By Fredrica Syren:
After our family’s relatively healthy fall and winter, my husband and I had just commented on how lucky we have been. Yes, I know: that was a jinx. Before I knew it, one by one, all three kids got sick. Oh, so much fun!!! After spending a week wiping lots of little noses, taking lots of midnight temperatures, distributing round-the-clock doses of medication and getting little sleep, my body finally gave up. I succumbed to a cold, complete with fever and achy body. At the back of my mind were the words: No, no, it’s nothing. I’m not sick.
As a stay-at-home (and work-from-home) mom, getting sick is not an option because moms can’t call in sick. I 
mean, I really wish I had a super power that allowed me to freeze everything until I was well again, but all I could do was pull myself up and do what I always do — feed and dress the kids, and drop some off and pick some up from school. And I need to clean house, make lunches, snacks and dinners every day, rain or shine — or sick.
I have to admit that I’m getting irrationally jealous sometimes of people (AND husbands) who can just take sick days to rest and recover. In a perfect world, we moms would be able to call in sick, and just lie in bed sipping warm tea and sleeping. But in this imperfect world, I do what I can and take what I can. In my case, I would have my husband shuffle meetings at work or go into work just an hour later or come home little earlier. But most of the time, this is not realistic, so I have to get very creative.
-I put out snacks that need little preparation so older kids can help themselves.
-I camp out on the floor with pillows and a blanket so kids can climb over me and I don’t have to be up running around.
-When I’m sick, I forget the “zero screen time” and let kids watch a movie.
-I try to get hubby to prep a simple lunch such as soup before or after work. I give myself a break and decide it’s ok to have frozen veggie burgers for dinner.
-The most important tip is to let go of vacuuming, picking up, doing the dishes and anything else that really can wait.
-I try taking good care of myself by eating healing soups and juices, taking probiotics and, whenever the opportunity does appear, I do nap — even if it’s a cat nap.
