My Sick Day Secrets

We've had more sick days this month than I care for.  Fletcher and Olive have both had these weird fever viruses.  It's wiped them out for days, messed with all of our sleep and I hate seeing them feeling bad.  Fletch has made a full recovery, but we're in the midst of a 5 day fever-a-thon for Olive.  Poor thing!!

I try to avoid going to the doctor's office as much as possible during winter because of GERMS, but we've had two sick visits this month.  I was super thankful to get them in to see their doctor and confirm that we were doing all we could do.  Just hate seeing them sick.  Olive was also super bummed to be missing school.  They had a snow day before Thanksgiving break, she missed a day when we headed to Florida and she's been out this week.  She's ready to be feeling better!!

I keep several things on hand during winter to prepare as much as possible for sick days.  Let's just call them my secrets to happy sick days.  It's hard to run to the store last minute with sick kids in tow.  That's no fun for anyone.  Grocery pick up is great, but it seems like you've got to give at least 12/24 hours notice for that.

Here are my go to sick day supplies:

1. Fun snacks - my kids love these chocolate chip muffins, pudding, hot chocolate, hard candy, suckers and chicken noodle soup.  Sure, it's great to make homemade treats on sick days, but these are all nice to have in the pantry in case you're not feeling great either or maybe you need a fun snack fast.

2. New toothbrushes - I always try to replace toothbrushes after someone's been sick.

3. Festive hand soap - make sure all sinks are stocked with good soaps during germy season.

4.New bath products - my kids love the water so bath time is always something they look forward to.  These color bath drops are a lot of fun.  I just picked up a new container and usually include these in their stockings.  They don't stain the tub and they're fun to mix.


5. Working thermometer - we have never had the best luck with thermometers.  We've owned all kinds - oral, forehead swipe, etc.  This Vicks one is our current favorite.



6. Our pediatrician said the combo of a cool mist humidifier + sleeping on princess pillows (propped up on several pillows) will really help with congestion/sleeping when kids are sick.




I stock up on medicine for the kids when it goes on sale this time of year.  Meijer was recently running a Buy One Get One Half off sale on store brand meds and the Zarbees cough syrup was recently on sale for buy two and get a $3 gift card.

Fun sick day activities - new magazines and coloring pages.  My MIL gets my kid's monthly subscriptions to Ranger Rick Jr, National Geographic Little Kids, Highlights Hello and Ranger Rick Cub.  They come once a month and the kids LOVE them.  They're packed full of pictures, fun facts and are great to read again and again.

I printed off Andrea's most recent set of Christmas Town pictures for us to color.  They're so fun to decorate.  Both of my kids have fun coloring them.  You can print off your own set for free over at Momfessionals Christmas Doodle Town

What are your sick day secrets??

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