Summer is halfway over in our neck of the woods, and it hasn’t gone anything like I thought it would.

It started in the middle of May, two weeks before school would even be over for the summer with my youngest catching adenovirus. Her pediatrician also confirmed that there is still fluid in her ears, eight months after we first found it. Then my oldest got an ear infection that, even after 10 days of antibiotics, didn’t go away. We returned to the doctor for another round of antibiotics not just for an ear infection, but for some extremely huge and nasty looking tonsils. At this same visit, my youngest was having her ears checked again for fluid. If fluid remained, she would be referred to a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist.

Well, guess what? They both got referrals. And are both scheduled for surgery the end of July. The youngest is having tubes put in both ears. The oldest is having her tonsils and adenoids removed.

I’d started dreaming about this summer months ago. I was feeling brave. With no requirements to be anywhere, I was considering many trips to visit friends and family. The kids would have grand adventures and we wouldn’t get bored staring at the walls at home.

Instead, we’re staring at the walls at home.

Now I’m afraid to take the kids anywhere because even just walking outside in the central Florida heat and humidity is hard on a body, and my oldest daughter has lost a lot of weight due to the swelling in her throat. She’s on a mostly soft food and liquid diet and will be for at least a week after surgery. The kid needs to hang on to every calorie that she manages to ingest.

My youngest is the opposite and needs an outlet. She needs to run and jump and play to make sure she eats three meals a day instead of randomly snacking.

How do you handle having two kids that need totally opposite things? Anyone have encouraging words about their upcoming surgeries?