Oh my freaking goodness, the sickness, it will not go away. Despite my chocolate-eating escapades.

We went from fevers to congestion, at which point the kids started slowly improving. I, on the other hand, thought it would be really fun for the misery to settle itself down in my sinus cavities and cause a horrible, pressurized headache that has not left me for days. (So nice to find loyalty in a germ, you rarely see that nowadays.)

Especially delightful is the fact that I can take none of the chemically-derived relief to be found in my medicine cupboard due to the small person growing in my midsection. So while my family members all have the option of turning to anti-mucous-making and fever-reducing concoctions at bedtime, I am stuck with hot tea and a cool cloth on my forehead. Lucky me.

However! The lovely Kate has tagged me for the Real Moms meme, and as I do occasionally pretend to be a real mom, I thought I ought to, you know, respond. I don’t think I’ve ever done any meme before, ever. I must have unapproachable body language. Either that or you don’t typically want to know what my Eight Favorite Colors are or hear my Six Most Embarrassing Moments Ever. Whatever. I’m doing this one, even if only out of fear that Kate will never speak to me again if I don’t.

So here’s what this real mom did this week:

- Nursed the toddler around the clock for six days. Because she was sick. Also because she finally figured out how to use her “milk” sign to actually mean “I want me some milk,” and that’s just pretty darned cute. She also figured out how to physically climb into my shirt, which didn’t leave much room for argument. Regardless of the fact that I was also sick. Oh, and pregnant. Also pregnant.

- Turned the computer over to my six-year-old for an afternoon. The whole afternoon. No blog or email checking. Whole afternoon. She wisely spent her time writing an entry for this contest, which involved a lot of careful checking and counting of words. She was quite proud of herself, not at all sure she could trust me to email her entry on time, and thrilled to read her 42-word story to anyone who happened to telephone us that day. Her efforts resulted in this book coming to live at our house, and that, in turn, caused her to dance and chortle with glee.

- Lamented to anyone who would listen that 1) I really think I might feel better if I slept for the next six days straight; and 2) I suspect I wouldn’t be quite so miserable with this illness thing if I weren’t also trying not to throw up at all hours of the day.

- Changed my shirt six times in one day. The first one was too hot. The second one was too cold. The next one didn’t fit. Then there was the one with too much spaghetti sauce on the front. And the one with pen markings courtesy of the toddler child. Possibly I should have given up at shirt number three.

- Noticed that my chest continues to outpace my belly in terms of new growth. Because what I really needed was a more top-heavy look. (You can just take my word for that one, I’m not about to post a photo.)

- Also slept. Real moms do sleep. Occasionally. Like when everyone else is sick and sleeping too, or when someone else is watching all the sick kids, or at night. Sometimes even at night.

And now, on to everyone’s favorite part of any meme: tagging the poor souls lucky dears who get to go next! Seeing as this seems to be the meme everyone on earth has already done, though, I’m taking the easy way out. If you want to be tagged, you are! Yes, you! You there. Tell us: what goes on in the lives of real moms?