When the House Shuts Down (and the Laundry Piles Up)

The last few days have been…a lot.

You know that moment when one person in the house gets sick and suddenly everything else starts wobbling? That was us. Except instead of one person, it was the kids and me. And once mom goes down, the whole house goes offline.

The house shuts down.

Laundry doesn’t get done.

The floors slowly get dirtier.

The to-do list keeps getting longer.

And by the end of it all, I want to sleep from the sheer exhaustion of it all.

Being sick as a parent is already rough. Being ill when your kids are sick too? That’s a whole different level of mayhem.

My 2.5-Year-Old

My toddler is 100% a mama’s buddy on a good day. He’s always nearby, checking in, climbing into my lap, wanting connection just because. But when he’s sick? He wants to be held nonstop.

Not just near me.

Not just touching me.

Held.

His fussiness ramps up, his sensory needs seem to multiply, and meanwhile, I’m sick, tired, touched out, and overstimulated. It’s a perfect storm of “I love you so much” mixed with “if one more person touches me, I might cry” (spoiler alert…I did cry).

The Girls 

Then there are my girls.

One is sweet and content. Even when she’s sick, she’s happy with snuggles but also totally fine just being close by if someone else needs to be held. I honestly don’t know where her personality came from, because it was definitely not from my husband or me. 

The other? Oh, she will command a theatre stage one day. For now, she gives me the what-for if I am not holding her constantly, too.

So picture this:

• One baby screaming at full volume

• A toddler melting down repeatedly

• Me running on fumes

• And all of us are doing our very best on about 30% capacity

It is now day three. 

I’m finally feeling better.

My toddler is mostly recovered.

The girls are mostly on the mend.

But we’re not all at 100%.

The Meltdown That Would Not End

This morning kicked off with an hour-long toddler meltdown.

I’m still not entirely sure what started it. Something small. Something invisible. Something deeply important to a tired toddler’s brain.

I tried to snuggle him during breakfast, but I kept having to get up to help the girls, tend to the dogs, and handle the 47 tiny tasks that come with keeping everyone alive. And each time I got up, the meltdown grew.

Once his sisters were settled in their playpen and things finally slowed down, he climbed back into bed with me, curled up, and calmed almost instantly.

That’s all he wanted.

The Hard Parenting Truth

Here’s the lesson I know both as a mom and as a counselor:

Sometimes we know exactly what our child needs, and we still can’t give it to them right away.

And that’s hard.

Balancing multiple children means someone has to wait sometimes. It means a child might stay upset longer than we want while we attend to another need. That doesn’t mean we failed. It means we’re human.

Emotional regulation isn’t about preventing every meltdown. It’s about repair. It’s about coming back together once we can.

And that’s what happened. He didn’t need a lecture. He didn’t need a distraction. He needed connection, and when I finally gave it to him fully, his body settled.

A Win Is a Win (Even If It’s Just Laundry)

By this afternoon, he was in a much better place. And somehow, miraculously, I folded and put away the entire mountain of laundry.

Is it the only thing I checked off my to-do list today?

Yes.

Am I counting it as a victory anyway?

Absolutely.

Because some days, survival is the productivity.

Some days, keeping everyone fed, safe, and mostly regulated is an accomplishment.

And if you’re in a season like this, sick kids, messy house, big feelings everywhere, you’re not alone. You’re not doing it wrong. You’re doing something really hard, with love, on very little sleep.

And that counts for more than a clean floor ever will.