Goal: Don't Let Baby Get Sick

Mission impossible: Keep this girl from catching our cold, respiratory infection, croup, etc.

Baby #3 came home to one brother with a fever and the other with a killer cold. Two weeks later the cold has been passed around the house and both boys have had ear infections, I have an upper respiratory infection, and just last night B woke up with the croup cough. Once you have a kid with croup you know exactly what it sounds like, the distinct seal barking noise kind of makes your heart sink. W's case of croup was nothing like B's was last night, but the second I heard that cough I knew we were in for a long night. Matt steamed him a few times, then brought him outside into the cool air, and then it was morning and the cough went away leaving with us with an overtired, terribly congested, runny nose, drooling toddler. And despite how crappy he must feel, he's just as rambunctious and mischievous as ever.

The main goal of having a newborn is to keep her from getting sick for the first couple of months. I didn't realize how important this is until I had B and we ended up in the hospital due to a fever. Before that I couldn't understand why the pediatrician was so crazy about keeping kids out of our house... then I learned. And now I'm crazy about keeping her healthy. This also means that Matt is handling the boys when they're sick and when the reach out to me for a hug I have to blow them a kiss and rub their head to keep myself as germ-free as possible for when I nurse the baby.

So far A has been OK. Yesterday her two week check up revealed thrush, which explains a lot of the fussiness we were dealing with overnight. But, she is otherwise a-ok. I just wonder how the heck you keep a baby from catching something during the peak of colds and flu -- with a kid going to preschool every day. If anyone has a bubble she and I can hang out in for the next week, I would gladly take it.