Sick and tired of being sick!

Yep, that's right. We are sick and tired of being sick! The past two months have been filled with one sickness after the next in our house. We managed to stay nice and healthy before Joel got here this winter, but since his arrival, the story has been much different. And unfortunately, with 3 kids, sickness just drags out even longer. And chances are that by the time the first kid gets better, he/she is sick again because they've caught what the third kid has. It feels like a neverending battle of sleepless nights, runny noses, coughing attacks, and a whole lot of whining! We started in the beginning of March with colds/runny noses that spread to all 3 and lasted a total of about 3 weeks, had a few days off, then had a 24 hour stomach bug that only hit Caleb, had a few more days off, then Caleb started with pink eye, followed by Leah a few days later, followed by a cold and horrible cough for Caleb, and then Leah was lucky enough to get that one, and now Joel is battling the same cold/cough. Will.it.ever.end?!?!

I'm pretty sure the doctor and his nurse think by now that I am either nuts or just a horrible mom that can't keep my kids healthy. I think I call just about every week with some new concern, but in my defense, I've never dealt with a newborn being sick this much (it's kinda scary at times). Whatever happened to breastfeeding being the best for immunity? I'll admit, I've never been a germ-o-phobe, and I don't think these past two months will even change that about me. I keep my house clean and orderly, but I don't go overboard with disinfecting. My kids sit in shopping carts that haven't been wiped down with lysol wipes, an occasional kid fork drops to the floor and gets picked right back up for use, and every so often I just have to turn my back on one of my dirty monsters picking their nose. I just can't spend my life trying to avoid sickness, and hopefully the amount of sickness we're going through now will build up enough immunity so that they will be healthier later in life!

So, although I'd love to have posted more in the past few months about how much Joel is growing and changing, the trip we took to the aquarium, all the fun things Leah is doing now that she's two, the beautiful weather we've had, our enjoyable Easter, Caleb's life as a four year old, etc., etc., I'm sticking to this. It's been time consuming, I've done lots of laundry, we're still not sleeping all through the night, and I'm more ready for warm, summer days (with less chances of illness) than I've ever been before (even during my teaching days when summer vacation felt like all I was living for)! Until then, we hope those that are reading this have managed to stay healthy and we are thankful that the germs in our "petri dish" (as my sister called it) of a home can't find their way into your home via the world wide web! And for your enjoyment, here are some pictures that would've made for great blog posts, but surely you can understand why they didn't...