Good Day everyone. This blog post is about my gratitude for my in-laws. This week Braxton, our 16 month old got very sick this week with a bad virus. It was his first bad cold of his life and he was not impressed with it. He ran a fever of 102-103 for a few days, runny nose, cough, and sore throat. That in itself is bad enough, but Chet/Dreamy Eyes came down with the same thing at the same time. Dreamy Eyes stays home with the munchkins so to have both of them down at the same time is tough. To top it off, things at work are very busy and it would be very hard for me to take time off, not impossible, but I would be leaving my team in a bind, so that was last resort for me.
I know first hand that it takes a village to raise a child. I was a single mom with Bennett and my family and friends were my village and did more for me than I can every repay them for. We are fortunate with Brax, Chet’s parents are living on our property while they are having a house built. They have been there since early summer and it has been wonderful. They have watched Brax during hot baseball games, while we did projects, had date nights and have helped with all around stuff. We have really enjoyed having them stay out here.
This week when Chet came down with the sickness and then Brax, his parents came to our rescue. On Wednesday evening I told his mom that Chet was not feeling well, so I was going to go into work a bit late so I could take Bennett to school and could she watch Brax so Chet could sleep in? She said absolutely. What I did not realize was that Brax was coming down with the same cold until 10:00 pm that night, when he woke up with a high fever, very runny nose, and the beginning of a cough. I tried laying him in his crib a few times but he just cried, he only wanted to be held. Brax slept on me that night in fits and spasms. We moved from the couch to the rocking chair and back every 30 minutes.He would sleep for about 20 minutes at a time and wake up crying in discomfort. At 6:30 am I text-ed Dianna (Chet’s mom) and asked if she could come down and hold Brax while I got ready and got Bennett ready. She came down and took over holding Brax. Chet was able to sleep until 9:00 am Thursday, though he was still down and out, so Dianna and Steve (Chet’s dad), spent all of Thursday at our house taking turns with Brax, helping Chet, picking up Bennett from the bus stop and making us dinner. Dianna offered to sit up with Brax on Thursday night, so I could sleep, but I just could not bring myself to let that happen. No matter how tired I was, I wanted to be the one up with him, cuddling him, loving him, and soothing him. I figure it is the “mom” gene. Thursday night was not much better his cough was worse, his nose still runny, his throat still sore and his fever lower to 99.5-100. Finally around 3 am he fell asleep on me and I fell asleep too. I woke up at 6:30am to find he was still sleeping and cool to the touch. The real test was when I put him in the crib and didn’t fuss, just went right back to sleep. I did not need to call Dianna or Steve to come watch him, which meant they slept in too. Chet got up after 8 am and Brax after 9:00 am. Dianna was still going to come down today to help Chet with Brax since both guys are feeling better, but not great. Seriously, how blessed are we to have her want to help?
I am extremely grateful to my wonderful in-laws, who have come through for us in such a big way. They did all of this out of love with no expectations. It really does take a village and I am happy to say I am part of a giving and loving village. Most of us have a village around us, sometimes it takes awhile to recognize it. Take a moment today and be grateful for your village.
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