Feb. 26, 2025

"We Are the Hansons: How to Survive Sick Days When the Whole Family Gets Sick at Once"

"We Are the Hansons: How to Survive Sick Days When the Whole Family Gets Sick at Once"

When sickness sweeps through a big family, it’s a whole different level of chaos! In this episode, we share what it’s really like when everyone goes down at once—managing fevers, keeping up with medicine schedules, and figuring out how to survive when even the parents are wiped out. From our go-to remedies to the funniest (and grossest) moments, we’re talking about the struggle, the teamwork, and the little victories that get us through. Whether you’ve got a big family or just want to hear some real-life survival tips, this episode is for you!

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Welcome back to We are the Hansens. Today, we're diving

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into every big family's nightmare when sickness takes down the

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entire household at once. Whether it's the flu, a stomach bug,

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or a nasty cold, it's a challenge to keep things

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running while everyone is under the weather. If you've ever

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had multiple kids sick at the same time, or worse,

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been sick yourself while trying to take care of them,

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you know exactly how tough things can be. It usually

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starts with one person, you know, a sniffle, a caw,

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or that dreaded mom my stomach hurts. The moment we

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suspect illness, we jump into prevention mode. It's almost like

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wildfire in our house. When one person gets it, it

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just goes right down the line, and at the very end,

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everybody's sick. At the same time, you're still not out

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of the woods. You either just got it and it

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just goes to the next person in there. Then they

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get it, and just on and on and on. We

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start with hand washing to make that our top priority.

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A lot of hand washing. We remind everyone constantly to

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wash their hands, sanitizing everything I go through and sanitize

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door handles, the remote anything else that gets touched a lot,

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the handles on the sinks, the shower handles, wiping walls down.

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I do everything just to stop it in its tracks.

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It doesn't always work. I'm gonna tell you that separating

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the sick from the healthy when possible, it doesn't always happen.

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It sometimes runs so fast there's no way, So that's

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a challenging one. And then we stock up on a

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lot of essentials like tissues and gatorade, a lot of water,

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easy to digest foods, soup, crackers. We also get the

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vitamin C drink that really does help. I know people

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some don't believe in that, but I'm telling you, with

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the amount of kids we've had, it works. It definitely

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does a world of difference. Despite our best efforts. Sometimes

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it spreads so quick when everyone, including us as parents,

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are sick. It's all about survival. Some of our go

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to strategies may include like designing sick areas bedrooms bedrooms.

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If you're sick, go to your room. Like I said,

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it does not always work that way. We try to

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make sure there's blankets and buckets, you know, for stomach bugs,

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easy access to whatever, the kids need water, gatorade, whatever

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it might be. We end up having to lower expectation

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in our house when everybody is sick, like dishes might

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pile up and laundry might have to wait, and that's okay.

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The goal is to get through it and get everyone

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healthy again. Easy meals when everybody's sick, A lot of toast,

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a lot of soup, crackers, apple sauce, them types of

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foods become our best friends. Jello, whether it be liquid jello,

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like fresh warm jello that hadn't been put in the

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fridge yet, or the cups of jello. You know that

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stuff is good for you. Hydration is always the key.

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We push a lot of water, pedialyte, broth just to

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keep everyone from getting dehydrated. That can be a struggle too,

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because sometimes when you're that sick, you don't want to eat,

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you don't want to drink because you don't want to

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end up getting sick. It's a very big process, very

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big process. This is the hardest part. How do we

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care for a full house of sick kids when you're

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sick yourself. We get a lot of questions about that,

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because who wants to take care of sick people when

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they're sick themselves. Well as parents, that is our responsibility

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to make sure our kids are taking care of first.

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The kids always get treated first. Me and my husband,

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we will tag team if possible. One will take that

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many kids and the other will take the remainder of

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the kids, or we alternate it just back and forth

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between him and I. Letting the older kids help. Even

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the younger kids can grab tissues or help bring water

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to them. You know, just depends depending on how sick

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they are. My little ones will help, the bigger ones

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will help. If we're that sick, the older ones and

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the little ones will definitely help. I remember being sick

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one time and I was so sick and so weak

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I could not get up without feeling so dizzy that

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I wanted to pass out. Here, I got my little

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Torn and my little Anna bringing me water, bringing me food,

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bring me yogurt, whatever they could, and kept coming in

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and asking if I was okay. It makes you feel

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good when your kids do that. I mean, they have

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such a kind heart that they'll jump in and help

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even when they're not feeling the best. And then if

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you need to, let you know, somebody else help or whatever.

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It's okay, give yourself some grace. Some illness has hit

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harder than others, and we keep an eye out for

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warning signs dehydration, high fevers that won't break, or difficulty breathing.

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We watch the kids very close with that stuff, because

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those three things can take you downhill quick. If one

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of the kids, or me or my husband seem worse

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than normal, we don't hesitate to call a doctor or

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make a trip to urgent care. We get it taken

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care of right away because when like I said, and

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high fevers and difficulty breathing, that will take you down fast,

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soul dehydration, so pushing fluids is a must. Once the

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worst is over, it's about slowly getting your life back

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to normal. It takes time. It really does take time.

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You know, reintroducing good food carefully because no one wants

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to clean up another mess, and you got to do

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it slow, deep cleaning the house. When I am done

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being sick and I am feeling much better, even if

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I'm still a little under the weather, but I feel great,

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or at least better than I was, I am that

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person that jumps into action right away and I deep clean,

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I wipe everything down the floors get mopped really good.

