I’m always trying to think of the many little things I’ve learned over the years that make life a little easier or less complicated as a parent.  Since we’re in the middle of cold and flu season, I simply had to share some thoughts with all of you!

No matter how long you’ve been a parent or how many children you have, illness is something we can never predict perfectly.  Stomach bugs are the worst!  You can sometimes see that they aren’t feeling well and know that “something” is coming on, but predicting any illness … especially one that involves vomit … is pretty impossible.  And you may have discovered that small children, don’t “see it coming” until it’s waaaay too late!

So, to make it a little less stressful, I have a couple of tips for you.

Tip 1: First and foremost, even though I’m sure all of you have your washer and dryer empty by the end of the day (unlike me), there is always the chance that there is one other person who occasionally isn’t able to get all the laundry tranferred around and *gasp* even has a load left in the washer at the end of the day.  If that happens to be you, then you will definitely want to make a point of keeping your washer free every evening through the fall and winter!

That is probably the biggest tip for today, because there is absolutely nothing worse than having icky bedding and clothing and trying to figure out what to do with it while you try and transfer clothing from washer to dryer, etc (with less than sanitary hands at that point I might add).  So, having the washer free allows you to simply throw the soiled bedding/clothing in and get it clean right away.

Tip 2: Have a set bucket or bowl that your children know to use when they have a stomach bug.  Often lovingly referred to as the “Puke Bucket” or “Throw up Bowl” around here, if they don’t know what to grab or where it is located, you may panic when you see what dishes they choose to use.  Did you know that there are even companies that sell bowls that are intended for just this purpose?  Yup, they sure do!

Tip 3: Keep your winter cold and flu medicines and cleaning products handy and easily accessible (still out of the reach of the children of course) so that you don’t have to fuss with that either.  If you have all your cleaners and products necessary for cleaning up after your sick children handy it will be a lot easier on you.

Ok, I think those three tips will do it for now.  If you have more tips, leave a comment and tell us about them!

Ok, so it’s a NOT so wordless Wednesday here at A Frog In My Soup, but what was I to do when I had a picture of these two cute little Flu Shot Poster boys of mine but needed to write a post reminding everyone to get a flu shot???  Voila, combo post!!

Just Cuz You Need to Know (LOL)! According to my 10 year old know-it-all (seriously, he thinks he knows it all!) … and I quote VERBATIM …..

“I always thought that flu shots were so you don’t get fleas.”

With that bit of wisdom you can discontinue reading the rest of this post and go on with life understanding everything …. and nothing all, at the same time!

When Monkey went to see the pediatrician for a totally unrelated skin thing on Monday, their wonderful doctor asked me out of the blue at the end of the appointment …. “sooo, do we need any shots today?” HUH?  Man I sure don’t think so LOL.  Then she told us that they had the flu shot in for the twins right now. Amazing since for the last two years (when they REALLY needed it), they didn’t ever have it in when I needed it.

You want to know what’s scary …. Monkey didn’t cry – not a PEEP!  Bugs only cried a teensy bit and was happy again very quickly.  Of course they were very proud of their lovely red (matching I might add) bandaids and walked around the rest of the day (once we got home) with no shirt on and telling everyone that, “Somebody POKED me!”  It was actually quite amusing … some found it downright hilarious!  But I digress …..

Latest info …. it is recommended that all children under the age of 18 and anyone caring for them get a flu vaccine!  Even though much of the healthcare profession is still sticking to the under 5 crowd rule, this is the latest and greatest – yup, you heard it here!

Want all the info on the flu vaccine, why you should get it and who shouldn’t???  Be sure to visit the CDC website setup just for flu facts!  Oh, and if you’re a blogger, get informed, grab some buttons, listen to some podcasts and spread the word on your own blog!  December 8-14 is National Influenza Vaccination week.

Gag Sensitive Reader Warning:  If you cannot stand to read about sick children and the life of a mom caring for them you will want to pass on this post today  . 

