Prepared Mama: Ready for Illness

Has this flu season got you worried? It seems like something flu related is always in the news, with a lot of dire reports. I have decided not to stress myself out worrying whether we are going to get sick or not, and am just doing my best to be prepared in the event that we do get sick. In the last 6 weeks or so everyone in my family has been sick with something. Nothing terribly serious (mostly coughs and runny noses and some fevers and ear infections), but it's been enough that I am ready for everyone to just be healthy.

So...this is what we're doing to be more proactive about our health.

We had a Family Home Evening lesson on staying healthy, including lessons in hand washing and how to properly blow your nose with a tissue. (You can view my staying healthy lesson here.)

We wash our hands a lot and keep the hand sanitizer handy.

We checked our cupboard and stocked up on essential medicines and supplies so we don't have to make a midnight or Sunday run to the pharmacy in an emergency. Items like children's ibuprofen and Tylenol (and some for the adults), extra diapers and wipes, Lysol cleaning wipes, etc. Ready Set Plan has a great list to give you ideas of what you might want to store.

We're working on getting our flu shots (but we keep getting thwarted by a child is already sick and therefore shouldn't be vaccinated whenever we have an appointment). We'll keep trying!

I'm educating myself about the flu and related illnesses. Here are some helpful articles/sites that I have come across:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: H1N1 General Information
American Academy of Pediatrics: H1N1 Flu Information
The Mayo Clinic: Hand Washing
Web MD: 12 Tips to Prevent a Cold
Questions and Answers about the Flu on Teach Mama
A story of a real family's experience with swine flu on Prepared LDS Family

I hope your family and mine can be healthy this season!

"Un"Prepared Mama: 72 hr Kits
Remember the posts about 72 hr kits I wrote last July? This one and this one and this one?

Well. Today I pulled out our food packs to check the expiration dates on the food items and see if anything needed to be replaced. I had planned to do this General Conference weekend, so I'm only a month behind schedule. As I started pulling out the food I discovered that all of the fruit cups, pop tarts, and peanut butter crackers are expiring either this month or next. That is a good portion of our food packs, and to me that is an unacceptable amount of food to have to replace in 4 or 5 months. That is just way too much effort.

So I'm going to have to rethink our food-pack menus and figure out something that is little longer lasting. I would love to hear your suggestions!