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You know, there is a process. I tend to be

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that parent as soon as everybody is just coming out

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of it, I'm scrubbing. As soon as everybody's done, and

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I know everybody's done, I'm scrubbing. I don't want to

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have it hit us again because it just spreads so

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fast and it's miserable for everyone in the home. We

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don't expect everything to be one hundred percent right away.

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You know there is. It's going to be messy, and

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we know this. If we're all sick, it's fine. The

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house can be a mess. We will deal with it

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when we all feel better. I try not to be

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that parent that if my kids are sick, I'm yelling

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at them to get up and help. They need the rest.

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When you are sick, you need that rest. You go,

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you lay down and you take a break. You just

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chill out sleep because sleep does help the body recuperate.

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It helps the body, you know, get back to its normal.

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If you're up running around and you're sick, you're not

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letting your body rest at all to help you start

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feeling better. So it's very good to have that rest.

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I always tell my kids eat light, especially if you

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have the stomach bug, because if you eat a whole

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bunch of food, you're just going to go in and

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get sick and it's not going to stay down. So

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eat something like soup. The broth and soup is so

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good for you. I try. That's when I'm the mom

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that when everybody is feeling under the weather, I'm cooking

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the soup. We do a lot of chicken noodle soup

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when the kids are sick, or we're sick, or you know,

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the whole house is sick. I try and do soup

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because it's so good when you're sick. Crackers there for

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a while. I remember torn and anim we're sick really

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bad one time, and couldn't get them to drink anything,

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and they were burning up. So I was literally taking

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a syringe syringing water into their mouth to get them

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at least to have some type of liquid in their mouth.

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We did temperature checks all the time, you know, to

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see what fevers were. I'd keep a log of all

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that kept down, who took what for medicines, you know,

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because you don't want to overdose on ibuprofen and tail

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and all, so you got to make sure that you

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know what you took, and sometimes when you're sick, you forget,

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so it's just best to just write it all down.

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When I say six zones, I don't mean that you've

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got to stay in your bedroom constantly, because you do not.

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If you want to come out and get fresh air,

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walk outside, sit on the back deck and get some

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fresh air. Fresh air is good when you are sick

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as well. I don't know it. Just breathing in that

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air it helps, especially if you're having a trouble. Breathing

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that fresh air helps. Screen Time is like survival mode.

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We've usually mindful of screen time, but on six days,

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the TV is sometimes our best friend who wants to

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just sleep. Sometimes you just need to relax and put

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on a movie, curl up in a blanket and just relax.

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I love that. We look for signs of dehydration, if

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they're not going to the bathroom, if they have dry

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lips or seam weak. We make sure they're getting enough fluids.

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Sometimes even with electrolyte drink on a in a medicine syringe.

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If they refuse to drink. That works, especially for the

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little ones, because sometimes they don't want nothing, and you're

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like you gotta take this medicine. It will make you

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feel better and they'll take it. That helps us a

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lot too, just recovery and getting back to normal once

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the worst is over. That recovery, your mode kicks in

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right away. And when you get on the mend and

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you're feeling great, it's amazing. And then you can catch

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up on you know, when you're sick, caught up on

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all your lost sleep. So now you have all kinds

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of energy and you're back to your normal self. Deep cleaning.

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I do that when I feel better because I got

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my energy back, I'm ready to go. And then a

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lot of times people will ask us, do you use

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home remedy medicine or do you go to Walmart or

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a pharmacy and pick up all kinds of medicine. We

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do a few different things. Sore throats and colds are

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usually done with in our home. Is a spoonful of

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honey and lemon and a little bit of water. Mix

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it together. You know, you got to squeeze your lemon

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into the honey and the water. Mix it and you

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don't have to put a lot of water, just enough

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to rense it down. You drink it. I'm telling you.

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That works amazing when you are sick with a cold

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or a sore throat. And then we drink a lot

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of like I said, the vitamin C called emergency, We

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get that and it seems like it works amazing as well,

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lots of orange juice. Depending on the situation, we might

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get like their flu or something like that. But usually

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none of the kids nor us like to take medicines,

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especially my little Anna, because she takes enough medicines already.

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She doesn't want to take anymore. To her, it's just

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why do I got to take more medicine? So it's

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not fun for her at all. So we try to

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stay clear of giving meds and we just try and

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come up with the home remedy stuff first. If we

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have to get on, like if one of the kids

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gets pneumonia or something like that, that's a different story,

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then they'll prescribe a mysteroid to help with getting it

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kicked quicker. But usually for the most part, we don't

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just go and buy a whole bunch of meds. We

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do take a lot of vitamins, so that does help

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us with not getting sick as much and just practicing,

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you know, hand washing and making sure that things are

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wiped down and disinfected at home and going into the

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store and disinfecting the cart handles. We know when we're

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out and about that we are running a risk of

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getting sick, and that's okay. We also can help prevent

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it a little bit by doing our part. We know

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obviously airborne illnesses, we're going to get that, but every

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time we get sick, we tell our kids we are

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building our immunity. Guys, this is how it works. So

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our kids really do know that if you're not washing

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your hands and you're not disinfecting shopping carts at Walmart,

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you're bound to get sick. You're bound to get sick anyway,

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with the breathing in when somebody's been in there sick

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and it's airborne, so you're bound to get sick. We

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just take it when we get it and we battle

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through it, and that's all we really can do. It

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is very troubling sometimes, but we make it work. We

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get through it. So at the end of the day,

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sickness happens in a big family. It's never just one

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person sick. Never The key to surviving the worst of

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it and knowing that in a few days even if

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they feel like the longest day's ever, life will get

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back to normal. What are your go to tips for

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handling sick days in your family. You can reach out

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