Colds and Tummy Bugs

The top 10 things garnered from our bought with upper respiratory infections and the stomach flu:

1)  Little ones are so pitiful when they are sick.

2)  It's a wonderful era in parenting when all 6 of your children can now 'make it' to a trash can or the commode when vomiting.  (No more middle of the night sheet and comforter washing!)

Can I get a HURRAH?

3)  No matter their age, they still like mama's attention when they are ill.

4)  As I age, it's harder and harder to get up with them when they do get ill.

5)  Having an independent, helpful, caring teenage daughter is a Godsend when multiple littles are sick.

6)  As I wife I also need to care for my ill hubby.  (He needs his wife's attention as much as the kiddos need mama's attention.)

7)  Buying 'barf buckets' for each child at Christmas was one of the best investments..... ever!  They've gotten their use these past 2 weeks.

8)  Delsym is a FABULOUS cough medicine.  I'm not sure Elijah would have gotten any sleep last week if it weren't for the wonderfulness of that medication.

9)  Nyquil has it's benefits for adults as well.  Techno has finally been able to get a couple nights of sound sleep thanks to that coughing-aching-sneezing-so-you-can-rest medicine.

10)  When this mama's the one not feeling well, the best remedy is ----- SLEEP!  A couple days of good napping and so far I've staved off the worst of both ailments.  (Knock on wood.)  :-)

Here's hoping we're rounding the corner and both illnesses are on their way O-U-T of our home.

Overall, however, I can't really complain.

Although we've had varying degrees of both bugs infecting our house for a little over a week, it's not been unmanageable.

Generally speaking the littles have not been sick with the same ailment at the same time.  The oldest 2 children were hit mildly (for the most part) and Techno and I have managed to avoid the stomach virus thus far.

Fortunately, the stomach virus portion does seem to be relatively short lived.  The upper respiratory thing, on the other hand, appears to be a bit more hardy and is holding on longer.

How do you deal with multiple illnesses hitting your family at once?  So far we're just hunkering down and muddling through.