Why is it that children only get ill (yup, I mean the vomiting type) in the middle of the night?  Can someone answer this for me.  And why is it that the things that are coming back up are the strangest, most random part of their last meal?  Gross, I know, but I have 6 children – each and every one of them has been sick many times in their lives and this is something I have been wondering for a long time as it is one of the few consistent things you can count on when a child becomes ill.

We had a sick-y last night our 4 year old, Sir Lion graced us with his poor little presence in the middle of the night after another child had decided they couldn’t stand sleeping alone in their bed.  His little tummy hurt and he had thrown up.  He could hardly talk about it, but we got him settled into Daddy’s chair and he seemed ok for the most part.  I think he got sick a total of two or three times through the night, so it wasn’t quite as bad as the last bout of stomack-ick we had around here with the Twinks. The poor Twinks are acting a little under the weather today too, so here we are, just hanging out. 

I’m supposed to be packing for a long-awaited weekend away.  Fishing weekend, an annual tradition in this household with only a few exceptions since my hubby was a little boy!  We haven’t gone since the twinks were born, so the kids are super excited!  But now I’m a little afraid that I’ll be spending most of the weekend in our rental with sick kiddos. 

Not that I’m complaining too much since the place we have rented for the weekend is larger than our house, with more bedrooms and BATHROOMS!  I’m really excited about the bathrooms part (sad, but true LOL).   It would almost be a great excuse to hang out there and catch up on a little reading and writing *sigh*. 

I have to admit although there is mess all around me today I love that Bug is resting with me and that Monkey wants to hold my hand.  I don’t love the fussing they are directing at me, but I love the cuddles.  They are so independent in that regard (heaven forbid they play independently though) that it is fun when they decide to snuggle up. 

Sir Lion seems to be his usual busy self this morning and the night of sickness seems almost like a distant dream (other than the mess in the sink I had to clean up this morning that sent me into a gagging fit).

But seriously . . . is it possible for them to get sick during the day instead of in the middle of the night?

I don’t know if it’s because they are the last of all my boys, because they have so many big brothers or if it’s because they are twins, but I do not remember ever having funnier children than my Twinkies! 

They do the most peculiar things and the things they say have always been very amusing.  They talked much sooner than any of their siblings . . . BY FAR!  People were always shocked at what was coming out of their 15 month or 18 month old mouths ~ no not because it was terrible, but because it was strange to hear complete sentences with full words, clearly audible in a baby voice!  I know I had nothing to do with it though based on our history with the other boys and lack of talking . . . it’s just them or any number of the thoughts above.

Anyway, one thing we have always done around here from the time CJ was a little one is to use “Raggies” for runny little noses when they have a cold.  Kleenex just isn’t always handy, so they carry around a raggy to wipe the constantly leaking nosie.  Raggies are large burp cloths or cloth diapers and are either kept with me or if they are old enough (2 to 3 years) tied in a belt loop for easy access.  The second is a little easier to keep track of with our twosome. 

This week Baby Bug and Little Monkey have had some seriously icky noses and Monkey’s has been particularly sore, bleeding a smidge yesterday morning.  So first thing this morning I decided it was time to get out a couple of raggies and as I handed them each one they got all cuddly with them . . . “raggy – my raggy” LOL! 

The funny part was that this continued the rest of the morning!  Competing over who’s raggy was who’s (“my raggy”, “no my raggy”, “no it’s my raggy”) after a while I started feeling just a little crazy about the raggies and just had to laugh at them and their rediculous little Raggies. 

Have a great weekend!

How’s that for a title?  The fact that I’m not getting today’s post up until 8pm might easily be understood when I tell you that I ended up with 4 sickies in my house today!  Yessiree 4!

Last night CJ threw up just before bed, then Lion in the middle of the night, then Baby Bug this morning and hubby felt horrible in the midst of it all.  The “wellies” were fit to be tied though and bouncing off the walls, but once the Salesman and Tater were off to school I just had Monkey boy to contend with. But boy was he in a naughty mood.  He knew perfectly well that I was occupied and buried under brothers, so he wanted to take full advantage of that!  But we survived.

Although I didn’t send CJ to school today (it would be so totally unfair to expose his classmates to him so soon after being sick) he wasn’t doing too well unless he overdid it in the eating department.  So he was a bit of a help when things got truly hairy a few times.

