It’s Let’s Look day where we share a peak into some very random aspect of our lives!

Last month, I shared how I schedule/organize our family.

And today, I’m linking up with Shay and Erika to share a look at our “medicine cabinet.” And I do mean medicine cabinet.

Oh man. You know we have buckets of medicine. Pantloads of medicine in this house. We are in the pit of daycare germ central in the Lane house. Harrison has finally grown to an age where he really only gets super sick once or twice a year, and will have a few colds thrown in there. Jonathan, though. Bless. Our little COVID baby who was around people with masks from the time he was born until January of last year, woof. We have taken a beating on the cold front with him for the past year. All of us. Or really, mainly me since he practically wants to re-attach his umbilical cord and won’t let me go whenever he’s sick. If Jonathan’s sick, I can pretty much guarantee that my immune system will not withstand being coughed in the face, sneezed on, vomited on, used as a human Kleenex, and invariably the child steals my water bottle and puts all of his cold germs all over it.

Can you tell I’m a bit of a germaphobe? Not a good combination with a toddler who goes to full time daycare. But I’m working through it.

I debated on how to set up this post. Because I could probably go on for a looooong time about medicine. But since we’re looking at medicine cabinets, I’m going to share how I attack sicknesses around here…

At the first sign of sickness for anybody in this house:

I start with Elderberry syrup for everyone. I make my own, because it’s ridiculously expensive at the store and honestly super easy to make. But as soon as I see the snot rolling down my toddler’s face, out comes the elderberry. The boys actually love this stuff. It has honey in it, though, so it’s only ok if they are over the age of one. And, of course, you should always do your own research, talk to your pediatrician, etc. I’m just simply sharing what we do in this house 🙂

I buy a package of elderberries off of Amazon, and I use this recipe that lasts us about a month or more and we use it a loooot. I have yet to run out of elderberries either, and it’s been almost a year of doing this.

I myself start taking Zicam immediately and Emergen-C as soon as someone is sick in the house because….why not.

For the kids:

If it’s just a minor cold, I mostly let them ride it out without much intervention. If they’re complaining about how they’re feeling or have a cough, I opt for Hyland’s Children’s Daytime or Nightime and/or a teaspoon of honey for a cough. Again – only if they’re over one.

We have humidifiers going in their rooms at night all winter long. And we just ride it out.

If they have a fever that’s bothering them and they’re uncomfortable and not sleeping well, I throw in the ibuprofen as well.

I also usually add in a warm epsom salt bath in the evening to release toxins, and then some crazy cold wet sock trick that I read about on the internet.

What’s the cold sock treatment, you ask?

You soak lightweight cotton socks in ice water. Ring them out and put them on right after your bath, and cover with one or two pairs of dry heavy wool socks. The theory is that it puts your immune system into high gear over night as it works to warm your feet, and thus, works harder to fight off anything else your body is fighting, too. Does it work? I don’t know. Who can really say…but it seems to help the boys. And at the very least, they think it’s kind of cool to do something special.

Other items I always keep in our kids’ medicine cabinet: children’s Claritin, children’s Benadryl, Pedialyte, Stool softeners, and hydrocortisone. Nose frida…boogie wipes…the list could go on. 🙂

The adults medicine cabinet consists of: ibuprofen, Tylenol, DayQuil, NyQuil, Sore throat lozenges, Sinus congestion medicine, cough medicine, and Mucinex for colds. And then we have things like Pepto Bismal, Pepcid Complete for heartburn, and allergy meds.

Of course, we have a variety of first aid items as well: heating pads, band-aids of every variety and design, Neosporin, thermometers on every floor of the house, ice packs.

Those are the things that we arm ourselves with in this house!