I have 3 kids. At one point or another, one of them has been sick every day for the last week! I even had it last Monday. I hope your kids are not catching this! It's nasty!

Our teachers have really been working to keep the flu cases down. They have brought in Lysol spray and Clorox wipes to clean desks and doorknobs and antibacterial hand gels for the kids to use between bathroom visits if they sneeze or cough. My sons teacher said using the wipes has really seemed to help in her room.

It seems as though every day at least one person in the house is sick since December. Today it's my turn. My son has missed 11.5 days in the last quarter! He's never missed that much school... I was beginning to wonder if it was just us...

So far so good here. I just got over a sinus infection, but other wise everyone is fine. Strep throat is going around and also head lice. Eeeeh! I'm sure something will hit here soon.

My daughter (13) has been suffering with lower back pain for the last couple weeks, so we went to the doctor. Unless the X-rays come back with something abnormal, he thinks some physical therapy exercises will help. I made her take her backpack to the office visit. It's obscene how much their backpacks weigh now!

The doctor said that he's seeing lots more back problems in children - at least partially due to backpacks.

In our case, I don't think it was the cause, but definitely a contributor. And to make it worse, the kids either sling it over one shoulder or leave the straps really long so the weight is too low.

We moved to a rolling back pack, at least for a month or so. But it doesn't fit very well in her locker, so she's not too happy.

The fun of parenting continues...

I think it totally sucks that my kids weren't able to get the flu shot this year. Now she has missed 3 days of school because of it. Luckily she doesn't have strep throat. I guess that's the saving grace in all of this. I just hope she get's over it soon because she is going to have an obscene amount of homework when she gets back!