The stomach flu, pink eye, hives, pneumonia, bronchitis oh my!

This last month has been trying on my family healthwise.  The day after Thanksgiving the stomach flu paid us a visit.  One by one it hit us.  About a week or so later I picked up Elias from Preschool and noticed his eye had some gunk in the corner of it.  Thankfully my Mommy's intuition kicked in and I called his doctor's office just by the off chance someone was still there (it was 5:30).  Whaddaya know, they were open late that night.  An hour later he was diagnosed with the beginnings of pink eye and we had drops in hand.  I cleaned like a mad woman the next day, and 24 hours later he wasn't contagious.  Apparently it's very contagious if you don't be careful by treating it as directed or clean things off properly during those first 24 hours.  I guess we're really lucky that this is the first time we've ever had any kind of exposure to it.  He essentially had one morning of a crusty eye, and that was it.  Drops for about a week, but none of the rest of us caught it.  Thank God!  The thought alone makes my eyes itch! The week after that, I came down with a bad cold which turned into walking pneumonia and bronchitis.  Consider this a warning, try not to ever develop bronchitis as an adult.  The likelyhood of developing asthma is high and you don't want that, trust me!  Every goshdarn cold turns into an upper respiratory problem.  After a week of being on antibiotics and some strong steriods I can finally breathe. Same time Belle came down with a mysterious case of the hives.  We didn't know if she developed an allergic reaction to something or if it was just a virus.  It was extremely scary with her swelling up and not having a clue what was causing it. They would go away and then reappear for about 5 days.  Apparently 80something% of hives in kids are a virus.  Another thank-God moment, turned out to be a virus.  Needless to say, I think we took our fair share of health issues in the last month.  Thankfully everyone is currently healthy and I'm hopeful for a new year filled with good health for me and mine!  Sicky bugs, please pass us over this year!