The problem with multiple kids and my tire changing luck continues

Okay, here is the BIG problem with multiple kids. I feel it trumps all other tiny little things. ILLNESS. First,a kid comes down with virus A. Then a sibling gets virus A from the first one. Meanwhile, Mom has something different that one of the kids had already brought home and the third kid has stomach virus B. Etc, etc, etc.
I have spent most of the last week with some sort of killer cold. Thankfully, everything is pretty much gone except the coughing that is still really bad. Most of the week, Sam was also down for the count with a fever. His finally broke on Friday.
Joe and Jay stayed home today for some quiet time while the younger two and I headed to my mom's house. We were there for about an hour, when Tom suddenly sat down in a recliner, covered up and was quiet. My parents and I were still talking. Tom then asked us to be quiet so he could sleep. What? It's the middle of the day and my kids never take naps! I moved Tom to my parents' room and he slept for over 2 hours. By the time he got up, he was running a pretty good fever. Same sort of thing Sam had...fever and lack of appetite. I happened to call Jay around 7 to let him know we were going to be leaving later than planned. When I told him that Tom was down, he informed me that Joe was also down too. Joe had suddenly decided around 5 that he wasn't feeling well. This lead to a fever and early bedtime (by choice!). I think I will have to keep them both home tomorrow since they had fevers today. School wants them fever free for 24 hours.
Changing the subject to my tire changing luck. I know how to change tires on a car. Fairly easy, really. Until Jay took over car maintenance, I used to rotate my tires on my cars whenever it was needed. Despite the fact that I know how to change tires, I have NEVER had to change a flat tire. Now, I have had cars that have had flat tires, but every single time, I just happened to be with a guy or Dad who felt the need to change it instead of me. Women's lib aside, I am not going to argue over the need to get dirty while changing a flat. If someone wants to do it for me, I have no problem letting them.
As we were loading the kids into my truck this evening, my dad just happened to notice that I had a screw in my front tire. The tire wasn't flat yet, but at some point, I would have had to change it. I did have to put air in the tire last week, but hadn't noticed any problems yet. Of course, he's my Dad so he changed it for me before I left his house. (Thanks Dad!)
We made it home before the storm started with no problems and we all had a fairly relaxed day. Joe and Jay had hung out and did some father/son things. Sam dug and dug in the very large pile of sand my parents have in the driveway. Tom slept and watched tv. He didn't play with anything today (shows just how sick he is that he wouldn't even play in the sand!). I spent my time between the second recliner by the tv with Tom or on one of the front porch benches, watching Sam build and then smash little sand castles. Pretty good day over all.

Okay, I just have to add something here that has nothing to do with either of the topics listed in the title.
My parents live in a brand new community. The first builder actually backed out of the community because of the economy. The community is now on its third builder. The model home for the newest style of houses is open; my mom took me on a walk through it today. While, the layout nor the location on the Eastern Shore would suit us, I did feel envious of the nice new house. I've never really lived in a nice new house. My dad built our house when we were growing up, but it was lived in before it was finished and never really had that new, shiny feel. We were also the first owners on a house in Evansville. However, the house had been vacant for almost 3 years before we bought it. The builder had run out of money before finishing the house so the bank finished it. It wasn't great and had problems like broken and loose tiles.
Of course, a large part of me doesn't like the idea of a subdivision like my mom's (no offense Mom!). It was built in a corn field. I also don't like when large areas of trees are torn up and hills flatened to make row after row of house. However, just a small part of me gets a little wishful at a nice, new, shiny, decorated house.

Poor mom, poor Sam

So on Monday night, I started to feel sick. Really sick. Thankfully, no stomach issues, but headache, fever, runny nose, etc.
I pretty much decided I was done in yesterday around 5. Jay got home at 5:30 and took the reins for me. He made dinner, got kids to bed, etc. while I rested.
Then about 9:30 last night, Sam woke up crying. He stumbled out of his room, went potty and went back to bed, crying the whole time. I got up with him and helped him with everything. I fell asleep around 10, and Sam was back up around 11. Jay got up with him this time. Sam was crying about being thirsty. Jay gave him a glass of water and tucked him back in. At 12:30, I woke up to the sound of Sam crying, again. I went in to check on him and he was crying that his blankets were dirty. I asked why he thought they were dirty and he said he threw up. I turned on the light in the hall and sure enough, he had a mess all over his face, pillow and blankets. He was also burning up! I cleaned him up and gave him some meds to lower his fever. He slept in a bit this morning, but was still running a high temperature. Sam is certainly not his usual self this morning, but we think his stomach problem was probably mostly due to the fact he didn't eat any dinner last night. At least, he hasn't had any more tummy issues.
I, thankfully, am feeling much better today. Not well, but just much better than yesterday.

Allergies strike

It's that time of year again. Pollen, pollen everywhere. Gosh, I really dislike it. It's wonderful weather outside, so we wanted the windows open. Now every surface in my house is covered with a fine green dusting. My eyes hurt. My head hurts. I sneeze. I feel miserable unless I am inside a pollen free, air-conditioned area, which doesn't happen much.
Allergy medicine either works great and makes me sleepy or doesn't work very well. I can't seem to find any that work, with no sleepy side effects. I supposed I could actually go see my doctor, but that becomes a real pain with dragging kids along or finding a babysitter.
I used to take allergy meds year round when I was younger, high school and early college. Later in college, I quit using them because I lived in a house that was fully climate controlled. The windows had been painted and nailed shut years ago.
AC ran from the first warm day until the last. I also worked full time, went to school full time and had to do 16 hours a week for my internship so I didn't seem much time outside. I did take care of the yard and the flowerbeds, but just an OTC medicine would cover me just fine for that.

I escaped from the house again last night for a little scrapbook time with Sherry and Jenn. I was able to get some layouts done and some relaxing time in as well. I am scheduled to go back to Great Scraps next Friday with Sherry, Dorene and Marie.
My diet has been going really well for the last almost 3 weeks. I haven't broken it once. I am down about 6 pounds and 1 clothing size. I am very happy with the results so far, though the pizza and candy at GS last night were tempting. I stuck to the plan though and didn't have anything. I had eaten at home before leaving so I wasn't actually hungry. It can just be hard watching everyone else eat yummy pizza while not having any. The pizza that they order for Great Scraps is really good when hot, but horrible when room temp. So by the time I was a little hungry, the pizza was 2 1/2 hours out of the oven and not really a temptation anymore.
We are hoping to run the kids into the ground this weekend. They are just too wild and no amount of outside time this week has settled them. We going to try to change that this weekend.