Sick Day

I would like to clarify here that when your child is sick and you are 'off' with them this does not mean you 'have the day off'. In some cases this may actually be more work than your regular 9 to 5. Today Jacob woke in the early hours of the morning with the most raging fever. So much so that he had come to sleep with us but then I had to put him back in his own bed in the middle of the morning because our bed was getting like an inferno. As boys go his flu symptoms turned quickly into 'man flu' and all he wanted were his mommy's cuddles. So I stayed home with him for today as he was so unhappy and inconsolable.

This had its pros and cons. I love every extra chance I get to spend with my children. Everyone who knows me knows I would much rather be a S.A.H.M. and my year off with Jacob is something I will cherrish forever. I also was selfishly excited about the chance to have a 'catch up' day at home and organize and put away a few of the things I never got around to over the Christmas break. With a sick mamma's boy however this is almost impossible. While we did get 3 loads of laundry, 2 sink fulls of dishes, and a little tidying completed I fear that the boat actually looks more of a mess than before the day started and there is no evidence of my 'day off'.

What mostly ended up happening was lots of movie watching, story book reading, endless cuddles and stroking of his back. He also had one potty accident, wasted a bowl of Cheerios and milk, a cheese sandwich, a banana, countless cups of milk and water, spilled one cup of water all over the couch, and finished a box of wipes all by 3:00pm. While he napped I was able to put away the few loads of laundry he had helped me with and selfishly checked Pinterest for a longer period of time than I had given myself but then after her school finished we added Marley to the mix. This ended up adding another movie, 4 more stories, locking ourselves out of the head, and a great big poo surprise from Jacob.

Locking ourselves out of the head was probably the funniest event of the day. Our working head is attached to the now kids room but also has an access through the engine room. There is a tiny lock on the side of the handle that I now know if switched open will lock the door from the inside. I'm not sure how the locked got switched but when I laid Jacob down for a little rest while I helped Marley with her homework the door shut and locked. When I went to check on Jacob as I usually do I went to open that door to let a little light in rather than turning on the main and bright lights in their room. I knew we had a problem when the handle nearly fell off. I calmed him and went back out to Malrey pondering what my next move would be. Mark was going to be late. Marley would need to use the bathroom before bed. I walked back in and tugged on the handle a bit but quickly figured out what had happened. I called Mark and let him know our predicament. And for the same reason I instantly panicked because he wasn't home; he quickly found us a solution. But if that didn't work I was to call him back and he would come home. I let Marley know while she was finishing her homework that I had a very important and special job for her to do when she had finished. Her response was "oh no what now? Not again!". I'm not sure what previous job she had been refering to but I was worried now that she wouldn't agree to help me out. Of course by this time just like when you were a kid playing hide-and-go-seek the urge to pee came suddenly. She finishd her math and I made a big production about a secret task she must accomplish before she began her writing homework. This got her interest. I took her to the engine room door and explained the problem. She, like Mark, instantly saw our plan of action. I demonstrated how to crawl through the engine room being careful not to pull any wires or knock any hoses. I unlocked the hatch that enters into the shower and away she went. One step in she promptly came back out asking to undress. There she was in her undershirt and underpants saving the day by crawling into the bathroom to unlock the door. I went around and stood on the other side of the bathroom door in the kids room. I heard her come through but then she stopped. She then exclaimed "I need to use the toilet!". I waited patiently while she finished her buisness then opened the door gracfully to let her frazzled anxious mother in. Oh this child!!! Mark's child for sure!

Marlena the hero busy at work on the ferry with her homework. She makes me so proud to be her mommy!

Mid way through the day Mark stopped by and reminded me that he would be working late tonight but that I was probably ok as I would have 'caught up on all my sleep'. He nearly got a ball of wet towels thrown at him and quickly disapeared back to work. The notion that a sick day is a day off is long gone once you have little ones to care for. But I wouldn't trade days like today home with them for any sleeping till noon days of the past ever.

 

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Boat Cleaning

Now that I am back at work the house chores have really been getting away from me. So much so that last week after a screaming fit Mark smashed the life out of two unwelcome guests who were not paying rent to stay on our boat (the dreaded cockroaches) EEEEkkkkkk! Things were obviously out of control!
We had started about a month ago out sourcing our laundry.  It was just piling up and we realised that $7 a wash at the mini mart was a great deal but the added cost of time of actually finding quarters, washing it (I can't just drop it off and leave it for the day; not very neighbourly for the other marina tenants), and then folding it and putting it away was too expensive really.  We couldn't get anything else done on weekends, and things were starting to deteriorate.
We researched local laundry mats and our solution was a small local business nearby my school. The routine is now that I can drop it off first thing in the morning and pick it up either than afternoon or the following morning. Its quite reasonable, had cut down on saving quarters, and the only time I spend is putting away the laundry at the end of the day. I still do the kids laundry in the mini mart (or at one of the grandparents homes on family visits) as I have special detergent and its a bit weird to drop off kids clothes I guess.  Marley is also doing extremely well with sleeping through the night but we still have the occasional accidents that require immediate laundering. 
Then last week Mark and the kids were home sick one day with the flu and Mark must have had a dose of my crazy pills as his O.C.D. kicked in and he "couldn't believe the amount of dirt that was on our boat".  Hahahaha haven't I been saying that for weeks I thought? But sometimes you have to let them figure it out on their own.  Instead of him resting as he should have been on his sick day he ended up using "roll-off" on all the plastic fans, and wiping down the picture frames and counter tops.  We finally decided together this was over our heads.  Living on a boat, working full time jobs, volunteering all that we do, and raising two kids was causing things to loose rank. We had toyed with the idea of hiring a cleaning service when I was pregnant, tired and having a hard time getting everything done but it never formulated.  Plus who would come and clean a boat? Not everyone is familiar with products you can use to clean a marine toilet vs a household toilet so that's a problem first and foremost. We research a little and there was someone in the marina that could probably do it but then I was home for the year and had plenty of free time to get all the cleaning done (all the S.A.H.M. are laughing their asses off now). But I was able to stay on top of things for the most part until Sept.
Last week we made the decision to give it a go.  Today was the first day I came home and things were tidy, put away, the dishes were done.... I didn't even want to use the head it was so sparkly clean :) :) While we have gone back and forth with the idea of "we potentially can do this ourselves and we are never going to be able to get on top off all of this" I couldn't be more than happy with our choice to have a cleaner come once a week to pick up our slack.
I think these are steps in the right direction to making sure our priorities are in check.  The reality is that we can do all of these things however we are determined to make the most out of our boat living, raising our kids on boats experience and while we will still do our own laundry and clean up after ourselves the occasional helping hand does not hurt.  In fact it allows us to do what we love most. Spend quality time with our children, on our boat <3