Crazy Heart Mama

I have the worst cough ever. Maybe not “worst ever” as in history-of-the-world ever, but worst ever I have had in my lifetime. I think I may have to break down and go to the doctor’s office today, so that I can pay my $25 copay for him to tell me that it’s just viral. Maybe then I could quit worrying about all the things I could have, like, pneumonia, whooping cough, consumption or black lung.

(Just forget the fact that I’ve never even been within a thousand miles of a coal mine. This is what me feeling sorry for myself looks like.)

I don’t even have Kevin home to say, “God, you sound awful. Do you mind sleeping in the guest room?” Sometimes he stacks pillows between us, like that can wall out my germs.  This is what concern looks like in my house.  I have to take what I can get.

You know what would definitely be worth $25? A cough syrup prescription. I have just about blown through all of Kevin’s cough syrup.

But while I was having the worst coughing fit of my life driving back from Houston on Tuesday, (I might have even coughed so hard I peed a little) Rowan was having fun at the zoo with Mimi, Aunt Katherine and his cousin, Kendall, who just turned two in January. I am not sure what they are doing in this picture, but I am pretty sure they are trying to follow some sort of instructions from Mimi or Aunt Katherine and failing miserably.

Rowan and Kendall spent all day Saturday together because my brother came to San Antonio for Colman’s Ferrari Kid Event. Rowan was quite upset with Kendall because she was kind of giving him the cold shoulder. She wouldn’t even hold his hand. All I can think is she must have been playing hard-to-get, and he finally wore her down.  Maybe she was impressed with his immense knowledge of the tigers. I sure was. When I asked him if he saw the tigers at the zoo, he got very serious and said, “Tigers. Ouchy cats.” He’s really a very brilliant 30-month-old. Those are the only scenarios I can come up with to explain this picture.

I have no idea why this picture is the size of a postage stamp and the other one is regular size, and I’m too tired to try to figure it out. Rowan never gives out kisses, so I’m a little puzzled at this. Maybe he just doesn’t like to kiss me. More disturbing, though, is Kendall was banned from daycare for the day because she barfed at school and she couldn’t go back for 24 hours. She never had a fever and felt fine. Something will come of this germ swap, though. Either Rowan will puke, or she will have his runny nose.

Rule Number One: Never play with anyone who has snot. I whisper this in Rowan’s ear every morning as I drop him off at daycare. I don’t think he listens to me, but I know Liam and Colman realize at this point in their lives, these are words to live by. Maybe I should add a rule about not kissing anyone who has just barfed, although I would think that’s just plain common sense.