Tips on how to get through the season of flu

Everyone fell asleep by 10:30pm. But about an hour later, I woke up. Little Hiro was crying. It was still dark outside. I checked the time. 11:40pm? Why is he crying? He usually sleeps through the night! But most importantly, why was he awake? I couldn't think of any reason why he would wake up. I got frustrated. I couldn't calm him down because my sleepy self wasn't functioning. Hubby got up and took him from me. I closed my eyes. Hubby finally got little Hiro to sleep.
Another cry. I woke up. Again. I checked the time. 2 something am. Okay, what's wrong this time? I checked little Hiro and realized he was hungry. Okay, crying justified. Nursed and now finally, we both fall asleep. Another cry. What's wrong now? I checked the time. 4:40am. Zaki's wide awake and wants to play. Why? And we haven't slept well since.

This was the scenario last week. This was actually the calm before the storm. Little did I know that we were about to get hit by a massive flu storm. Yes, flu season is back. And our entire house was on lock down for almost a week. It was terrible. I couldn't do anything because of these two boys. Also, because I was super sick myself. But thankfully, it is almost over. My little boys are almost well. And I am feeling much, much better.

Long gone are the days where my mother would take care of me when I was sick. And I terribly miss it. I miss the hot soup, the staying-in-bed-doing-nothing, being given my medicine and going back to sleep right after. But now, I am the mother. I have to take care of sick little boys with fever in bed. I have to wipe noses and remember to give them their medicine. I used to love being sick because it meant I had an excuse to be free from any responsibilities. But now that I'm the mom, I just find it more difficult when I get sick. It's hard enough to get out of bed on my own, but getting two more boys out of the bed with me... it's just chaos.

Our house is a chaos right now, if not for my lovely mother-in-law. She cleans, cooks and offers to watch little Hiro even in her busy schedule. I love my In-Laws. I'm definitely blessed by them. So here are a few tips on how to navigate your daily life through this season of flu.

5 tips to get through this season of flu

1. Nap little but often 

We had a whole week of rough nights. With an almost-two-year-old and a 6-month old down with a flu, we are 10x crazier than our usual. We don't get to sleep much at night, but we try to catch up on our sleep during the day by getting lots of little power naps.

2. If your kids won't stay in bed, offer some games/toys to keep them there. 

Also, you can catch up on sleep while they're busy. Here is a list of things I let my toddler play to keep him in bed:

• Stickers (He loves these!)
• Coloring books (I give him crayons, water makers, and he adds his little stickers on them. It was a hit.)
• Mega Blocks
• Books
• Movies & IPad (for those of you that are limiting screen time for kids, trust me, this one works well when you've only slept a total of 4 hours all night with interruptions in between)

3. Offer a lot of fluid

My son hasn't eaten much all week long. But I offered him lots of water, juice, and milk. I've even given him some Honey Lemon tea at some point. He only took a few sips but it was a good try.

4. If all else fails, have a balloon dance party!

I wanted to cheer him up, so I pumped a few balloons and put on happy music. We danced and played a little bit with the balloons. It helped keep him unbored and I mean, who wouldn't love having balloons around, right?

5. Ask for help

I actually cried while asking Hubby to stay home last Friday. I could barely take care of myself. I just didn't get enough sleep to handle two clingy whiney sick little boys all day. Thankfully, Hubby could stay home from work. And he took care of the boys while I got my much needed rest.

Hopefully, this is the last time we go down with a flu this winter. And hopefully, you all don't have to go through what we did.