A Ball of Germs

Our little Sophia is just a big ball of germs. It only took her one week (with a weekend inbetween) of daycare to come home with a stuffy nose. And now after 2 months she has had an ear infection and now RSV. Welcome to a daycare baby - AKA a big ball of germs! Now when people say "Oh I should wash my hands before I hold her" I always say "Well no, you probably want to wash your hands AFTER you hold her." The RSV has been pretty rough for her. She is losing her voice she coughs so much and she can barely cry. It's so sad to listen to her. It's amazing to think that in 4 short months, we know her little personality so well that we can immediately tell she isn't feeling well. Her mood has definitely changed. She is such a little cuddle bug and which makes me love rocking her to sleep. I could just rock her all day if I wanted to. She hasn't been sleeping well the past few nights because of her cough, so the pediatrician prescribed an inhaler and a nebulizer to help her breath better. Since it's a virus we just have to let it pass. Hopefully tylonal and the inhaler will make it a little easier on her. Here is our sweet girl on the nebulizer. Sometimes she doesn't mind it and sometimes she screams and fusses the whole time. The doctor said it's almost better if they are crying when getting the medicine because they breathe it in more.

Hubby has been taking her to all of her doctors appointments and staying home sick with her. That is one good thing about having him in school - he has a flexible schedule. I feel guilty but I'd rather save my sick time for when we really need it (like next year during his rotations). Lets just say I'm milking it for all its worth, because I know for the rest of her life I'll be taking her to the doctor and staying home sick with no other options.

Challenge Accepted

We have been very lucky in the fact that our little peanut has slept through the night at an early age. But ever since she started day care and the infamous day care germs have begun, she's woken up earlier and earlier from being conjested. It's like she refuses to breathe out of her mouth so you just hear how stuffy her little nose is. It's pretty cute actually. But every little thing she does is cute! :)

The other night she woke up at about 3:30 at night. Hubby decides to wake up with her because I have been sick for the past few days too. He picks her up and says "can I feed her?" Feeding her in the middle of the night is probably the last thing you want to do when she's just trying to break from her usual routine. I'm not jeopardizing the good thing we got going here! So I told him "not unless you want to feed her at 3am every day this week." he puts the bottle back and tries to get her to go back to sleep. changed her diaper, pacifier, and laid her back down but she just laid there squirming and never fully went back to sleep. then at around 4 she starts crying again. histerically. he asks again if he can feed her. I give him the same answer. I decide to switch with him and give him a break. and bam! I had her snoozing in less than thirty minutes. when she finally fell asleep, I felt a strong urge to shout Boo ya! and do a little dance. I laughed at how pumped I was (at 4am!) just from getting my baby to fall back asleep without feeding her. I felt empowered that I was able to do something my husband was so quick to give up on. If anyone knows my husband, knows he has to win at everything. So half the time it irritates me, but most of the time our competitiveness is an ongoing joke in our family. So of course, I go back to bed wake him up and rub it in his face. :)

Sometimes it's nice to have a sign that says "you're her mommy and no one else can do what you do". Especially when you are a working mom and have a loving husband who wants to help out as much as he can. I love that she is a challenge in our life and that every once in a while I can come out the winner. One thing that I've learned between us as parents is to make light of everything as much as we can. It can be frustrating holding a screaming baby that you can't calm down. So half the time we just try and laugh at her and the silly faces she makes. It's like we have formed an unwritten rule: if you aren't holding the lil monster :) than you help your partner find the fun in it. Sometimes it turns into a game and whoever gets her to quiet down is the winner. In this case... I won ;)