Cough...Cough...Cough

Our children have inherited good health genes. Both John and myself are very rarely sick; our immune systems seem to operate at full capacity. As a result, the boys tend to enjoy perfect attendance at school.

It is with this motivation that Jackson had a fever for the better part of the weekend but still managed to put in (almost) a full day at school yesterday. I say 'almost' as we did receive a note from the school nurse stating that he was with her during 7th and 8th periods; which happens to be Math and Science. How convenient that he would miss these not-so-favorite subjects?!

The lingering effects of the weekend fever appear to be an ugly, barking cough. And I mean BARKING! It fits somewhere in between the sound of our Golden Retriever and a Hound. I know this as I listened to it all night...

This morning I heard a similar cough but in a higher pitch - Caeden. His symptoms came quicker than Jackson's, in fact, I think he confused his emerging cough for growing pains as he asked for medicine on Sunday because his leg was sore! Don't worry, this association doesn't correlate with me either...

So we have two LOUD barkers in our house now. Not an issue during the day, but at night I hear them, because Mother's always hear their children when they're sick at night!

Isn't that the strangest thing about Mother's? How do we instinctively know that our children need us and we have to wake up?! I can sleep through every night of my husband coming to bed at 1am, but if I hear a sniffle from the other bedrooms, I'm awake!

I suppose some men also hear when their children wake up but choose not to act on it. That's not the case in our house. John is completely deaf in his left ear - he just rolls over on his right side and sleeps through the entire thing...