Winter colds

My fingers are stiff and clumsy on this crisp morning. The heater is humming as it warms the lounge ready for when cublet awakens. She is sleeping late, her small body fighting a winter cold. We are all tired from four days of fevers, blocked noses and coughing. Mr Fox and Mae both sick. Over the worst but still tired.

The jug has been busy boiling water for many hot drinks, the washing machine is taking a well deserved rest after too many loads of washing. Sun is streaming through the kitchen window; oh so very welcome today and yesterday after a grey, wet week. I am grateful to have a quiet moment to reflect. Reflect on getting through the longest night since cublet was born on Sunday night.

On feeling helpless as cublet fought sleep and wrestled with pain in her ear, gums and throat. How quickly their little bodies can go from healthy to feverish restlessness. All through that endless night we soothed and hushed. Holding her close and wishing away her pain. It's true what people say about your heart being outside of you, in each of your children.

Rain clouds rolling in over the weekend

A trip to the medical centre early the next morning brought reassurance and prescriptions to help relieve her discomfort. She slept snuggled on our laps throughout the day. She was so quiet and still. So unlike our firecracker. Our poor wee babe. Mr. Fox sniffled his way through the day, happy to cuddle his darling as he worked from home.

The old trick of a steamy bathroom helped very much late at night and in the wee hours of the morning. All three of us hanging out inhaling that healing steam; the smell of eucalyptus and camphor oil releasing with the heat. Vicks was lovingly rubbed on chests, backs and little feet. Hot water bottles filled, emptied and refilled. All those sweet expressions of love, curative actions that knit together to bring us back to wellness.

Funny how a virus can stop your routine within hours and force you to slow right down. This is not the first time cublet has been unwell and of course there will be many more sleepless nights. These are perhaps the moments that bind a family unit together a little more tightly, reminding each other how deeply we care for one another.

Some of my strongest childhood memories are snippets of my parents tending to us; holding my sister in the humid bathroom as she wheezed with croup, the feel of towels on my pillow when down with a tummy bug, sipping hot lemonade, worried brows and warm, gentle hands.....love shines through in times of sickness.

Here's hoping today's sunshine will restore wellness to our home. The windows are open, letting in a fresh winters breeze. I will tidy away the extra blankets, collect and clean the mugs. Bed linen will be hung out to dry in the sun after a wash with cleansing tea tree and lemon oils. A nourishing red lentil dahl is on the menu for this evening meal. A simple but wonderful day for me and my little one.

Happy mess