Have I ruined my kids?

Ever since the girls have been born Pete and I have been germ freaks. I'm not sure if it was because they were premature, I was sick or it was just our nature, but, we are obsessed with protecting them from germs.

We are crazy when it comes to public places and sanitize like crazy. We are obsessed with having them wash their hands and bring small cans of Lysol every where we go. At any given time you can find 3 cans of Lysol in my purse, as well as plenty of hand sanitizer. We won't allow them to go places that we know people have been sick or allow people to come to our home either. Sometimes I feel I have offended people because of this, however, for the first 3 1/2 years of their lives they were never sick.

This is where I came to the Have I ruined my kids question. This cold & flu season has been much different. I can't remember the last week that I didn't have one of the two coughing or sneezing. It is driving me nuts! I don't give them anything for their colds, as their pediatrician does not recommend it. The humidifier runs like crazy and pump them full of liquids. My girls eat extremely healthy and we keep a normally extremely clean home. I just don't get it! My only assumption is the lack of germs they have been exposed to have made their immune system so low.

This drives me crazy because Pete and I have tried so hard to keep them healthy and now I feel like we have done them no good. It kills both of us to hear the girls up all night coughing, knowing that we did this to them.

I fear once they start school full time that it will get worse and wonder if their is anything I can do to prevent this. I don't want to expose them to sick people, however, I don't want them always sick...does that make sense.

I am frustrated...any suggestions?