I’ve learned a few things from this round of a stomach bug, so I thought I’d share it with  you.   Obviously you can be only so prepared for illness like this and we’re never entirely sure what form it will come in, but once one person begins showing signs that would be the time to get ready and send the cavalry to the store to pick up a few things.  I have to share first of all how very extremely wonderful it is to have a washer that gives you the opportunity to “Sanitize” at the push of a button!

So here’s my recommendations of items to keep in the home:

• Large comfy sheets to drape the furniture with.
• Plenty of personal blankets that aren’t too bulky and are easy to wash.
• Latex (or other rubber) gloves.
• At least 2 buckets that are particularly good for using for throwing up.
• About 4 old towels
• A BLOG!
• Music
• fun videos, coloring books, etc that really only come out when they are sick, but can help keep them calm during the thick of the storm.

Here’s what to send the cavalry after if you don’t already have it in the house (or better yet, if you have any opportunity to get out of the house for a breath of fresh air it isn’t a bad idea):

• Lemon-Lime soda
• saltines (my family likes a variety; oyster, graham, ritz, goldfish ~ granted, some of them are not appropriate until many hours after vomiting has stopped, but they’re nice to have)
• applesauce
• Pedialyte (for the little ones)
• bananas (do not give these to anyone until you are sure they won’t throw them up ~ this is for me the all-time worst type of vomit to clean up, ICK!)
• rice
• bread for toast
• A variety of quick to prepare meals for the “well” part of the family.  We don’t do cold cereal around here, but on a day like today you know that if you are too distracted they will still be able to eat.
• Soup: particularly chicken noodle or broths

Well there you have it LOL!  It really isn’t that I’m an expert or anything, but I am simply right smack in the middle of it right now and this is what’s working!

Remember to sign up for the contest this week!  Oh, and I have a surprise super quick contest to share with all of you tomorrow!

Here it is a beautiful Monday morning (cold but beautiful) and I should have a nearly poetic Mommy Reality Check post all ready to go for you (I do have some nearly completed LOL), but all I can do is hope and pray I’ll get a chance to go back to bed soon! 

I was up all night with poor little sick Monkey Boy!  He spent the entire night throwing up.  I honestly do not remember any of the other boys vomiting that much.  So this morning he finally got a break for a couple of hours so from about 6:30 – 8:00 am I actually was able to sleep.  Believe it or not I feel oh so much better than I did at 5am! 

While I was still trying to rest this morning the gang got up and boy were they noisy!  Who knew that building blocks created that much ruckus.  So it didn’t take me long to decide I’d better call in the reinforcements.  About an hour and a half later my mom arrived taking the middlest three (The Salesman, Tater & Lion). 

I thought that maybe we were done with the heaving and vomiting, but alas it began again about an hour ago and poor peaked little Monkey Boy was very upset about it!  Meanwhile Baby Bug is running a little amuck!  He feels great and doesn’t understand why Monkey is laying around.  We keep setting up areas for Monkey to be comfy and Bug has decided that he will NOT be left out of the cozy spots! 

It is the strangest thing I have ever seen though, Bug is determined to take care of Monkey!  He is like a mother hen, hovering and picking and talking to him constantly.  I think it’s cute, but it is obviously very annoying to Monkey so I have to intervene.

Oh and here’s another very odd thing that happened:  during the night whenever Monkey was about to throw up or was throwing up I would hear Bug stirring, and talking in his bed.  Sometimes he was talking to me, sometimes he was a little fussy, sometimes he was talking about Monkey.  At first I thought it was a fluke, he isn’t the best sleeper, but Monkey wasn’t making any noise at all as he threw up and Bug would do this EVERY time Monkey threw up.  He was in a different room for Heaven’s sake! 

Daddy finally took Bug into bed with him (Monkey and I were confined to the chair in the living room) after Bug had a n-a-s-t-y diaper.  Snuggling with Daddy is one of Bug’s ultimate favorite things to do, so that is the only hour or so that he didn’t stir when Monkey threw up. 

