Tag Archives: sippy cup labels

How I Do…a sick routine with 9 children.

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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.

Another helpful thing about Bandette–by Dave

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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.

ABC Kids Expo!!!

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Here we come!  We are geared up and very excited about our second year of attending the ABC Kids Expo.  We are launching Bandette at the show and have huge improvements on Gripsterz from last year.  The ABC Kids Expo is such a great trade show, the mix of attendees is so fun and the general feel is friendly and exciting.

We are very grateful for all of the help that we have gotten from everyone at Enventys, here in Charlotte.  They have truly done a really great job on our booth and our other product material.  Those guys and ladies are masters at their trades.

We are looking forward to meeting lots of interesting people and introducing our products to everyone.  And, we also get to introduce our little Nicholas!  He’s going too, one of the perks of being #9 and only  2 months old.

If your going to be there too, please come by and visit us at BOOTH # 2936.