Sick and Tired

The only thing worse than being sick is when your kids are sick.  Not only does your entire plan for the day get thrown out the door, but you get to hear hours of whining that as a parent, you must accept.  Normally when your child whines, you can say something like "cut it out" or my personal favorite, "keep it up and I'll give you something to cry about."  But when they are sick you need to suck it up and deal with it.  Plus there's the whole I don't like my child to ever be in pain thing that most of us feel for our kids.
We started off the week with 2 sick little girls, and a teething toddler, I have had less painful dental surgeries, but thankfully they are all back to normal and out of the house today.
Whining and crying are just a couple of things that you learn to deal with as part of parenthood, it beats the alternatives.  A couple of nights at the hospital with Mini Me for various things, as well as a miscarriage, will teach you that if you are not naturally one of those sensitive types.  As parents we get to deal with all sorts of crap, whether it's a whiny child when you are on a call, getting up every night for weeks to change your child's sheets during toilet training season, (with 4 kids 8 and under, it does seem like a yearly thing), or having to say things like "how do you lose 1 shoe?"," don't stick broccoli in your ear," or my personal favorite "yogurt is not paint and your sister is not a canvas."  It means never leaving the front door open when you have an adventurous toddler.  It means seeing just how annoying all of your idiosyncrasies are, because what annoys you most in your own children is usually that same thing that annoys others about you, calling up your own parents and apologizing for all the crap you did after the first time you say the words, "because I am your father and I said so!"
And we don't do it because of those moments when our child wins a wrestling tournament or because they bring home good report cards, we do it because they are our children and we love them, whether they bring home that good report card, or the note from the teacher saying call me with a little sad face on it and a couple of exclamation points.  They are our offspring, our legacy and our fault.  So we do whatever it takes to take care of them, even cleaning poop.