How I Do…a sick routine with 9 children.

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Robyn

Since Dave already mentioned in his last post that we were getting sick, I thought that I would continue the theme.

Yes – they have all been sick this week. It started Monday, and is hopefully ending tomorrow. This was a fast one! This virus (OK, probably is the swine flu) came on like a fast train, raged with high fevers for 24-48 hours, then left the station with some lingering coughs. Hopefully it is a ONE-WAY passage for us and it will not cycle back.

So, how do I manage 9 sick kids and what do I do when they get sick? As David mentioned before, we don’t get sick very often, but it does happen and each time I have to decide…to quarantine or share the germs. I have never been able to fully quarantine, as it would break my heart to see one lone kid not being able to share life with the rest of the house. So, viruses usually wind up getting to everybody. The factor then becomes how quickly it spreads! I am usually really tempted to sit them all down and have them lick each other and drink from one slobbery straw – just kidding.

This is how our usual sick routine goes…

Somebody gets sick.

Little Nurse image used courtesy of reusableart.com

They are sent to the couch for the day with blankets, pillows, favorite toys, fluids (not usually allowed in the family room) and lots of extra TLC from everyone.

Depending on who it is that is sick and the age, the videos usually go on. And here – I let go of the “mommy guilt”. I do not let them watch very much TV, but when they are sick, they need to rest. And, who can rest when you’ve got a house full of cool siblings to play with. We are like an everyday party day at our house! So, the videos go on to keep the sick one entertained and restive. Of course, all of the others support their downed sibling by watching also (right! they all love it when someone is sick and they all get to watch videos!).

I then make the pot of chicken soup, sometimes homemade, sometimes Campbell’s, and sometimes OodlesofNoodles – chicken flavored of course!

Orange juice (not watered down) and oranges are standards, along with popsicles and Jello. And I also give double dosed vitamins, just in case and mostly because they love to take them.

To try and decrease some of the germ spread, we use Bandettes – the sippy cup labels - (which we use all the time anyway) and I spray lots of Lysol on the most frequently touched areas. I would use a Bleach solution, but I can not go anywhere near bleach without it leaping from the bottle on to my clothes, leaving that telltale blop of pure white.

The biggest thing that I do is brace myself to survive! I lower my expectations of getting things done, and I try to be there for my kids. I know that they are going to not be feeling good, AKA – whiny and needy, so I mentally prepare for the constant onslaught and lighten things up everywhere else on my agenda.

This week was actually very, very good for us. Barring a relapse, we totally conquered this virus – 9 kids in 5 da

This picture was taken from Heur et malheur (fortune good and bad), by E. d'Erwin, illustrated by H. Castelli, Paris 1877. Image used courtesy of oldbookillustrations.com.

ys…not bad!

Note: Little Nurse image used courtesy of reusableart.com; The “doctor’s call” picture was taken from Heur et malheur (fortune good and bad), by E. d’Erwin, illustrated by H. Castelli, Paris 1877. Image used courtesy of oldbookillustrations.com.

Sterilite Buckets for flu season-by Dave

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Robyn

Bucket girl with rosy cheeks In general, when it comes to sick children, we have been extremely blessed with good health.

Our pediatrician marvels that we rarely see him and says we must have developed a terrific ‘herd immunity’.

This has been great, up until last fall. From late December 2008 through early April 2009, our little ones passed a persistent little bug around to each other in multiple waves. We’d be bug-free for a few days, and then magically it would pop up again and make multiple rounds.

Bandette Product

Now, I am certain our Bandette product helped contain the disease (notice the shameless self-promotion) by limiting transmission of germs between cups. However, having 8 little ones under one roof made it near impossible to keep them from coughing around each other, etc.

And this was not your typical bug of fever for 2 days and 3 in bed-notice the handy bucket tucked to the side maybe one episode of simple daytime vomiting. No, this was a superbug. It lasted around 4-5 days each episode, and there would be sudden nighttime projectile vomiting. We started out changing sheets 3-4 times per night. That lasted a few nights before we ran out of sheets and ability to keep them all laundered, and out of energy.

Sterilite Bucket

That’s when we got an idea. I ran out to the store and bought a stack of half a dozen or so Sterilite plastic buckets and put one next to each bed. I bought extras for ‘known sickies’ to carry with them throughout the day. While Robyn was not thrilled with the idea of these buckets all around the house, it sure beat vomit all in the bed linens, couches, carpets, etc.

Buckets can also be used later for wash big and little cars Besides, when you are done with the flu, you can use the buckets to help wash big and little cars.

As I write this, we currently seem to have gotten a new bug, with four little ones febrile and three on the mend. I hope this one does not stick around.

Pray for us.

Portable Power-Battery Jumper (by Dave)

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Robyn

One of the best pieces of advice in recent years was from Barry Norris, our trusted auto mechanic. With as many children as we have, it is not infrequent that someone leaves a car door open in the garage, or does something that kills the car battery.

