Love Soup

Its been "get the husband better days" around here. Rob has been off of work for the past two days trying to get over a cold. I have to admit, I'm a sick critic. Meaning I want to see blood and guts in the toilet before I let you stay home from work. Terrible I know. Rob reminds me that I have never been sick while doing hard physical labour outdoors in sub zero temperatures on a construction site. Well, no, when you put it like that...

But seriously? Two days for a cold? Isn't that kind of pushing it?

Don't worry, I'm working on it. This time I have tried to be much more compassionate and understanding. Although its a struggle. But often I think I allow the financial picture to take way too much priority over the general well-being picture. Rob needs to be well in order to provide for our family, so from time to time he is going to need to take the time to allow his body to recharge.

So tonight I cooked him up some chicken and wild rice soup. If you know me, you know that I love soup. I could eat soup every night of the week. Soup is like a whole new world (of cooking). So much to be explored and discovered.

Mmm, soup...

Oh right, back to my soup for Rob. He says that the main ingredient must be love for the soup to work (meaning to make him feel better). So I worked up all the "love" I could muster and made him a darn good soup. Had a few random ingredients, including tomatoes (I know, I know, but they were in the fridge and needed to be used), and of course, zucchini. But overall, pretty darn good.

I made a chicken stock that was simmering for most of the afternoon. We just keep a ziploc bag in the freezer and as I am chopping veggies (carrots, cerely, onions, garlic, peppers, zucchinis), I just throw the "junk" into the bag. Once its full I throw all the junk in a pot, cover the veggies with water, and simmer away. Takes all the vegetably (yes, yes, that is a word) goodness out, makes you a lovely stock to add to your soups. Add a chicken carcass or bones to add some chickeny (that's right, also a word) goodness.

I also think garlic is the key ingredient. When I was pregnant with Gabe I was in love with garlic. Like head over heels. I wanted to eat an entire clove once, but thankfully I restrained myself. Garlic is a good thing. I told Rob I put enough garlic in the soup to "knock the stink right out of him." Neither of us really know what that means, but ultimately I just hope he starts to feel better.

I also sent him to the doctor. It took all morning. I was trying not to be pushy or insensitive about it, but get my point across. I said you need to know that its not something more and we are back at square one in a week. So I went to Mom's Group, and he went to the doctor. And I actually think it was a good doctor experience for him. Of course he had to say "the wife sent me in." And the doctor had to say, "its just a cold." Man talk. He did say you need to eat regularily so that your body has the energy to fight the cold and you need to rest. Pretty simple. But the other good thing that came out of what seemed like a wasted doctor's appointment is that Rob scheduled a physical.

Men and doctors. Doctors and men. Its one thing that never seems to go together. In all the years that we have been together I'm sure I could count on one hand the number of times Rob has been to a doctor. One trip included a pretty serious cut to the hand that required stitches. So really, there has to be a lot of blood for him to go to the doctor. Anyway, I'm glad that he will be going. And he seems to like this doctor, so that's always a positive.

The other not-so-exciting portion to our day was a call from the Stollery. In our home that generally never is a good thing. The Stollery is Abbi's hospital. I had told Rob this morning I had a dream last night about her being sick, and I had a sense that we would be getting a call from them today. I think for her first surgery we got a call a week prior to the actual surgery. So we just took a deep breath, not knowing what to expect. Thankfully, they don't expect the surgery will be until May. Phew, I think. That kind of ruins our May travel plans to the Island, but at least we are getting a more generalized timeline, rather than "Early Spring."

So now we wait. For me its a pretty scary thought. Hard to imagine doing it all over again, but when I look back on her first surgery, we really were in a numb daze. I do worry that she will be so much more aware this time, physically stronger (may try to get out of bed or rip out tubes), and actually scared. At 5 months old, I really don't think she could comprehend much of what was happening. The other part that freaks me out is that I also have a baby to care for this time. So I'm trying to not really focus on it. I'm just trusting that God knows the timing and circumstances of it all. And ultimately has our little girl in His hand.