Let me first say that part of this is going to be sarcastic... but part of this is actually how we deal with sickness.. which.. isn't all that well.
Having a big family, germs spread fast... Exponentially fast.. Almost faster than the "I'm bored bug" or the "I'm hungry bug"... (cue snare drum)
It seems like no matter what I do, we're sick ALL THE TIME.
It dawned on me watching everybody through this bout of colds how different we all act when we are sick..
First off, we have Andrew. He's our 8 year old and the stereotypical male... Makes sounds like a dying animal whenever he gets sick. Now, I love my boy, but I am SSSOOOOO thankful he is beginning to understand the importance of staying in bed when sick.
Next comes Eva. She's 6 and our "typhoid Mary". Eva is a very touchy-feely person (drives me crazy), so she's always picking up germs, always patient zero in our house. Once Eva gets sick, I know we're all gonna get. She's also the person who MIGHT be sick for a total of 12 hours max...you know, just long enough to spread the germs. :/
Grace. Grace is four and still tries to deny when she's sick. She can be coughing so hard it sounds like she's going to throw up but "I'm fine mom!!"
Hannah. Hannah is 2 and has always been our cuddle bug. So much as a cough from getting a whiff of pepper and you'd best be cuddling that child. So you can imagine how she is when she's sick.
Poor little Elijah. He's so congested but there's only so much I can do to help him. Lots of cuddling happening with him so he can sleep.
Now onto the love of my life...The one I've been trying to figure out how to word this so I don't put him down... Because a wife shouldn't do that. Dennis. When it's just Dennis that's sick, or Dennis and one kid, I can handle that. I can deal with that. Just give me some extra chocolate and all's well with the world. When our own personal Typhoid Mary gives everyone else the germs, THEN daddy...and daddy is the last one to get sick. Oh boy. On comes the dreaded "man cold", much like the "man flu"-but it's a cold.. Now I do have to say this about my hubby-the worse the sickness, the better the patient my hubby makes. When his shingles flare up, you wouldn't know unless you were told. When he has a cold... Lord, give me patience to deal with this man. Now I also know that he is the last one to get sick so I'm exhausted from dealing with everybody else... But I have to confess, I'm having a hard time this go around. Some days, he's the stereotypical male "I coughed, the world must stop"... Some days I wouldn't know he's got a cold if it wasn't for the lower voice.
Now, I suppose since I'm telling you about everybody else.. I'd better add me into the mix. I guess you could say I'm the typical mamma... Or so I'm told... I keep going until I can't get off the couch... And when I can't get off the couch, hubby knows it's serious. I've been sick for nigh on a month now...Mastitis, sinus infection turned cold and now I think the sinus infection is back again... The only thing that got me down for a few days was mastitis. But between Elijah and every one else, I feel like I'm losing it a bit.
So..now onto the more serious part. What are we doing to help it?
Preventive. Lots, and lots of vitamins. Hubby and I take extra vitamin C and echinacea. The kids get their multi vitamins.
When we get sick.. I really try to stay away from the typical cold medicines, but if the kids can't sleep we give them some to calm the cough so they can sleep. During the day, I have eucalyptus, peppermint and Plant Therapy's Germ Fighter going on in the diffuser. The kids don't like my homemade chicken noodle soup...so that's usually out. :/ We of course wash hands and are continuously after the kids to not cough or sneeze in each other's faces... Especially little miss Eva. We also take extra vitamins when we are sick.. Right now we have elderberry syrup so I've been dolling that out..but it's almost gone. I feel like there's more I could be doing, but I have no idea what.
Have a good week!
~Tabitha
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