We usually find out about this Sunday morning as we have finally gotten everyone fed, cleaned and dressed and in the car ready for Church. In the past, we used to have to maneuver the other car and get out the dirty old jumper cables and jump start it. That process alone usually took anywhere from 10-40 minutes–not what you are hoping for when you are trying to get to Church on time. And I would usually need to make a quick clothing change and go to Church with blackened hands.

Alternatively, Robyn would call me from somewhere in town, stranded in a parking lot with a dead battery and I would have the opportunity to be a superhero and rescue them all (not bad, unless you have to leave work or be awakened after working third shift).

Barry’s suggestion was this: a portable battery jumper.

It stays charged, and is easily taken from the trunk to under the hood, and the wait time before turning the key is ~ 5-6 seconds rather than 10 minutes. This has saved our necks on a number of occasions, as recently as yesterday.

While the initial cash outlay may have seemed a bit steep at the time (I think ours was about $70), in retrospect it was well worth it. Ours was from Chicago Electric, and is the all-yellow one pictured here.

For a few dollars more, the 5-in-1 (with black trim) also contains an air compressor and standard AC outlets to power household electric and electronics.

Both are available at HarborFreight.com. You can click on the pictures to be brought to the linked pages.

Thanks for the tip, Barry!

About Haircuts…

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Robyn

The hair is in the pan

When things are too quiet at my house I start to worry…

On one particular day last week, things were quiet…and trouble was brewing!

Having grown up babysittng and always working with children, I am aware of most of the things that children are capable of. And, as my girls have each gotten older, I have waited for each one of them to cut their own hair. Don’t get me wrong, I have tried mightily to avoid it – threats, teaching, admonition, hiding (the scissors) – but alas, it has happened with three out of four so far.

The first didn’t happen until my oldest daughter was 5 years old. I thought for sure that we were going to skip that one, she was old enough to know better! Hah, one quite day – snip, snip – bangs were gone, nearly to the scalp! She was tired of the hair in her eyes and didn’t want to wear a bow.

The second offense came about a year later. Apparently, all of my careful admonition did not thwart my eldest daughter, at least not until she was partially through another bang episode on her younger sister. Half way through that quite time in the house, the revelation hit her that she should let her mother know about her new ideas for her sister’s hair. We were left with half a bang doo and some missing snips from the beautiful long side locks (one side) of my second daughter’s hair.

And, just last week, when a portion of our household was too quiet, that same eldest daughter came shrieking from the playroom. Her proclamation announcing the dreaded news that my 2 – almost 3- Like my hair-did it myself year old had cut her hair. Admittedly, this was at least a more appropriate age for such behaviour. However, she had cut a LOT of hair, and she HAD the cutest most adorable whispy curls…gone, snipped, fallen. My little girl had quietly snipped them off and laid them nicely in a pink tub (no mess- Thank you!!). I loved those little curls. Fortunately, she did leave some hair and she doesn’t look all that bad. Thank goodness she inherited her daddy’s great curly hair and the damage is rather hard to see. It just looks like we gave her a pixie girl cut.

So, we survived one more hair cutting episode in our home. My third daughter has so far spared the family of this expected childhood event. And, I so hope that we have had our share. But, realistically….I know better! Let’s not forget – I have 2 two year olds in the house right now. I will be lucky if I don’t get one of those “quiet” haircuts!

The Listerine Foot-bath (by Dave)

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Robyn

Washing Feet We had a great weekend visiting Virginia and seeing family. This included a day on a farm with chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, etc. etc., and lots of running around in bare feet or shoes without socks.

By the end of the day, when we loaded the little ones up into the van we had the most horrible collection of nasty-smelling feet! My de-tox solution? I took a bottle of off-brand Listerine look-alike, poured about a 1/2 inch layer into a large flat bottom plastic bowl, and one by one bathed the childrens’ feet with the help of a wet-wipe for scrubbing soles and between toes. Then each one got a soapy-water rinse to decrease the intense medicinal smell.

The result, a group of tingly fresh-smelling feet! Now, the new dilemma: what to do to treat the toxic shoes?

Another helpful thing about Bandette–by Dave

Posted on October 4, 2009 by Robyn

We use our Bandette (TM) products for all our children to label their cups, bottles, and sippy cups. One added benefit to identifying which cup belongs to which child is that we can help reduce waste with the toddlers. Three Children with Bandette

We routinely have a house rule that food and drink stay in the kitchen. But sometimes the smaller tigers tend to stray and we may find a sippy cup in the sunroom or living room or (heaven forbid) a bedroom. Often these drinks will go right down the drain, unless they are still cold and recent pours.

By filling sippy cups half-way, we can help reduce the amount of wasted drinks. It also increases the number of times we have to fill them, but that’s better than finding a sippy cup full of day-old milk later on. Without Bandette, it would be more difficult to do this since it would be hard to keep track of the cups, and we’d be washing many, many more cups since we wouldn’t be able to tell who used which.

Now, when the little ones ask for more drink, we tell them to go get their cup and they do so. This also teaches them to keep the cups nearby so they can find them easily.