Monday Madness: In The Middle of It...

Good morning, friends and family~
Have you ever had a winter where you look back and think, "Wow...we really went through the illness this year!"?
That is exactly how it has been for us this winter. Despite our healthy eating, vitamins, essential oils etc, we have simply caught just about every bug that comes along.

The last time we had such an ill winter was several years ago and it was just as unpleasant as this lovely winter of 2017-18.

I have some ideas how it is possibly spreading, for instance, our oldest daughter now works in a daycare several times a week. Seems like every time I turn around she is telling me about this and that teacher is out sick or children are coming to daycare sick.

Then there is our 5-year-old. I have never met a child that cannot keep his hands out of his mouth. Not just that but he licks EVERYTHING! He has some sensory input issues which more than likely attribute to this. We are hoping that over time, we will be able to train him to understand that this habit is more than likely what gets him sick. He must be listening some because when I was sick with a 24-hour bug back in December, he asked me how I got sick. Knowing that I more than likely got it from when I had cuddled his sick body the week before, I replied,"Well, buddy, I think you shared with me. His deadpan response was priceless: "No, I think you were licking things."

Then there is our ten-year-old who uses the resource room for a couple hours a day. One day an aid came out and said, "I don't know what you normally do after school, but if I were you, I'd have him take a shower. He was exposed to three different bugs today including one little girl who threw up right next to him." Uh...okay. Thanks!

As I write this, we are in an almost ten-day bout of illness. One good thing is that we are all sick at the same time. To some, it might not be a blessing to have everyone sick at once, especially when there are 8 of you. But trust me, we have also done it where it takes weeks for something to go through the house. I'll take the 8-10 day version of everyone being sick over the former.

So what do I do when we are in the middle of something like this?

• Break Out The Essential Oils. I put them everywhere. In diffusers, in cotton balls around the house, in the baths and showers. When we are sick, I really like to use Onguard, Peppermint, Lemon, etc...
• Break Out The Essential Oil Cough Drops: These things are amazing. They have essential oils in them to help speed up the process.
• Water, tea, coffee, mineral water...anything to make sure everyone is hydrated.
• Movies. We may or may not have bought two or three movies this week. Probably more than we have bought in the last six months. But when we are all sick, even reading books can be wearing on the head. Generally, my kids watch one movie a day. But when we are sick, that goes out the window. After we are all better, we do a "screen fast". This means no movies, Youtube etc for a couple weeks. During the summer, we usually do a "screen fast" that lasts several weeks if not the whole summer. But more on that in a later post!
• Patience and long-suffering...we all get to practice!
• Everyone pitches in. While we are all sick, the ones that feel better pitch in more. Then when they feel yucky, the others pitch in. We all work to make sure our house is still running smoothly without the dishes and laundry piling up. Poor Peter has carried the brunt of it this time as he did not get that sick. But he claims it is his privilege to serve us, so I'm praying he gets a blessing out of it! 
• Open the windows...even if it is freezing cold outside, I open the windows throughout the house for a little bit every day to air things out. 

As this posts today, we are well on the mend and back to as normal as this house of 8 people can be. My prayer is that your family is healthy and happy!

If you missed last week's post:  Introvert or Extrovert?

Next Week's Topic: Needing Spring/Summer Activity Ideas!

Until next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi

Numbers 6:24-26