Are we there yet?

You know how annoying it is when you're going anywhere and all you hear from the backseat is, "Are we there yet?" Apparently we can be going somewhere five minutes from home and yet, to the kid in the backseat, it seems like we'll never arrive.

I'm that kid. Inside my head I'm screaming, "Are we freakin' there yet?" Except we're not going anywhere. We're holed up at home because everyone is sick.

Let me preface this by saying that when I worked in a school with germ-ridden teens everyday we were a pretty healthy family. I guess my immune system was pretty tough and I brought home just enough grossness to build up the immunities of the boys and we were good to go. Quit my job and all of a sudden my family turns into some of the sickest people I know. (Don't quote my science there because, well, it's probably not very factual.)

So a couple of weeks ago Ezra started throwing up out of the blue at an ungodly hour in the morning. Great. I did the loving mama thing and he was all better when he woke up later in the morning. But then the next day, it hit me. I was so sick I couldn't function - and I had three kids to take care of alone. Not an hour later, Elijah got it too. We were a hot mess. And Bless Ethan's heart, he was doing his best to take care of us. Everyone finally made it to bed and it hit Ethan. I was sick and taking care of sick boys and one wild toddler.

No problem. I'm a tough chick. I can handle it.

But.........

This past Saturday was beautiful! We ran all of our errands together with the windows down, we played at a park while we waited to meet someone, we even grilled out for supper.

While he was cooking, Ronnie started to feel "not quite right." Hmmmm. By early morning I could hear him in the bathroom and it didn't sound pleasant. His fever would go up and then break just to go back up again. He was achy, he slept a lot and he looked like crud. This went on all day. Monday he got up and left for work. Soon after the sun came up I heard a truck outside and there was my husband, looking worse than before. He ended up staying in bed all day Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday he moved to the recliner. I hated him being sick, but it was manageable.

Tuesday, again at some ungodly hour (I don't do interrupted sleep very well.), Ronnie brought Elijah to me. The child was on fire. Where's the thermometer? Nowhere to be found, of course. Tylenol it is. I've got this. All day long his fever would go up. I'd do Tylenol and a cool bath. Or Tylenol and a damp washcloth. Remind him not to bundle up in his blanket. All he did was lay around. I felt so helpless. Wednesday he woke and exclaimed, "Me feel gwate!" Awesome, kid. Why are you still running a fever?

By Thursday morning, I had had it with Elijah's fever. Got an appointment for him and off we went to the doctor. Lucky little guy had an ear infection, flu and strep. Gross. I felt bad for not taking him sooner, but he said he felt great. Oh well. Luckily, the doctor took mercy on me and when I mentioned that I'd be seeing her next week for a brother, she wrote prescriptions for Tamiflu for both of them! Awesome and thank you!

After hearing all this, Ronnie decided to go ahead and get an appointment. Yes, he suffered all week, but he knows how to use the phone as well as I do.

He went to the doctor Friday morning and got the same diagnosis, minus the ear infection.

But wait! There's more! When Ethan got home Thursday he told me his throat was hurting. Say what? Kid, you have got to be kidding me? I brushed it off until Friday morning when he woke up crying that it hurt so bad that I told him to go back to bed rather than go to school. I made him an appointment and he tested positive for strep too. Joy.

Needless to say, we've been on quarantine for a week now. And I'm going a little crazy. I keep wondering when the other shoe is going to drop and either Ezra or myself will be sick, but so far it hasn't happened.

Are we there yet? Are we all healthy enough to go out in public?