Normally, that would have been okay if life was kind. But life seems to always throw a cruel monkey wrench into things, and things were anything but calm.
Tuesday was the first day for the scheduled work. So we left the home by 8am (as instructed) and headed out with this kids. In the cold, we had to find somewhere to go. About 8 hours later, we find that they didn’t do anything and there was a miscommunication. They meant to say they will start on Wednesday (?!!). If they knew this Tuesday, they should have said something—but nope. Nada.
Wednesday rolls around and we end up having a Nor’Easter that dropped a huge amount of snow on us. Luckily, we didn’t have to head out, but the weather already did its damage outside and in.
My son has asthmatic symptoms when things get cold, so we do our best to keep the air moist and not dry. However, during the storm, the wind was howling and in our apartment the temperature dropped—the air became colder. By the very early hours of Thursday, my husband and I woke up to my son coughing and trying to breathe.
Mind you, Thursday we had to leave. So I’m on the phone with my children’s doctor that’s giving me very specific instructions to get this asthma attack controlled.
When 7AM rolls around, things are manageable but still have to visit the doctor to take care of medications and dosage. During the afternoon, my daughter complains of a sore throat, and it is clear that she is coming down with something. Trying to cut her symptoms and mitigate her hold symptoms, she comes down with it anyway.
That night, my husband and I take turns watching our middle son and his breathing, my oldest throws up in the very early hours in the morning. Drained, tired and not feeling well, we still had to leave in the morning.
Our building was kind to offer their community room to the misplaced people for the day, but there was no heat! It’s the same problem that we had before. My son’s asthma is triggered by the cold air. My daughter is sick, and my one year old cannot stay in a cold room with unfinished walls. That’s just—ugh!
Go in a cold room with no finished walls, with three children–one of them asthmatic…

After trying to figure out how to do this, we managed to make it through the day, and was thankful that we didn’t have to go through this again.
That was until we got to our floor and saw that no work was completed. Turned out one neighbor refused to leave and the work couldn’t continue. So now I’m just mad. They should have contacted someone.
Not trying to lash out at anyone, but I’ve dealt with sick children, a baby and my whole home school schedule was disrupted. I have neighbors with medical conditions and no regard was taken for them. At the end, they still left. I’m just beyond upset that they told us we have to go through this again in another two to three weeks.
I am thankful that the building is trying to fix repairs, and get things back into tip-top shape, but the way the board is going about this is just wrong.
During moments like this, I am thankful for my faith. My trust in God and the intercession of His Mother. I was stressed out, working on no sleep. Trying to take care of three kids while all this is going on is just His work.
My life is beautiful because He has made it so. So while all this was crazy, here is the great part.
* My son’s asthma improved my Friday afternoon.
* While still sick, my daughter’s appetite opened up again.
* My one year old was able to be just that, and he usually wore a smile.
It’s the small things that matter much, and it’s those that I feel thankful for. As for the board for my Co-Op, they will hear from me—but I will be more charitable than I would have been yesterday.
So that was my week. How do you handle crazy, unplanned days: with or without sick kids in the mix?
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