Liquids

Today I realized how much of my life revolves around liquids.

(This isn't going to be a gross post, fyi.)

Before I went to Utah, I wrote a book for Joseph extolling the virtues of water in making him strong so that he'd want to drink more. I often think about if my kids and I are hydrated enough.

When I was in Utah and came down with mastitis, I had a one track mind -- I needed to get that milk out of me. Even without mastitis, it's on my mind much of the time. Is it time again? Which side? Am I ready if he breaks the latch and the milk starts spraying?

I spend my days changing diapers and sometimes changing clothes (both Jacob's and mine) because of soak-throughs, blowouts, and spit-ups.

I have never been one to give daily baths, but I still have to look at my kids each day and decide if they need one or not.

When I came back from Utah, I came back to a family with nasty colds, so I've spent my days wiping runny noses.

These colds make my kids crankier, so I also spend time drying tears. (Okay, I really just let them dry on their faces, but it sounded like a good mom thing to say.)

Then of course we don't want to spread germs so we wash our hands a lot. Matthew loves to wash his hands. He has a red chair he stands on to turn on the water and wash them, though it's rare that he bothers to turn the water off. So that's always on my mind too. (Especially because he left the water on so long one time that it began to leak through the basement ceiling onto a computer downstairs . . . that was a fun thing to come home to the day after Jacob was born haha.)

I see a fair amount of drool from Matthew, which combined with many other symptoms (including shirt biting, pickiness, and screeching) makes me wonder if he's teething. And then I check his mouth for 2-year-old molars and there is nothing. Nothing. Nothing. He has certainly taken the gaslighting approach to teething the past 20 months.

One liquid I haven't had to deal with this week is vomit. That's because Kevin took care of that this morning, which was really nice of him. It was 4:50 am when I heard Joseph sob. It didn't quite sound like a nightmare sob, so I knew. He threw up. A lot. Mostly water. Thanks again, Kevin. (In case you're wondering, he didn't make it to his second day of kindergarten. And thankfully, he didn't throw up anymore, either.)

So, yeah, lots of liquids all the time.

But Houston has a lot more.

And there a lot of people who probably disagree with the title of the book I wrote for Joseph. So here are a few ways you can help them:

https://www.redcross.org/donate/hurricane-harvey
https://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/
Amazon wish list

And someday, someday we'll get all those liquids under control.