It's amazing how "the crud" can disrupt your life. My family has come down with the flu. First, my oldest son, Joel (almost 16 years old), began feeling sick after coming home from the youth group's winter camp (it was a Friday through Sunday thing, Feb. 1-3). Several of his friends attended the camp while ill. Why can't people keep their sick kids home? But I digress.

After feeling "iffy" (not sure if he was sick or not) for about a week, it hit him pretty hard. He felt lousy for several more days. Then it hit my second son (almost 14 years old). He started off feeling "iffy" as well, and on Valentine's Day became very sick. Actually, my 12 year-old daughter did, too, the same day, but her sickness hit her without warning. They were both very ill, and also vomiting, which tells me we've also been visited by the stomach flu. Jesse didn't stop throwing up until I gave him some Benedryl. (Try that! Obstetricians prescribe antihistamines to women all the time for morning sickness. I used children's liquid Benedryl with Jesse -- the liquid is absorbed so much faster than a pill. Okay, okay...check with your doctor first.)

They're all trying to get better, but it's a struggle. They're still coughing, and Jesse was still running a fever today. And now it's official: Bethany and I are sick, too, as of today. We're stuffy and running fevers of our own.

So, if you've missed me, now you know where I've been!

This nasty flu has also kept us from taking part in the bird counting thing that Cornell University was doing. If you and your kids participated, post a comment and let me know how it went, what birds you saw, etc. I'd love to hear about it.

In the meantime, I will look at this flu as a chance to get caught up on my reading: books, magazines, and of course, the blogs here on HSB.

Stay well!