Saturday - My older brother was cold even though the house was warm, he was running a temp. That night, he started coughing a little.

Sunday/today - My brother is full blown sick. Coughing badly, still running a temp, is very tired and sleeps all day. I kept a close eye on my nephew all day, taking his temp every hour and making notes of it. My sister-in-law, even though she knows my brother is sick and that the kids were likely to start showing signs of it as well, insisted on sending my niece over to her mother’s house for the afternoon. She leaves at 1:30 pm and comes back at 6;00pm and falls asleep right off the bat but naps for only a short while.

11:30 - My niece, who had been asleep, woke up as her mother was getting home. She is crying and even though she is only wearing a pull-up she is hot to the touch, but not running a temp. My sister-in-law goes to her room and wakes my brother, why; I don’t know. I get my niece to sleep a little before midnight and take her and my nephew to my room so they can sleep. At midnight, my sister-in-law comes knocking on the door; after letting herself in she pulls her daughter from the bed and say “You’re three years old now! Can you say three? Give me a kiss, and then I’m going to leave because I have a cough.” She leaves after getting her kiss and my niece lays back down in bed as if her mother hadn’t even come in.

1:00am - both are asleep, I take their temps one more time before getting ready for bed. My niece’s temp is 100.4 my nephew’s is still his normal 97. I woke up my niece and gave her the fever reducer and then got her back to sleep.

Its 2am now, niece’s temp is still 100.4 By morning, both will be sick. Both will be running a temp and coughing. This will run through the house like wildfire as it always does. My mother will have it the longest. My older brother will get over it first. My little bother will be last to get it. My sister-in-law won’t get it at all because she already plans to go and stay at her mother’s. And the kids will have it very rough.

My niece turned three years old at midnight, while feeling like crap and having a temp on the rise.