Things I’m Loving – Silver linings to poorly children at home…

For the third week, in a row, I’ve had at least one of my three daughters home poorly from school. They have been hit hard by some flu type virus, that is doing the rounds across the country this winter.

They are all slowly on the mend, though still not at full energy. In the moments that they show a glimmer of their usual selves, we’ve had some lovely ‘silver lining’ times.

Board games have been given a new lease of life, the paints have found their way out of the art supplies and been put to good use, books that have laid dormant have been revisited, and our dog, Cocoa, has loved having the house full of people to bestow his comforting presence upon.

I have chased the sunshine, when the children seemed to be showing a spark of energy. I even drove over to Martinborough for the day, on Tuesday, when the rain sat heavily over Wellington – but the sun was smiling on the Wairarapa.

We barely left the house and garden there, but it was just the change of scene needed to keep our minds strong, in order to keep our bodies strong. Sophie and Alice decorated mask templates that I drew for them and collected daffodils from the garden.

We managed a brief half hour in the fresh air at a nearby park, giving our dog Cocoa a good run around (but my youngest had to stop every minute or so, due to coughing so much that she was bent over double spitting up phlegm, poor love).

Having Cocoa is such a blessing. He takes great pride in being ‘Head of well being’ for the household and cuddling up to the person most in need of his comfort.

I’ve been most worried about my oldest daughter, who hasn’t shown the same degree of symptoms as the other two, but has barely eaten more than an apple a day for a fortnight and has had so little energy or drive to get out of bed. After a week and a half of this she finally started to eat a little more again, but she has been referred for some blood tests to rule out a few things. One day we managed to get her out for a little sunshine, but she soon tired and needed to return home to bed. The other two managed a little more fresh air and enjoyed watching Cocoa showing off on the beach at Worser Bay in Wellington!

It was a brief visit, as the southerly wind blowing in was quite brisk – but it made for some amazing cloud gazing!

After the fresh air we were glad to get back home and rug up again. It’s been a week of mostly staying home, tucked up under the duvet, boxes of tissues in frequent supply and Mummy on duty to keep the fluids up, administer medicines and clear the dirty tissues away!

Thankfully I’ve had little breaks, with a wonderful neighbour to enjoy a chat over a coffee with, and my hubby home from work early in the evenings. I’ve also become absolutely hooked on ‘The Luminaries’ by Canadian-born, New Zealand author, Eleanor Catton. She won the 2013 Man Booker Prize, the first New Zealander to receive the prize since Keri Hulme in 1985 for The Bone People. I am loving the escapist immersion that an incredible story provides.

So, some good moments between the tissue wars! The girls all have a long weekend to fully recuperate and will hopefully feel strong enough to start back at school thereafter (though I’ve mostly loved having them home – reminded me of our Santa Barbara days and our Californian Adventures, when they were all home for fifteen months, whilst hubby was working in the US; except the weather was a lot warmer, very dry and rarely windy!).

Though the wind can, at times, be quite entertaining… especially with a crazy sea loving dog like our puppy, Cocoa, who likes to try flying like the sea-gulls! I reckon this particular seagull had Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s spirit in mind!

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”
― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull