Couldn't figure out the right board to put it on so it's "preschooler" it is. Anyway, this is more a vent if anything. So my 4-year-old just started a new Montessori preschool in a new country 1.5 weeks ago and a week into it (first week being very part time) he has hand-foot-mouth disease. Ugh! Luckily, he only has it in his throat and it's just little white dots but, still, I feel like some parents aren't doing their job in telling the school what their kids have so now I feel like my son is the ONLY one who has it when I know of 3 other cases just days before he started his fever and sore throat. They have procedures to follow when a student is diagnosed with the illness. I have to take him to see the doctor to confirm that's what he has and I have to get a note for the school saying that's what he has and that he is good to go back. His school says that if there is enough cases (3) they will shut the class or school down. I still can't figure out which it was they said b/c some of the terms they use in Chinese is confusing to me still. Last week my brother told me my nephew had it; and then this past Monday my son's classmate's mom calls me to tell me that her twin sons have it as well. One of her twins is in my son's class and the other is in my nephew's class. And we haven't been anywhere else besides school last week.

So here is my frustration, I wonder if some parents are afraid to tell the school that their child has it b/c I just got off the phone with my son's teacher and she said that there are no other cases reported. HUH?! I thought my sister-in-law had told the school about my nephew. Even my brother said that he had it and that the school knows and he won't lie about it. So this makes me wonder if other parents are just not reporting it and just saying it's a sore throat. That is just so wrong if you ask me. It's a highly contagious illness and is very common in this part of the world in the summer and early fall times. I think it's due to the weather and the high population here. The good thing from what another ex-pat mom told me the other day is that kids from the U.S. don't get it as bad b/c their immune system is stronger. People here in Asia wear masks and use hand sanitizers all the time so when they do get it it's worse b/c their immune system isn't as strong. I guess that's why my son only has it in his throat and it's just white dots versus big sores.

So here I am, stuck in the house with both of my boys and my 18-month-old probably has it now. I'm just waiting for the symptoms now. I'm exhausted. I'm crabby all the time now. I can be such a bitch to my husband. I am just burnt out being a SAHM without any help except for when my husband is home and that's if he's not travelling, working at home at night, or on the phone or at our neighbors' at 7pm b/c they have a conference call with people in the U.S. Three months of single parenting while doing the pack out to Asia and then another month of it off and on after moving to Asia... I'm just extremely burnt out. My husband can't seem to understand even if he says he can and I know he's trying but I don't think he can fully understand unless he's in my shoes. I had one maybe two days of "me time" and that's only for maybe like 3 hours each time since moving here. He'll help take care of the kids on the weekends but I feel like I need more. We are in the middle of hiring a live-in help but that process is taking much, much longer than I expected. We had to start the process over b/c our original helper's husband didn't want her to come back. Okay, so then we started over...and hopefully in another two months I will finally get more help. In the mean time we are only able to find someone to come for 4 hours a week for one day. I guess that's better than nothing.

Maybe it's the expectation of being able to get a live-in help that's making me feel like I need help. I don't know, but at the same time having to take care of two kids full-time for practically 4 months has just burnt me out. And I think this illness finally just pushed me over the edge. It's been SO hard trying to separate the kids and the constant sanitizing is driving me insane. It's just impossible to keep the boys apart and not having any exchange of bodily fluid (saliva) between the two. My oldest just spit on his little brother this morning which resulted in a time-out for him WHICH was not fun for everyone. And this is in addition to having to make 5 meals a day for the kids, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, and washing the dishes, bottles, etc. Oh, and I forgot to mention how whiny my youngest is. And my oldest has started to cry over every little thing too. So multiple times a day all I hear is whining and crying and both are usually due to them fighting over a toy, even if one of them wasn't even playing with it to begin with. Sometimes I just let them have at it and I walk away to let them deal with it. Because if I get involved someone will go to time out and a toy will be taken away.

Sorry I was all over the place. Thanks for taking time to read my long vent. Hopefully, one of these days I can tell you how my camera got stolen by an employee from 1 of the 3 moving companies that came to our house during our pack out in the U.S. and also what a perfect little boy my oldest was during our 25-hour plane ride over here with my youngest and our dog all together on the plane with just me.