The flu or do they sell handsanitizer in vats the size of a bathtub?

So I was thinking how lucky our family has been this year! Usually we are sick from the moment school starts until summer break, 9 months later. In the past two years, various members of the family (mostly me) have had the had the following:

• chicken pox (I don’t even want to talk about how much I enjoyed this…not really)
• pneumonia (which was a fun four day vacation in the smallest hospital ever for me)
• fifth disease (painful)
• hand, foot and mouth disease
• a nasty rotovirus (twice) (yet another delightful trip to the er)
• strep (twice)
• bronchitis
• sinusitis
• ear infection
• weird jaw thing (Little A talked so much he sprained his jaw)
• GERD
• sprained chest wall
• sudden onset highly allergic reaction to NSAIDS (I hope I don’t have a headache)

I had even begun to contemplate last year how I could create some sort of germ barrier involving a tray of lysol at every entrance like some level 4 biohazard decontamination booth!

So really I felt very fortunate that other than James, the rest of us had barely had a sniffle all winter…until Monday. Monday was a sad and bleak day as Gabe hopped off the bus and said he didn’t feel so good. Now, I’ve been trapped in the house with 1 sick kid and another that can’t understand that if Gabe is sick we are all stuck at home.

So, we’ve painted, read stories, watched movies, sang songs, danced, cooked, napped and I’m just wrung out! I’m out of ideas to keep them entertained and happy while retaining my sanity and good humor! I swear I will never ever again take for granted our good fortune of health! I’ve learned my lesson! I’m knocking on wood. I’m finding my lucky 4-leaf clover and I’m buying a bathtub sized vat of hand sanitizer the next time I’m out in that germ filled world.