Medicines

Last week was spring break, so of course all 4 boys were sick at one point or another. The week before that, my wife made two trips to the doctor with various children. That Saturday, the first day of spring break, I celebrated by taking all four of them back to the doctor, even though only Stephen, Jonah, and Sam actually had an appointment (Timothy was not sick . . . yet).

Many stories arose from these past two weeks. Stories to tug at the heart strings of parents and to further scare those yet to be blessed with children. However, I believe that one picture will suffice. Nothing says Spring Break 2006 to me more than this:

This is an actual photo, taken just after "the dispensation" one morning. That's three for Samuel, one for Jonah, and three for Stephen. Another one of Stephen's medicines is missing from the picture (it was still in the fridge, since he only took it at night.)

What you see here are two inhaled medicines (for Sam and Stephen), and three oral medicines (one each for Sam, Jonah, and Stephen).

Please note the three droppers, as well as the water cup that Jonah must have in order to take medicine. Five days of this, two-to-three times per day.

Still, it's better than the alternative, as any one of the dozen diseases running through our household this past month would have killed them all just 150 years ago.

And so, I am actually grateful to have this particular organizational problem.