Needless to say I got little to no sleep.  So I’m trying to parent a nearly-2-year-old from a chair where another nearly-2-year-old is pathetically sleeping on me.  A very precarious and somewhat scary place to be let me tell you!   I will end this post now as I need to go and rescue an entire container of wipes from Bug who is trying to use them all at once on his runny little nose (yuck).  But I promise, promise, promise the return of Mommy Reality is coming!

Thanks to all of you for your kind notes and comments and especially for your prayers!  I just wanted to take a moment today to update you all and let you know that the second antibiotic they put me on seems to be the one that is going to do the trick!

I’m still very sore and very swollen, but the area hasn’t progressed, and some of the redness has subsided!  This is really a good sign, and according to my doctors tomorrow is the true test.  It is then that I should see the most improvement, so hopefully I am on the mend!

I truly do appreciate all of you!  Have a wonderful Day!

That pretty much sums up our day today!  Once again reinforcing the “kids are insanely messy” theory, I had so much cleaning to do first thing this morning . . . not normal cleaning, nope, vomit! 

I was awakened in the middle of the night by a silently whispered (Salesman) “mom . . . . mom . . . MOM!” : 

• (me) “huh”:
• (Salesman) “I threw up”:
• (me with a hint of panic) “lovely . . where did you throw up” :
• (Salesman) “In the bathroom sink”:
• (me) “Seriously? did you rinse it out?”:
• (Salesman) “well, I tried”:
• (me) “ok, go get a bucket and go back to bed”

 My 9 year old was extremely proud of himself that he hadn’t thrown up in his bed . . . problem is he had left a trail all the way into the bathroom, all over blankets and clothes and in the sink instead of the toilet . . . oh boy did I have fun with that one!

A few hours later I was awakened by a not quite so silent 8 year old standing by my bed:

• (Tater) “Mom I threw up”:
• (Me, having already had this conversation with another child I can now walk through it while sleeping thank goodness) “Where did you throw up?”:
• (Tater) “In my bed”:
• (Me) “Ok, go get a bucket”:
• (Tater – returning a few minutes later emptyhanded) “I can’t find a bucket”:
• (Hubby – finally realizing what’s going on and getting in on it) “OK, I’ll take care of you buddy, go lay down on the couch.”

You get the idea.  Problem is that during all of this I am dealing with some physical issues myself!  I have a horrible abscess on my leg and have just started antibiotics for it.  It is insanely painful and getting more and more swollen.  Thus the sending the children to get their own buckets and go back to bed.  You see, I usually take care of all that for them!  I get the bedding and anything else all taken care of, replace the old bedding, get them their bucket and settle them in before going back to bed myself.  But today I was oh so limited in my ability to help.

Add to all of this the fact that we have snow and the twinkies are still getting over their colds, our 4 year old is an emotional wreck because he has a cold . . . the only one well is CJ!  So that means he is now the glue . . . poor thing.  I’m really relying on him to be my legs today, he offered and knows that he’ll get benefits from the help he gives. 

I hope that all of you have a healthy home!  Oh, and have you seen all the entries for the Sweet Pea Cakes giveaway?  WOW!  Well over 100 and the contest doesn’t end until the 23rd! 

Have a wonderful Day!

A while back I attended a Webinar held by the CDC about Influenza and the flu vaccine. It was very interesting and enlightening. I had become so confused by so many beliefs out there that I was unsure of how to approach it anymore.

I have been hearing statements like . . . if I get the flu vaccine I can give the virus to my child or an elderly parent; I got the flu from the vaccine; it really doesn’t protect you anyway . . . . etc.

Have you heard those things as well? Do you believe them or are you unsure what to believe? Well, let me present a few facts about the Influenza virus and the vaccine.

Here’s a few basic statistics about the flu:

• 36,000 deaths per year
• 200,000 hospitalizations per year
• 20% of the US population is infected with Influenza each year.
• Hostpitalation rates for children under the age of 2 is similar to that of the elderly.
• About 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized from serious flu-related complications.
• About 100 children die from the flu each year.

