my own thing, thanks to Netflix Ferris Beuller has been on hand to teach the boys the same life lessons.

Sometimes though there's no need for all the theatrics, This week I had a phone call from the school letting me know that Seth was unwell an could I come and collect him. Although I don't want either of the boys to be unwell. I still get excited about an extra day at home and being too ill to go out means fun in the house when everyone else is trapped at dreaded school. That afternoon Seth pretty much just slept and then went to bed early. The following morning Seth had the tell tale dark rings around the eyes, a classic sign of him feeling unwell. That rare sick day was upon us and i was intending to make the most of it (If Seth was feeling up to it of course).

The first part of the day was spent sofa bound, but there was no complaints here. I don't feel like we get to do this enough as we are always busy doing other things. Cuddles under the blanket is exactly where we needed to be. Plus it gave us another excuse to relive the trials and tribulations of Mr Beuller on Netflix.

It may have been psychological but I was starting to feel a little rough myself, this usually happens with me (strange I know). We needed something tasty for breakfast to set us up for the day so with a little hand from Opeie we made Buckwheat banana and nutmeg pancakes with peanut putter which seemed to perk everyone up.

All the excitement of breakfast was clearly too much for Seth so he made his way back to bed, followed by the hairiest nurse in the house. Polly is adorable and every night when the boys go to bed she goes up with them and sleeps outside their room, like their furry protector. She is very switched on to them being ill and seems to know when things aren't right and this sick day was no different. Polly followed Seth straight up to the top bunk and curled up at his feet, staying there until Seth was ready to come down (She is such an awesome cat!).

We love playing computer games but I'm always wary about the amount of time spent playing, this however goes out the window when the boys are ill. If we are confined to the sofa then I am happy to fully embrace the consoles and our love of gaming. Thanks to our friends Chris and Katie who gave the boys some new games last weekend we were all entertained for the afternoon.

At some point in the day the boys would eventually be wanting to take them selves away from the comforts of the cozy sofa. After lunch we braved it upstairs to the bedroom, because that's where the LEGO is of course. It wasn't the intense LEGO building session that we usually throw ourselves in to but we did manage to make a couple of custom figures for our Marvel Super Hero collection.

It was a day of playing and relaxing and despite the illness loitering in the house I think we all needed it and loved every minute of our stolen day at home. It was back to school the following day and Seth's adventures soon became a distant memory, Thanks to Netflix though Ferris is there for Seth to brush up on his skiving tactics

"The most important thing when ill is to never lose heart."

I feel like the walking dead today, I'm showing all the signs of flu mixed with severe hay fever and to top it off because of it I only got 3 hours sleep last night which is pretty grim. I like to think that the boys come first and I go above and beyond to make them as happy as I can but despite this, on these rare occasions that I am ill I feel so guilty.

I want to be play fighting and running about but I just don't have it in me today, I just want to sit on my bum and comfort eat. For once I am actually counting down the minutes until bedtime, (that's hoping that I don't end up on the sofa again tonight).

I honestly didn't even feel like I had it in me to write this post. But as I sat in the supermarket car park (because I feel to rough to go in) I thought 'I haven't written one of my waiting in the car posts for a while' and this lazy half hour with my feet up on the dash seemed like the perfect time to take advantage of that.

I will do my best to perk up for the boys and if I do manage to muster up some energy from somewhere I hope they are fully prepared for our wrestle to actually be me lay flat on the floor (like one of those bear rugs in a cabin) while the boys use me as a climbing frame.

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I wrote the above post yesterday when i was feeling particularly sorry for myself, today i am still feeling awful but ive not really had 5 minutes to think about how i am feeling as Opeie has high temperatures and Seth has been to the Dr's today and he has Tonsillitis again and has been very ill (poor little things). 

Its amazing how things change, your children take president and anything you have going on yourself is pushed to the side, it makes you realise what is important. Its also a kick up that bum, (sitting down comfort eating) to get on with things and stop moping around.

