Poor little sickie

It is very rare that we are all well around here. Germs basically just cycle through from one person to the next, and often catch one of the kids a second time before the illness has made its way out the door. Lame. The pink antibiotics bottle has a permanent place in the fridge. I wish it wasn't so. 

A cold bug went through our house starting about a month ago. Pete got it after his marathon and it took him quite a while to recover. Then Parker and Austin got little colds that turned into an ear infection for Austin. Then Jackson caught the cold (oh and Uncle Jeff who was with us), and he quickly went from bad to worse in a matter of two days. He started wheezing and was grunting with every breath. One night he demanded to be held all night long, so I "slept" sitting up with him. After that, I knew he needed to be seen by a doctor so I took him into the children's hospital ER. I'm so glad I did because upon doing a chest xray, they found some pneumonia on the scan. However, despite the fact that he wasn't eating very well, the doctor wasn't too concerned given his "heartiness." Pneumonia can be so scary for a puny 4 month old, but not my big boy. We started him on antibiotics and he was much better within a few days. 

Here we are in the waiting room (2 hours of our stay). 

 Then they took us back and it was another 5 hours before we were released. Hospitals don't operate based upon a principle of efficiency, that's for sure. But we had very good care from the doctors and nurses. He kept smiling at everyone, and I kept nudging him to stop smiling so they will believe how sick he was.

 A few days later, we went to the church Christmas party. It was simple with a few crafts and a few musical numbers. Very nice. Austin had caught another cold, so Pete stayed home with Jackson and Aussie, and Jeff, Parker, and I hit up the party.

 There's a healthier boy...

 My life in a photo...

I am at my wits end with managing the mess around here. It is like pulling teeth to get the kids to clean up (even when I'm helping them), but even when we do clean up, it looks disastrous within 15 minutes of it all being clean. We have put away several boxes of toys, and they really do PLAY and imagine with all the toys that are currently out. Not only that but they combine types of toys (legos, action figures, rescuebots, etc...), so it doesn't work to clean up one thing before getting out another. I do do that for things like train tracks or cars that need more setup. Any tips would be super helpful.