Nexcare waterproof Tattoo bandaids! They are waterproof, they don't leave the sticky bandaid patch after you take them off...and they come in themes! Nemo is what works at our house. The most effective band aid placement is not actually on the sore spot, because those places are hard to see. We have found that the best place for them is one on each forearm. A regular conversation we have:Random person: "Oooh, what happened to Gavin?"Me: "He hurt his foot."RP: "He hurt his foot?"Me: "Yes."RP: "Then why are the bandages on his arms?"Me: "Because he couldn't see them on his foot."In all honesty we did try them out on the actual hurt place first, but like I said...much less effective. And where do you put a bandage on a rough day? Forearms are best, with the picture upside down so he can see who it is.
So I was giving the kids a bath last night in full faith that we would be going to church this morning(and we did). I had to run out of the room for a second to grab something and when I came back in I was just in time to see Gavin grab himself...take careful aim...and pee on Jane! Yet another time in parenting when the urge to laugh hysterically AND completely overreact, disarm me for a few seconds...I settled for trying not to let Gavin see me laughing, and then quickly ending bath time.
Survival of the fittest...the competition for resources:
This picture was taken right after Jane stole the rock from Atticus and Atticus stole the stick from Jane.
By the way, the kids are doing much better today(I think even the low grade fever is gone)...well, they are at least acting like the feel better! The crazy thing about this is that my kids haven't developed a single blister...they might not even have this stupid disease, but because they have been in constant contact with their cousin who does have it, and because they have persisted in acting like they don't feel well(even though that started LAST week) I feel like I have to be safe and not expose anyone else to this. That being said, if we do not have some sort of rash or blisters by Sunday morning(cue karma to come and bite me) then we are going to church!
Today was a really hard day. Jane was a permanent fixture on my shoulder, whimpering every so often from the miserableness she is experiencing...and crying like her heart was breaking if I didn't hold her 'just so'('just so' changes a lot!). Atticus wasn't acting sick(knock on wood), but he is normally my clingy 'hold me' boy, so most of my day involved balancing the two of them on my lap. Incidentally, they have started trying to push each other out of my lap...which would be pretty funny if they weren't bawling their heads off at the same time. Gavin has cabin fever. Bless his heart, he is a very active little boy and is struggling with being cooped up and kept even from the relief of grandma's house...Anyway, all of this being said there are two people I need to thank....1)Kenneth...he took over this afternoon when I was about to go completely bonkers. He took all 3 cranky, snotty kids on a long walk down to see/feed the horses...and kept them away until I was a much saner person(at least sane enough to endure the 2 hours before bedtime that involved both twins impersonating sirens while I was trying to give breathing treatments, medicine, baths,etc...)2) Sister Jarrell...who showed up within an hour of my deciding that I was just going to curl up in fetal position on the bed and try not to exist for a while. She brought dinner(she didn't even know my kids were sick she was just being nice) and a confirmation that I was not forgotten. The Lord is aware of me. Thank you Monica...the food was great, but more importantly your simple act of service enabled me to regain some perspective, gird up, and dive back in.
If we were a herd of cows they would take us all out, shoot the lot of us, and then burn our carcasses! I might actually prefer this to being cooped up with 3 sick, cranky kids who are highly contagious...we can't even go to my mom's house because she has a contagious staph infection! This has been a month....
This morning makes the third time this month for us to go to visit the pediatrician. We managed to miss cold/flu/rsv season, but allergy season has visited our house with a vengeance! Anyway, what has been my trial(cranky demanding kids, cooped up in the house, etc.) has been Kenneth's heaven. 
Apparently when Jane is sick she has no problem snuggling with daddy and falling asleep on his chest. He is finally getting the daddy/daughter bonding time that he craves!
