How 2008 has been so far...

To say that this has not been a banner year so far would be downplaying how badly things have gone so far.
I could pretty much tell you day by day just how the year is going but that seems a bit OCD for my taste so let me sum it up for you in 15 words:
There have only been 3 days that have found the 4 of us quasi healthy
From December 29th through almost 2 weeks ago, Logan and I had Bronchitis, Alex had some variation of it, and Ben had Sinusitis plus a cold of his own. As always, mine lingered longer than most so I was just getting over things when new illnesses struck. Ben came home from work last Wednesday saying he did not feel well...upset stomach, headache, very tired. Okay, all things that could be a combination of his illness, his new meds, and his allergies. Then Thursday, Logan seemed a bit off and he was sick that night. Friday night Ben & I went out although neither of us was feeling that terrific and I received a call from Nanny Hannah that Alex had been sick but things were under control and not to rush home. Terrific. When we got home, we stayed up to watch one of our newfound favorite (downloaded) shows...Chuck...and then went upstairs. I peeked in on Alex and she had been sick in her sleep. We got her taken care of and my stomach started hurting but I figured it was just the knots over this continuous unhealthy run we had been experiencing. Saturday Alex was feeling better and we changed out plans from a day of fun at the Toy Museum to a short trip to IKEA. Everything was fine the rest of the night until I peeked in on Alex again when we were heading up for the night. Yup, a replay of the previous evening. Now I really felt horrid but again marked it as nerves, lack of sleep, and total exhaustion. In the morning, Alex & I woke at the same time and she immediately told me she was going to be ill...she was right. I brought her downstairs, Ben mentioned making pancakes, and I ran out of the room - I had finally been struck. So at days end this is how things stood: Logan seemingly was feeling better, Ben not so great but nothing drastic, Alex on the mend, and me just starting with whatever this was.
Monday Alex went to school feeling fine, Ben went to work, Logan was still out of sorts, and I was wishing I could find a plastic bubble to live in.
Alex had her afterschool session of "Singlish" (definite blog entry) and Logan and I waited in the playroom at the school with 4 other mothers and their younger children (all right around Logan's age give or take a few months).
The next day we received an email from the school that one child had been sent home sick on Thursday and another that day...the culprit? The Norovirus that had just swept through the UK and had made it to Prague. Now we had a name...
When Hannah arrived that evening (Yes, come hell or high water we were still going out!) she told us about how lousy she had been feeling and I had to own up and apologize and let her know what we had given her. I really felt awful because I could pinpoint the exact moment when she was exposed to this wonderful illness.
No calls this night and we figured everything was wonderful. We got home a bit early and enjoyed some time just talking with Hannah and discussing non-kid topics. We were exhausted from staying up until 2am the previous evening so we could watch the downloaded Pats Game so up we headed. As had become the norm, I peeked in on Alex and as had become the norm on her part she had been sick again. after cleaning everything up and getting her all set and ready for bed again, I came down and sent the school an email that Alex would be out for the rest of the week.
Last night was once more looking good fro Alex - I still had some issues and Logan seemed to be coming down with another cold but since I was mainly concerned with her I was happy that we had made it through the day and things were looking up. Also, it had only taken a week but I had successfully washed and dried both sets of Alex's sheets, her two mattress pads, her four pillowcases, and just had her blanket and four pillows to get through (which for anyone who knows about the HE4t's that I had to leave in the States this was a killer since I could have done all that in a day). We took the kids up to bed and while Ben read her a story in our room, I completely remade her bed and was all happy that she was no longer on a towel atop the mattress with a fleece throw over her.
After a lousy night of broken sleep thanks to Mr Logan, I had just crawled back into bed at 6:15 to be aroused 5 minutes later by the telltale sounds of Alex the Sick. Yup - so much for her being better, so much for the fresh bed, so much for any more sleep, and so much for me having a day without laundry :(
Here we now stand at 7:20pm on Friday the 25th of January. It has been almost a full month since the entire family was healthy or even left the flat on a daily basis (Ben is the only one to have seen the outide of this place since Tuesday night). Maybe some day we will all be okay again but I am not going to hold my breath waiting for that day.
Hope 2008 is treating the rest of you a whole lot better :)