& then...

All seven lambies seemed to get the same horrible cough... it kept them up at night & robbed the whole family of sleep.  We kept thinking, oh, one more day... one more day... it should be getting better tomorrow - & we'd limp through another interrupted night of sleep and slog our way through sleepy days. 
Finally after three weeks, we decided i had better take a couple of them to the walk in to make sure that there wasn't something else going on.  Sure enough, they got diagnosed with bronchitis, so i drove my babies home & picked up the remaining 5 to take them back to the doctors to get their diagnosis & prescriptions too...
& as i bundled my loves in & out of doctors & pharmacy with my bulging bag of antibiotics... i thought about how lucky i am to have all my chickies under one roof.  These years are so fleeting - and soon they'll be calling me to tell me their children are sick and that they spent the night soothing a distraught child, or comforting a feverish babe... & i'll remember this week of bronchitis - hacking coughs and the smell of menthol & halls & wistfully remember these child-growing days. 
So i'll take this present shared sickness - i'll measure out doses and count pills... i'll make sure my little ones are comfortable and comforted - and i'll count it all joy that these moments are mine.