Being a dad is AMAZING!!!

 

"Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry."

This time last year i was about to write a post about our Halloween celebrations, We had brought tickets to go to Blists Hill and Mrs M made me up to look like a zombie. Well almost a year has passed and i find myself feeling exactly how i looked that night, like a zombie. Opeie has had some major dietry issues over the years that have made him poorly but hes never actually had an illness, well that was until last night.

For such a laid back guy it's amazing how quickly I went in to stress mode. Maybe it's a stomach bug, maybe something he ate but our little boy was being continuously sick last night and I couldn't bear to go to sleep as I was stressing he was going to throw up in the  night and choke so I stayed up. He must have woke up 20+ times and looked so uncomfortable the poor thing, I could have cried. When your feeling poorly yourself it's terrible but when it's your child the stress and worry is far much worse than that. I managed to catch a few hours at 6am but I don't feel much better for it. Opeie seems a little better this morning but I think it's going to be a long day. Plenty of cuddles and 'The Cat in the Hat' for us I think.

 

"The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another."

I'm not a very stressy person, i don't generally let things get to me and I'm pretty laid back in most situations (maybe a little to laid back if you were to ask that lovely lady of mine). Mrs M does enough stressing and worrying for the four of us so i try to spend my time calming her down and making things a little easier on her. Last night though was a different story.
 

Opeie woke up after being asleep for a couple of hours screaming and it seemed like he was struggling to breath. Despite my usual laid back/things will be okay attitude, i felt like i was going to have a panic attack and all rational thinking seemed to go out the window. I was fully aware that Seth had been off school that day and had been coughing and was quite unwell but that didn't register at this point. Opeie sounded like he was struggling to breath and i thought the worst. When it comes to your children i don't think you can help feeling this way. As it was the first time Opeie had really been ill i think it just magnified the situation for us as doting parents.

Two years back Seth ended up quite ill and after many trips to the hospital and being told those magic words Doctors learn at medical school over and over again "It's Viral" they finally diagnosed him with having pneumonia. The month leading up to that point was very stressful and upsetting and the two weeks that Seth spent in hospital brought on many tears, but during that time i felt like i was the strong one, calming Mrs M down where i could.
 

It came to my attention last night though that with Opeie being my child, my feelings were different and as i said before my rational thoughts had vanished. Seth is always treated like he's my boy and i don't like to think that i feel differently about them but clearly I'm not the overly panicky parent with Seth because i know he has many other people around him to make sure he's okay.When i think about it I'm bound to act a little differently as me and Opeie are practically joined at the hip and Seth has another life outside of us three.

Thankfully it wasn't anything serious last night and clearly he had just picked up what Seth has got and was struggling to clear the mucus, That mixed with a high temperature and the shakes was very frightening, obviously for us and him. It made me think how lucky we are that he is such a healthy child over all (thanks to Mrs M's magical produce). It's a grim thought but i don't know what i would do if anything happened to him but i can be safe in the knowledge that the one thing that does knock my laid back attitude clean off its feet is the development of my boy, the most important thing of all.

"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."

This is just a very quick post for anyone out there that wants to donate to a very worthy cause. Mrs M has been working so hard to raise money for our local children's hospital. Making sure that children are looked after properly is something close to our hearts. Having a disabled child ourselves we know that sometimes things can be difficult for them and at Birmingham Childrens Hospital they need all the help they can get. If this is something that is important to you then please donate generously and if not then please £1 could still make all the difference.

A lot of people were out on Saturday at the Birmingham Zombie Walk doing everything they can to make sure there is a good sum of money going to all those poorly children. so please go to the link at the bottom of this post and it will take you to the donation page. Any amount will be appreciated. I also want to keep this beautiful smile on Mrs M's face. Myself,Opeie and Seth are very proud of her and everything her and everyone else has achieved so far!!!

Please click below to donate.

http://www.justgiving.com/birminghamzombies

Thank you!