Come on, summer!

Well, this week has been a doozy. Late last week, Aubrey and Jude started running fever and had runny noses. I was worried that they had the flu, so we went to the doctor but the flu test was negative. The doctor said that it could be a false negative since we tested early, but they probably just had bad colds. Alaina also caught their cold, so I've had three out of four of my babies sick this week. Alaina has had an AWFUL cough, so we haven't been getting much sleep. I think that a cough is pretty much the worst (minor) sickness for a child to have. I've decided that it's even worse than throw up, and that is a HUGE statement coming from me. There's just nothing that you can really give a 2 year old for a cough and it seems to take FOREVER to fully go away and it is miserable to listen to it through the monitor all. night. long. Of course I know that she is also miserable, and I feel so bad for her. I'm hoping that we've reached the peak of the sickness and that we'll only improve from here on out.

In the midst of all of that, Francie decided to have a little sleep regression. She had given me a good stretch of nights where she slept through the night. I knew that she would probably regress at some point, and I told myself to just enjoy it while it lasted.... but is that even possible? I still got totally spoiled and basically started to expect it ;) It seems like the past several nights, if Alaina actually has had a break in the coughing and is quiet for a little while, Francie is pretty much guaranteed to wake up during that time. David and I have been tag teaming it, and we both feel a bit like walking zombies :)

And if THAT'S not enough, I started a 10 day sugar cleanses last weekend, so I've been eating a pretty restricted diet. The most noteworthy is this: NO COFFEE!! So, I'm up half the night with my babies and I can't even have any caffeine to help me through the day?! Terrible timing. Not to mention the fact that I had a caffeine withdraw headache for about 3 days the beginning of the week. So yeah, it's just been a barrel of fun over here ;)

There have been some positives this week, though. Aubrey and Jude's two day a week school was cancelled because so many kids and teachers were sick, so they didn't miss any school. Of course, the flip side to that is that I therefore had to do more school at home. But we're focusing on POSITIVES here! Also, we had some really great warm weather for a few days, so the kids were able to play outside some, which worked out well for all of us :) I was also able to get out and go on a walk one evening after David got home and I was teetering on the brink of insanity. It's amazing what a little fresh air and exercise will do for your attitude.

The BIGGEST positive (and praise!!) is that Francie has stayed well so far. That's totally just by the grace of God, because there is literally no way to keep these big kids away from her. I tried so hard, but they just love her too much to not touch her for days. We've had several rounds of sickness in our house recently, and the Lord has protected our littlest baby from the germs each and every time. I'm SO very thankful.

Of course, I'm also really thankful that David and I have managed to stay well, too. I can't imagine running on the amount of sleep we've been getting while also being sick.

I'm really hoping that the worst of the sickness is behind us now and that we'll be more normal next week. I'm hoping to have time to blog more too when I'm not spread so thin.

The bottom line is that I am completely and totally over winter and summer can't get here fast enough for me!