OK, now that we have the horrible information before us what can we do about it? Kids are considered “super spreaders” when it comes to germs.  No surprise to parents who are constantly sending their children (especially preschoolers) back into the bathroom to wash properly. Good hygeine is definitely a must, but another very real solution is to get certain children AND THE FAMILY MEMBERS WHO SURROUND THEM vaccinated. And there is definitely still time!

Flu season peaks in January and February. December and beyond is still a good time to get a flu vaccine. Here’s a list of the specific groups of people that the CDC recommends get vaccinated:

• Anyone over 50
• Children 6 mos to 5 years
• People with chronic medical conditions (asthma, heart disease, recovering from cancer, diabetes, etc.)
• Pregnant women
• Healthcare workers
• Anyone who comes in contact with the people mentioned above!

There are two forms of the vaccine now, the traditional flu shot and a nasal spray . . . the nasal spray is recommended for children 2 and up. Two doses of the vaccine are necessary for children getting their vaccine for the first time. The nasal form isn’t recommended for those who have experienced respiratory issues recently. 

Mist vs. Injection?
The strains covered are the same, toleration is similar, some early reports do suggest that the mist may give a slight advantage over the shot.  Wondering what’s in each form?  In the nasal spray there is a “live attenuated virus” in the shot it’s dead, but neither can cause actual influenza.

Who shouldn’t (or can’t) get the vaccine?

• Under 6 months old cannot be vaccinated! So vaccinating those around these little ones is important.
• Anyone with an allergy to eggs cannot get this vaccine!  It is grown in eggs, so it does pose a risk to anyone with a serious egg allergy.
• Anyone with severe chronic conditions should talk to their doctor about the vaccine. 

Resources: www.cdc.gov/flu, www.cdc.gov/widgets podcast specifically for children and influenza at http://www.cdc.gov/.

Well, it’s not really that bad haha – that title just appeared in my head and I had to use it! We have been blessed in so many ways with the older ones really not getting much sickness this year! They are just getting healthier and healthier and I am thrilled with that development.

Sir Lion (Son4) began getting croupy about a week and a half ago and it has been up and down with him since. He does seem to be kicking it now though so hopefully we can return to life as usual soon (is that good or bad?). Pea-1 has been coughing for about 3 weeks now and just when we thought he was starting to kick it – ugh – nope it just got worse!

So yesterday we had the joy of making a trip to see their Pediatrician. While in the office they proceeded to show their Dr all of the items in the room that need to be fixed, how good Pea-1 is getting at temper tantrums, how much Sir Lion loves playing in sinks, and how well Pea-2 knows Peekaboo (as he slaps himself in the head at the mere mention of the word) – OH, and how proficient they are getting at the english language haha. Pea-1 was calling me “Ma” – ugh and saying “happy” for peekaboo – so cute! Pea-2 was surprisingly quiet this time so maybe he’ll show off more at our next trip in which will probably be for him ((eyeroll))!

Due to their overwhelming helpfulness, cuteness and performing ability (at least I have to assume that’s the reason) we were rewarded with a brand new nebulizer (who knew that if they are working right you don’t have to wrestle a toddler for 20 minutes? or that they should be replaced more often than every 7 years?) and tons of prescriptions for more meds and antibiotics for Pea-1 – yea us!

I too have a cold and leaving out too many details ended up having misery heaped upon cold yesterday, so I am attempting to be a good mom in a decent mood, caring for my sickies – but OH MY WORD WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT DINNER? It doesn’t just magically appear around here – though I think that most of the boys around here (even Hubby for a long time) think that we do have a magic fairy that magically plans all meals and puts away their underwear!

But as I type this my knight in shining armor is coming to my rescue! He will be stopping at Costco to pick up a couple of things (I know – Yeah Right – like that is humanly possible to leave that store with only a COUPLE of things but anyway . . . ) and will grab something easy for dinner too! Next week hopefully I will be back on track with my meals all planned out – here’s hoping.

Well, I think I’ve wandered aimlessly about this subject just long enough to create a post and now I will go give a couple of breathing treatments and some meds out – again, yea me!