Why Am I Not Surprised?

It had to happen . . . naturally, while Randy is out of town, I have a standing appointment with a little thing called "clutter," too much to do and not enough time to do it . . . it had to happen.

Peyton got sick.

Really sick.

Like, you don't wanna know sick.

After letting her sleep in my bed Saturday night and having no problems, I was surprised last night by how restless she seemed. I'd already counted about 12,000 sheep when I finally roused her and asked her to go sleep in her own bed so I might have just a ghost of a chance of nodding off sometime before daybreak. She obeyed, and I could just feel my head sink into my pillow when she was back, tapping me on my shoulder and telling her that she had a terrible stomachache.

Now Peyton is not one to feign illness and, in fact, she is rarely sick--but when she does get sick, she does it in GRAND style. However, these were not my thoughts at 1:30 a.m. I believe my exact thoughts were, "Yeah, right." But in the interest of actually getting some sleep, I automatically asked if she'd feel better coming back to my bed for the night. She was off like a rocket back to her room for her pillow and stuffed animals, and ten seconds later it was like deja vu--there she was, parked on the other side of the bed. Why did I even bother?

Believe it or not, being the negligent mother that I am, I actually drifted off to sleep, because I remember being jerked awake about thirty minutes later by Peyton groaning. LOUDLY. Seems the stomachache was worse, but she didn't feel like she was going to throw up. That is, she didn't feel like she was going to throw up at that precise moment, because she certainly did about two minutes later. And not in any place that didn't require me to be down on my hands and knees with a bottle of disinfectant and a roll of paper towels. Aren't kids the best?!

Now Peyton is pitiful when she's sick; it's hard for me to watch. She stayed in her 'jams all day and didn't eat a bite of food until late in the evening when she had a few mouthfuls of soup. What's hard to see is her lack of energy, when she usually goes around the house like she's hyped up on Jolt Cola. I'm hoping she feels better tomorrow, and I'm hoping even more that Sawyer doesn't come down with the same bug. If he does, I'll be reaching for the Jolt.