sick and tired, tired and sick

Taking care of sick kids is the pits. Right now Stella is getting over a cold and Grace is in the thick of one. Her nose is congested and runny; her eyes water constantly, and she screams when we lay her down, so she is possibly getting some drainage in her ears. Last night she screamed and cried until almost 11 and then woke up ever so often. Today she took short naps, and after many attempts to lay her down, she is still awake. We have her propped up in her car seat now, and Brett is working in the other room and she's hanging out with him. Pair taking care of sick Grace with supervising a no-naps-anymore busy Stella, and I am feeling depleted. Did I mention that I am sick, too?

Whatever stage of life you're currently experiencing, you're probably facing some kind of challenge. Taking care of little ones is hard. That is where we are right now. They are so needy, and when they're sick, I find myself needing Herculean amounts of patience and forbearance to make it through each day and night. Upon noticing the first signs of a sniffly nose, I am ashamed to say that I feel angry. Not another cold. She/they just got over one two weeks ago! I think about what it means I'll have to give up: blogging time; tackling projects; folding laundry; accomplishing everyday tasks; reading a book I've really gotten into, watching a show or movie with Brett in the evening; social outings; play dates. 

Well, this is not one of the posts where I share how hard something is and then present a solution or tell you how it all worked out in the end. It's a to-be-continued/not-yet-resolved cliffhanger situation. In the meantime, I'm praying for grace and patience to serve them while they're suffering and miserable; I'm wiping noses, using the good old Nosefrida, refilling humidifiers, and offering lots of cuddles and soothing songs.

Today we spent half the day in our pajamas (Grace the whole day) and focused on resting. It rained all day, and we heard lots of thunder, too. They hung out in Stella's bed for awhile while I organized one of her drawers. Stella wanted the window open even though it was cold. When I asked her if she wanted me to shut it, she said, "No, I want to keep the wind."

In case any of you were waiting with bated breath (haha) to see if I could make it through my sugar fast, I won't keep you in suspense any longer. I lasted 11 or 12 days. My takeaway is that although I didn't necessarily feel super awesome without added/refined/artificial sugar, it stopped my strong cravings, and when I had sugar again, I felt awful a couple hours later. This past weekend especially, I had too many sweets (hello baby shower and grad party), and I feel so lousy on top of having a cold, too. I'm ready to kick the sweets to the curb again.

Right before my sugar fast, I had a cupcake from Byerly's, and for some reason it was so sickly sweet and gross that I couldn't even finish it, and it motivated me all the more to start my break from sugar.

The last few weeks, I have been eating really clean, and then last week I really bombed, and I feel so yucky as a result. Here are some examples of the better choices I made:

Baked mahi mahi with spinach/avocado salad

Zucchini bread from the Against All Grain cookbook

Two weekends ago, I attended a Wildtree freezer meal party. Before the party, I bought meat, fish, and vegetables per the Wildtree consultant's instructions, chopped and sliced the food up and put them in freezer bags. At the party, we added the Wildtree oils and spices and separated the foods for six (or ten) different meals. We have tried two of the meals so far: adobo chicken and a shrimp skewers recipe. The adobo chicken with vegetables one was really spicy, and we were over the moon for the shrimp dish.

Before the party

And then stuff like this happened...

YoYo donuts Brett picked up after church (I stayed home with the sick girls):  Cocoa Puffs, red velvet, and cookies and cream

So we kind of tried to "redeem" ourselves with chicken and vegetables for dinner:

Against All Grain chicken tenders (with shredded, unsweetened coconut )

It's 9:55 p.m., and Brett took Grace downstairs with him in her carseat while he watches an episode of Top Gear. She's so tired, but so congested and miserable. She seems a little happier propped up in the car seat carrier.

I'll try to space out all other updates across a couple different posts instead of throwing it all in one big monster update.