Breathe, Just Breathe

This post really serves no other purpose than to allow me to vent.  You've been fair warned.
As any parent would probably attest to, there are few things more miserable than having a sick child.  Watching them in pain/discomfort without being able to solve it is a horrible feeling.  And I probably handle it a little worse than other people.  For one, I tend to completely stress myself out about what may be causing it, how to solve it, why it's not getting better when I think it should be getting better, etc.  I have a very hard time just letting things take their course.  Plus, I also have a very hard time being out of our routine. I like our routine.  I need our routine.  And when one of the boys are sick and I can't go to the gym, or we can't play with friends, or go out to dinner, or they miss school, or any number of other things, I get really, really frustrated.  I know this is minor in the big scheme of things, but I can't help it.  I'm a brat.  I want things back to normal.
Well, things haven't been "normal" for about a month and a half around here.  The long and short of it is this: Colton had croop/a virus around the beginning of November.  That turned into a nasty ear infection.  We thought ear infection had cleared up, but in the meantime he (and I) got the stomach bug.  This past weekend, his fever returned and we took him back to the doctor to determine his ear infection had indeed not cleared up...or come back...whatever!  Now, the antibiotic they have given him for the ear infection is causing him major diarrhea.  Oh, and I casually mentioned to the nurse on call (when discussing his antibiotic) that his cheeks are super red and she believes he also has Fifths Disease, a childhood virus that will go away on its own but still just one more tally on our list.
If you combine all that with Levi's little emergency room trip and some pretty nasty eczema flare-ups that have also landed us at the doctor's office, I honestly feel like I wake up each day just waiting to see what our issue du jour will be.  I am so over it.
I am trying to stay positive.  And I am trying to remind myself that things could be so much worse.  I keep reminding myself that this too shall pass and how fortunate we are to have things that will pass (I have a few friends going through some issues with their kiddos that will not pass, so it certainly puts it into perspective).  And I am trying really, really hard to focus on the positive moments we have managed to have in the meantime (like this super adorable video of my "star" at his winter program)

But mainly I keep telling myself that at some point we are going to have to wake up and have a good, illness-free day, week,and even month!  I feel like we certainly deserve it at this point.