Are you prepared for those nasty stomach viruses that can sometimes invade your home? You know the ones where you are up all night holding your baby's head, not to mention cleaning up the beds, steam cleaning the carpet and doing laundry in the wee hours of the morning. Multiply this by every member in your home and it is not a day at the beach. I want to help you turn a rough night into just a bad dream instead of a nightmare.

When the bug attacks your family, it is usually in the middle of the night and you can't run to the pharmacy; you need to have the necessary supplies at your fingertips. Keep in mind that you can get dehydrated very quickly when this happens. So what do you need? Grab an old beach bag and gather up.

Ask your doctor what is best and keep it on hand. When my son was little, a sports drink was just about the only thing that would replace electrolytes. Now there is Pedialite and Popsicles for the children and many other kinds of sports drinks. There are some over-the-counter medicines that will help to stop the throwing up and queasiness. (We used Emotrol.)

So what do you do? After the initial explosion, it is time to clean up. The longer it stays on the bed and in the carpet the worse this is going to be; a small handheld carpet steamer is going to make your life easier. While cleaning up you still have to make a place for your babies to rest: a little air mattress that blows up quickly can be put in the bathroom or close by. Poor babies! (By the way, nothing says "I love you" like a clean toilet at this time.) Also a handy garbage can for those times that you can't get there! You may even want to give them a little incentive for hitting the bucket.

At times when the whole family is in distress, it's good to have a sheet in your Control Journal that outlines what to do in case you are the one who is sick and your spouse is in charge. Barking out orders when you feel bad doesn't come across well. If it's written down and you have things on hand, there's no panic.

What foods do you keep on hand? My pediatrician always told us to only feed the baby clear soups and diluted juices. This means no noodles. One food that my granny used to fix for us was a very simple potato soup. Take a potato and grate it in a saucepan, add water to cover over it a little and a bit of salt and cook until it is done; only a few short minutes. Remember don't feed your family grape juice or red cranberry juice; that makes an even bigger mess to clean up. There are white versions of both. Dry toast, crackers and plenty of TLC and you will be back to normal in a few hours. Put these things in your beach bag.

Use the Internet to read up and print out the signs for dehydration. Keep this in your Control Journal. The one sign I know is about the skin on top of your hand. If you pinch it, it will stay pinched up. Keep your doctor's phone number in your Control Journal, too. As children's little throats get raw, try to get them to drink some water that is cool; maybe one ice cube in it, just before they throw up. The cool water actually feels good to the back of the throat, especially if they have nothing else in their tummy but hot stomach acid. This works for morning sickness too. I am not a doctor or a nurse, but we all have to play these roles when this hits our family. Talk to your doctor about medications, set up an emergency sheet for your Control Journal that tells anyone what to do and then just stay calm and watch for signs of dehydration. Don't forget your doctor's phone numbers on this sheet, and wash your hand often.