Pros and cons of sick kids

CONS

1. When one child gets it, the other is doomed, not to mention the parents

2. Sleepless nights for the entire family

3. Inevitable worrying

4. Trips to the doc and/or pharmacy

5. Cancelled plans

6. More laundry

7. Huge mess of the house

8. Administering meds can be a challenge

PROS

1. No guilt about lazy days, letting the kids watch too much tv and staying in PJs

2. Lots more snuggles wanted from Mommy

3. No morning rush to school

4. Playtime at home, creative fun building forts, playing hide and seek, baking, Eye-Spy, etc.

5. Chores get put to the wayside

Neither list is complete and there are surely more cons than pros, but it's actually been a nice, lazy few days at home that I think in a way we all needed. And since the weather has been pretty crap of late, it doesn't make me feel like we should be out and about enjoying the day. That said, these are only minor illnesses that the kids have and anything more serious would lead me to see no pros at all, I'm sure. The flu started with Andrew and seems to have already made its way to Ryan. Andrew has had a fever since Thursday, and even with Paracetamol and Ibuprofen, it's still been difficult to bring/keep it down. A luke warm shower seems to work best. He wakes in the night, pjs absolutely drenched with sweat, then 5 minutes later, once in a clean dry pair, he's freezing cold. Ryan had a bad night last night (for him anyway, he woke up 3 times, crying, and with fever but it didn't take more than a quick snuggle and removal of a layer of clothing and one dose of Doliprane to get him back to sleep) Along with the flu, Andrew had his first bloody nose. I read up on them and learned that colds can cause nosebleeds in children. Two words: BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!! Two more words: FRIGHTENED BOY. He was absolutely freaked out, first when he saw it dripping on the sheets in our bed, but even more so, when he looked in the mirror to see it all over his face and pajamas. I tried to reassure him that it didn't hurt and it was normal, as it surely won't be the last nosebleed, but he was quite shaken up over the whole thing.

Andrew seems to be on the mend this morning, but I decided to keep him home one more day as last night wasn't very good for him either. And besides, Ryan slept right through til 9am and I had no intention of waking one sick boy to take the other sick boy to school.