Bummer!!

I know I'm so far behind on blogging. You wouldn't believe ALL the events going on the last two months at the girls' schools! Thank God today was the last day for both of them! Normally I would be doing a happy dance, but I'm wiped out at the moment. Recovery is around the corner though...yippee!

Now, on to what the title of this post refers to. I have officially had my hardest parenting moment.

A little background first: Elle's school, like many, does a Kindergarten Program where they sing and wear a cap and gown--you know, the ultimate celebration of the completion of the first year of elementary school where all the mommies cry because their babies can't be moving on to FIRST GRADE already! About two weeks ago, Elle's teacher informed us that she had been selected to be the flag holder for her class during the program. Elle's response when she heard this was "That's because I'm so good!" (This is not a snooty response. She's just our first born rules follower, never received anything but a star on her folder child. She's truly realizing that she is being rewarded for her good behavior.) The last two weeks, I have received daily updates from Elle on how the practice went for that day. She has been so excited about the program.

Now let me take you to Wednesday morning of this week, a day before the program...Elle woke up complaining of a stomach ache. We figured she was hungry and she made it to breakfast. She insisted that her stomach was feeling better, but she was not her normal perky self and I told her she should probably stay home. She insisted that she was well enough to go to school, especially because she didn't want to miss the practice for the program.

You guessed it, I got the call from the nurse about 9:45 later that morning. She looked awful when I picked her up and as soon as we got in the car, she threw up. Great! We got home and she slept for a while and she actually perked up later in the afternoon, but she still had sick eyes. She never really had a fever, just an elevated temp--99ish. We had already discussed the prospect of not being able to go to school on Thursday, which would mean missing the program. She and I both were so bummed. I couldn't sleep that night going back and forth about sending her to school. After all, her stomach felt better and she didn't really have a fever. But, she definitely looked a little puny. What if I sent her and she threw up on everybody on the risers?? Selfishly, I thought about the memories we wouldn't have, the pictures we wouldn't have, the proud moment of her being the flag holder. I have never been more tormented.

I finally made the call at 6 am and told her we'd be staying home. She didn't cry at first, but when I went back to her room a few minutes later to check on her, she was crying and said "I just wanted to sing." So, my heart was ripped out at that moment and all morning long as she played happily with Piper and Cannon, showing no evidence of being sick, I second-guessed myself on whether I made the right decision.

Well thank goodness there was one more special event today. She was well and ready to attend her class picnic. I was thankful that she was able to spend this last day with her friends and her teacher. An added plus was that Daddy joined her since I had to be at Piper's Sing-Along, graduation and picnic.

That was a doozie, but now that we have that past us, we'll focus on summer! Woo hoo!