Plague house

Daddy is at the very end of his rope today. This is my third week of dealing with sick family and staff, and I am exhausted. It all started with a cold, which Ellie probably picked up from somebody at school. Runny nose, a bit of a cough, no big deal. Ellie started it, Ben got it, I got it, and somehow Jen seemed to be avoiding it. That wasn't so hard, I just napped when they did, which isn't a real hardship, and life went on. Then at some point, it got really nasty, and Ellie stayed home from school, since she was running a bit of a fever, and we didn't want it to spread any more. Then Jen went on a trip, during the worst of the colds for the three of us, and Somany got the darn thing also. She was going home early for a few days, then she stayed home for a few days, while Jen was away. Talk about timing, huh?

Jen returned, and of course immediately started coming down with the worst of the cold as well. Ellie at least had gotten over the thing by then, and I was well on my way out of it. Ben was still sniffly, but he didn't seem to mind so much. Then... we went out to eat on Saturday, and when we came home Jen had an upset stomach. That night she and I both had really unpleasant stomach issues, lasting well into Sunday for her. We attributed it to something at the restaurant, until we learned that friends of ours were all getting something similar. Jen stayed home on Monday, and at 3AM Tuesday Ellie called loudly "my tummy hurts". Sure enough, within a half hour we were comforting her and cleaning up. Around 8AM it got Ben, although he seemed more or less over it by around 11AM. Jen had mercy on me and stayed home to help care for the munchkins, Ellie recovered pretty well, and today (Wednesday) she is seeming perfectly healthy. Ben is another story. Since today is his birthday (little guy turned one!) he decided to develop a fever and maintain nasty stomach issues. He celebrated by sleeping nearly all day, sometimes on Daddy and sometimes in the crib. We also watched the Muppets a bit, which may have helped him out. That's unclear. Tonight he seems to be on the mend, at least a bit, but birthday celebrations have been postponed until cake is kind rather than cruel.

At the moment the status of all family and staff is:
Mommy - sick, on the mend, back at work
Daddy - physically healthy, mentally exhausted
Ellie - healthy, back to school tomorrow
Ben - sick, to the doctor tomorrow if he's not significantly better
Sinen - sick, stomach bug, didn't work today
Somany - sick, cold bug, left early today

I'm actually looking forward to doing our taxes, as a bit of a stress reliever. Sad, huh?