my ultimate worst nightmare

We are still sick. I wouldn't have mentioned it except it is fairly relevant to this post. I also do not like snakes--that is also vital to this post. Both boys started running fevers yesterday afternoon/evening. Nathan had already had the throat thing, so I was anticipating the stomach thing with him. My mother instinct did not fail me. At 5am I heard Nathan calling me from his room. So in my groggy state I jumped out of bed to get to him before the mess became greater. I cleaned him up (fortunately it wasn't vomit). I laid Nate on the floor with his blanket and began to work on the bed. I stripped off the top blankets and was jolted completely awake by the fact that there was a snake in Nathan's bed. I managed to stifle a scream and tried to think rationally--as rationally as one can at 5am without any coffee in her system. Why and how in the world would a snake manage to get in Nathan's bed in the middle of winter--it is 20 degrees outside!!!!! It must be fake. So very, very, very bravely I reached out to touch it. I had one foot out the door just in case it moved. Yes, I know, I would be leaving Nathan in the room with the snake, but I figured he was sleeping with it so how was it going to harm him now that he was on the floor. Fortunately, it was just plastic. So I continued to strip the bed finding two more snakes and each time my heart jumping into my throat. I definitely made a mental note to pack up all the plastic snakes once it was daylight and put them in the basement to play with so that this incident would not occur again. My only fear now is that one day a real snake will come into the house and I will assume that it is a fake plastic one--that is perhaps my ultimate worst nightmare!