Is It Contagious?

This is actually a question I have asked several times over the past few weeks.  First, a couple of weeks ago, each of my kids spiked a fever at different times but with a few doses of Ibuprofen it went away.  I'm not one to over-think these things so I really didn't give it too much thought.  Then Jack got a small rash, no biggie it went away, allergies or something right?  Then Carter wouldn't eat...well he is a toddler what do you expect.  Then Addie's feet broke out in these blisters...what the heck?  Come to find out all three of my kids had Hand Foot and Mouth.  I didn't even call the doctor until Addie's feet broke out (I put the picture at the bottom of this post in case you are squeamish...don't scroll down).  The doctor said people react differently to the virus and Carter's refusal to eat was most likely related.  Jack's small rash was definitely the result of the virus.  And poor Addie's feet were the  worst case our doctor had seen.  So if we saw you and your kids recently and we passed on this lovely virus...I apologize.  I have told most everyone personally who I think we could have infected but I honestly don't know when it started...soooo that made it difficult.

Oh I'm not done...On Monday night Carter woke up screaming around 10pm.  He wouldn't go back to sleep.  I went down, Paul went down, then I went back down 2 more times.  The last 2 times he had thrown up.  I honestly thought he had worked himself up so much that he caused himself to get sick.  In my defence, this is something that kids do and he was real upset.  So after going through two sheets, I laid on the couch with him where he promptly threw up all over me.  I cleaned up and he slept the rest of the night on the couch...while I was awake next to him.  The next day all was fine in Carter's world.  Bevie stayed over on Tuesday since she watches the kids on Wednesday.  I got a text from her around 2pm "Addie just woke up from her nap, threw up in her bed."  Great.  She threw up 4 times before bed that night (got Bev once and me once).  Then Jack started around 5pm and threw up 4 times before bed (getting Paul twice).  Six hours, five loads of laundry, and 11 changes of clothes later the bug was gone.  None of them were sick for more than 6 hours...which is good I guess.  Completely back to normal now. 

So is it contagious...yes, and all three will get it but not necessarily at the same time.  I hope we did not infect anyone, but if we did...I'm so sorry.  Here are a few random pictures, there really has been very little photo taking recently. 

Carter took care of his illness during the night leaving the day to play!

A preview of the Halloween costume...they picked out the cow.  Seriously at the store the wouldn't stop mooing at me!  Jack wanted to leave this on the rest of the day.  This is about when he figured out there was a tail.

Yes, they are watching TV...judge away.

The doctor actually took Addie to the nurses' station to show them her feet.

I went to dinner with some Sunday School ladies and Paul put the kids to bed.  He said he couldn't get Addie's hair band out so he just let her sleep in it.  Result:  crazy hair.