Not Our Month

March has not been our month.

First there was the massive flu bug that left us all puking and 2 of the 3 of us in the hospital. (We are now getting all those bills thankyouverymuch.)

Now, we have a $600 plus repair bill for Mr. Bean's lemon car.

We can't wait until April!

Sniffles and Coughs

I have officially infected my entire family. String Bean is sniffling and snotting everywhere she goes. I just love the entire face rub that puts snot everywhere. That stuff is tough to get out of eyebrows and eyelashes.

Mr. Bean took his temperature this evening and discovered it a one tenth of a degree above normal. Sound the alarms! He's starting to get the snot String Bean and I have been sharing.

We LOVE cold and flu season!

What is the Flu?

It isn't a stomach virus. It is a respiratory illness. You've probably had it and thought you just had a really bad cold.

Please stop confusing the seasonal flu with a stomach virus. They are not the same thing. You can have vomiting with the seasonal flu, but most adults do not.

For more information, check out the info provided by the Center for Disease Control.

Swine Flu

We've all been sick at our house. Although I'm fairly certain it is NOT swine flu, I can't help but wonder if that's what we will have at our house next. I've been sick on and off without more than a week of feeling healthy, since January.

The scariest thing about swine flu is that no one is quite sure how dangerous it is. The regular flu we get commonly here in the US can be deadly. It takes lives every year. Although we've just had the first reported death here in the US it is too early to tell if this strain of the flu will be as deadly as the flu we are used to having around here.

According to the Center for Disease Control, here are the stats on the normal flu:

• 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu;
• more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related complications; and
• about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes.

As of 11 am today, the CDC reports 91 cases of swine flu in the US. That is well under the amount typically seen for the regular flu.

I'm not joining any of the hysteria that is taking over in some parts of the country just yet. Too much is unknown, and I am not exactly in the segment of the population that is high risk for complications from the flu.

Since I have a young child, I've been taking the following precautions that are recommended for everyone to take:

• limiting exposure to sick people
• frequent hand washing
• coughing into sleeve or kleenex instead of hands
• limiting our exposure to people with weak immune systems (since we could have the virus but not be showing signs, yet)
• closely monitoring our symptoms since we've been sick

Moms of young children, what are you doing to keep your kids healthy during this flu season?

'Tis the Season!

A plague has hit both my house and Amy's. I am suffering with a cold of some sort (the day before the big Oscars party my husband hosts for all his coworkers every year-joy). The Nut household have symptoms that include tossing cookies, snot, coughing, and all the delights of a nasty virus you could ever hope and wish for.

'Tis the Season! Embrace it. Love it.

*cough, cough*

Random Thoughts for Today

I'm stealing this blog posting idea from my friend Emily. Here are my thoughts for today:

• The dishwasher is running and it sounds like it is about to take off (as in fly).
  
• I got allergy shots today and my arms are itchy.
• String Bean got a flu shot today (part 2 of 2) and screamed. She recovered from the ordeal in about 20 seconds. Now you'd never know she got a shot.
• String Bean and I went to our polling place and there was no line at 11:45 am! We both got a sticker for doing our civic duty. As of this post, String Bean has not taken hers off, yet.
• Mr. Bean hasn't been in his office all morning.
  
• My mom and sister went to the polling place together in Alabama this morning. Apparently their votes for the presidential candidates canceled one other out.
• I love that my new watch tells me the date!
• Babies that eat corn don't digest it very well.
• Most of my Facebook friends have a status update about voting today.
• My friend, Christy, spells Savior the British way: "Saviour"
• String Bean has learned to brush her own hair. It is very cute, but she needs more practice before I let her go out of the house like that.
• I haven't taken allergy medication (or cold medication) in almost 2 years thanks to pregnancy and nursing.
  
• I can feel the winter dry skin approaching already.
• My living room floor is filled with board books.
• I'm really in the mood to decorate the house for Christmas, but it is a bit early. Maybe I'll just wrap the presents I've already purchased instead.
• I wonder why the Fisher-Price Noah's Ark does not have a monkey.