Another quick update on M-Girl

She's doing a little better today but she hasn't eaten much in the last few days. Pretty much all she's managed to eat is ice cream and milk shakes from McDonald's. Big D and I really try to keep the kids' sugar intake at a low to moderate level so giving her ice cream every day is not something we feel very good about.

Although I hate to accuse my kids of being Machiavellian, she may be taking advantage of the fact that we get a bit soft when our kids aren't feeling well. She's no dummy - she's figured out that we aren't going to force her to eat anything in particular right now. Our babysitter managed to get her to eat some yogurt and cottage cheese yesterday by having M-Girl take two bites and then letting her play for a little while before having her take two more bites. Good thing our babysitter has a level of patience that I don't possess.

The other thing that's hard is keeping her from being too active. She's supposed to be taking it easy right now but at certain times of the day, she's got so much energy that it's hard to keeping from bouncing around (literally - she doesn't walk, she bounces and jumps - we should start calling her Tigger). I tried to explain to her that she has scabs in her throat and if she's too active, they could open up and start bleeding. And if that happens, she might have to go to the hospital - graphic, I know but she's one of those kids that picks at her scabs, she understands what I'm saying. She nodded her head and said "Ok, mommy." And the next thing I know, she's doing wind sprints up and down the hallway!

A-Girl's having a hard time with the situation because she really wants more of my attention before she leaves for Asia. She's going to be gone for at least three months and although I'll see her when M-Girl and I visit in October, that's still two months that we'll be away from each other. We've never been apart more than a few days at a time. I'm sure it will be hard on both of us. The last few days, she's felt like M-Girl was getting all of my attention and she's not entirely wrong about that.

It's another one of those situations where I feel stretched in too many directions. There are so many things I should be spending time on and I'm not spending enough time on any of them. There's the kids, Big D, my work, cleaning the house, preparing for a going away party on Saturday, helping Big D and A-Girl get ready to go, the usual care and feeding of the house and the family. This list doesn't really give a sense of the sheer volume of things that need to be done and the significant lack of time in which to do them. Big D hasn't slept enough in weeks, he wakes up in the middle of the night and starts working. I sleep but then I feel guilty about it - not the most effective reaction, is it?

However, this afternoon I am getting a massage, facial and haircut. Tomorrow morning I'm getting my highlights touched up. So I have a bunch of things to feel guilty about. Oops, I mean I'm taking care of myself and that's good, right? Also, it makes Big D feel good because I'm taking care of myself and using gift certificates (for today's pampering) that we've had lying around for over a year. Ok, I gotta get back to work now. The overwhelming desire to procrastinate is being taken over by the overwhelming guilt caused by not getting any work done.