I don't like sick days...

Felicity is sick today (actually she was sick yesterday and it has carried over into today). It is no fun at all having a sick child. Particularly at this particular part of the sickness, where she is feeling better enough to want to be up and doing things, but still too sick and weak to actually do anything. So we have spent our morning watching PBS, and now we have graduated to Barbie movies (Barbie movies, for those of you who do not know, are really, really boring).

Anyway, I am not a fan of medication in any way, shape, or form. This kind of drives my parents nuts-"why can't you just give them some cough medicine?"-but I'm pretty firm about it. I just don't believe that medication helps all that much. I will use Motrin for times when they seem excessively achy, or when they have a headache, but it's pretty rare.

However, I do believe in a few things that I have found work out fairly well. Number one, for coughing, a spoonful of honey. This seriously works, I have used it myself. So for days that we have a lot of coughing, there are several spoonfuls of honey given.

Number two, Vicks vapor rub. When I was a kid, my mom put this on my chest. I put it on my girls feet and then put socks on them. I'm pretty sure that it works the same way, but the girls don't mind as much if it's on their feet.

Number three, a humidifier. I have found that this helps to alliviate a stuffy nose; however, you have to be diligent about keeping them clean.

I am also a huge believer in yogurt. I try to have the girls eat yogurt several times a week. And I also give them chicken noodle soup when they are sick, if they are wanting to eat an actual meal. Other than that, I try to stick with fruit and water. This morning Felicity ate some oatmeal. The key is blandish foods. Fruits are mostly water, and they are things that the girls actually enjoy eating. Once she gets down the soup, if she is still hungry, we'll go to some vegetables. No meat until she is feeling much, much better.

I use saline drops if the girls seem stuffy and unable to breathe at night. I also use a saline cream for under their nose, that is supposed to help with the rubbed raw feeling after a day of nose blowing.

That's about it. We use Benedryl or Claritin when Betsy has a watery eye, running nose reaction to what we assume are allergies.

So, anyway, back to Barbie and her magic pegasus...