It's raining, it's pouring

The last few weeks, have been busy for us and honestly not very high on my "lets do this again" list.  We've been sick with everything from colds and coughs, fevers, ear infections, pneumonia, throwing up flu, my tummy hurts, my head hurts, you get the idea.  Even the cat has been on the mend from shots and a spay visit to the vet.  And I will say that I'm not a huge fan of the cat being just as needy as sick kids who don't feel well and let the cranky monster appear. 

In the middle of all this my grandfather, who has been sick for some time, took a turn for the worse and passed away on Valentine's day.  While it was a blessing for him to go, he was in pain near the end, it was still sad to lose someone.  Between his passing on Monday and his funeral on Friday we had the flu at our house.  We were well enough to attend the funeral and then travel to Idaho on Sunday to attend his burial on Monday morning.  After a fun evening swimming at the hotel and a quick dinner I somehow stepped funny and dislocated my kneecap.  After a slightly scary call to 911 and a ambulance trip to the ER I had an awesome brace to sport and quite the gimpy limp.  If I thought putting pants on while 7 months pregnant wasn't hard enough, it's even harder trying to do it with one leg completely straight in a brace.  A follow up visit to the doctor earned me 3 more weeks of wearing this brace followed by another type of brace and physical therapy.  When I haven't been lamenting all of the things that have suddenly become very hard to do, I've tried to look on the bright side.  Here are a few of the things that I have come up with.

We are all finally healthy so at least I don't have sick people to take care of right now. 
Kevin was around when I hurt my knee and I didn't have to deal with the event by myself. 
The baby was not harmed at all, I could have definitely hurt my abdomen or head but didn't as I fell between a dresser and desk.  The paramedics were really nice.  We discovered family staying at the same hotel only minutes before everything happened and when the paramedics asked if we had someone to take our children we could answer yes and I could feel completely comfortable about leaving them.  I have had so many offers for help and random kindness that I wasn't prepared for.  People have watched my children, transported them to and from school, brought us dinner, done my dishes, helped with laundry, brought me cookies, taken over classes I was supposed to teach and been understanding when I had to flake on plans we'd already made. 

All of these things have been really wonderful that I sometimes feel bad for wallowing in a bit of self pity for the things that I feel like I've lost because of this.  I can't carry my littlest much at all and she really hates to go down stairs herself and it makes me sad to have her wait at the top for a mom who usually would just scoop her up but instead has to hobble up the stairs and then slowly coax her down.  I get a little sad that I had to stop teaching my weekly yoga class and struggle with the uncertainty of when and if I will be able to return to teaching.  I had looked forward to the time I had with my kids off track just before the baby came and I had all sorts of plans for us to go, go go before a new baby changed our pace.  And mostly I dislike the feeling of not being able to take care of my kids and family the way I am used to doing.

I think though that I am realizing a change in perspective every once in awhile is good, even if it is inconvenient and slightly unwelcome.  It helps me to better appreciate what normally I take for granted.  And I guess that isn't so bad after all.