Two peas from the same sick little pod

Begging for a slumber party
Originally uploaded by Cheri13.

Dear Andrew & Abby,

I have been wanting to post this week, but I have been dealing with being very sick and that has made it hard for me to find the cuteness or noteworthiness of pretty much anything you two have done. Not that there haven't been lots of cute or noteworthy things I could mention, it's just that they kind of lost their impact on Mommy while she was lying on the couch waiting for her fever to break or wondering if it was time to switch sides so the other side of her nose could drain.

Daddy was sick first, while I was in San Diego. Remember? Andrew had to be the Big Brother in Charge for a couple of days. When I got back on Thursday Daddy was still pretty sick. Since then, the rest of us have had our own versions. Mommy has been down for the count since Friday night.

Luckily (for ALL of us), you two have had the most mild symptoms. The worst thing is that the virus traveled to your ears and you each now have an ear infection. But since that is an infection and not a virus, we have yummy pink antibiotic for that! So it's been a week full of snot and thermometers and medicine in our house. I was glad that the weather has been nice a couple of days so we could open the doors and windows and air out some of the sick that is hanging like a haze in our house.

This is the first time you two have been sick at the same time, and I have to say, it works out pretty nicely. You have been fairly inseprable over the last couple of months and being sick together has at least prevented me from having to constantly try to keep you apart.

It amazes me that a brother and a sister, with five years between them no less, could want to spend so much time together, even at bedtime. You can ask Uncle Travis and Uncle Dusty - we NEVER wanted to spend that much time together when we were little. A couple of months ago, there was a night when we let you two sleep together in Andrew's bed. Mommy and Daddy have now added that to the list of things we would never have agreed to if only we'd been able to foresee the consequences. Now you want to sleep together EVERY night. Unfortunately, this doesn't work very well for actual sleeping. There is a distinct slumber party atmosphere to the whole thing, which is why this practice has never been allowed on a school night (which, as I recently explained to Andrew, is any night before you have to go to school, which does include Sunday!). But that doesn't prevent you from asking. And asking. And, when you get an answer you don't like (that is, any answer that is not Yes), from just climbing in bed together anyway and clinging to each other like castaways on a wooden raft in a thunderstorm. Mommy has to literally pry you apart (that crowbar Mommy keeps by her bed has come in very handy), and then drag one screaming child (usually Abby) back to her own bed.

I am so glad that you two love each other so much that you can not bear to be apart even in sleep. I do have to say, though, your combined forces are surprisingly strong and have made Mommy more and more convinced that the two of you are more than we'll ever need. Can you imagine if you had a third member of your army? Sometimes it's enough to give Mommy nightmares!

love,
Mommy