Update on “we’re all sick…” December 15, 2008
Emma seems to be doing much better. Mom and Dad, on the other hand, are both dealing with 100-plus degree temperatures.
And we’re all sick… December 14, 2008
It all started early on the morning of Dec. 9 — my 30th birthday. We awoke to a screaming baby who seemed to be gasping for air between cries. It was about 6 a.m., and we were freaking out. Emma started to calm down and wasn’t gasping as much, but she also had a pretty terrible cough.
I took her into the bathroom, closed the door, and cranked on the shower to its hottest setting. In no time, with the shower door open, steam began to fill the room and Emma’s breathing got better. A little later, she was smiling, laughing and acting like her normal morning jovial self. But we were still worried. It was 7 a.m. and the doctor’s office didn’t even start answering phones for another 90 minutes.
We called my mom to see what she thought we should do, and within minutes of getting off the phone with her, it rang again. It was Emma’s doctor. (He’s known my mom since they were toddlers.) Dr. Mike listened to her symptoms (as best as we could describe them) and said he didn’t think we needed to bring her in just yet. He said the cough could come back Tuesday night, but as long as she had her appetite and wasn’t laboring to breathe, we were A-OK.
So I dropped Emma at school and asked her teachers to keep an extra watchful eye on her. They reported some general crankiness and a little congestion, but nothing major.
(On a side note, to make matters worse on Tuesday: Someone stole the bike rack off the roof of my car. Talk about a serious bummer…)
On Wednesday, Emma went back to school but wasn’t feeling well so my mom took her home and ultimately to see Dr. Mike, where Ashley met them. She wasn’t presenting any symptoms at the time, but she was given a decongestant in case it got worse.
The next day, Emma went back to school. But by lunch I’d gotten a call from her teachers saying she was running a 101-degree fever and we needed to pick her up immediately.
She took a long nap when we got home, and didn’t seem to bad off, though she still had a fever and congestion. But Thursday night was absolutely terrible. Emma barely slept, which means we barely slept. She would wake herself up coughing and then cry. We’d console her, try to make her more comfortable (feed her, medicate her when need be) and then she’d get back to sleep.
By the time Ashley and I would nod off, then the cycle would repeat itself.
Emma stayed home Friday. I took the morning shift, and then Ashley came home and I went to work in the afternoon. We both felt terrible but chalked it up to our having gotten almost no sleep the night before. But oh how wrong we were.
Emma seems to be reaching the back end of her sickness. She’s still got lots of congestion, but her cough has waned and she’s pretty well back to her perky self. Wish I could say the same for us.
Ashley keeps wandering around the house saying, “I wish I could just freakin’ breathe through my nose, for crying out loud!”
I’ve found that whispering makes my throat hurt less.
It’s strange to think that whatever Emma’s young immune system has battled is so strong that it can get us, too. I said that to a friend at work. She laughed in my face and said she’s never been so sick or ill as many times in her life as she has in the past year-and-a-half of motherhood.
I’m just hoping that within the next couple days I can post a dispatch titled, “And we’re all well again…”
Emma learned to clap her hands… December 2, 2008
Ashley has recently been working with Emma on clapping. Yesterday, she got it! Emma seems to be very proud of herself now and is enjoying clapping any time anyone claps first. Sometimes, she even starts on her own.
In this video, Emma is watching one of the clips below and claps for herself! PS: After many attempts to embed the video, I’ve been unsuccessful, so CLICK HERE to see the video.
By the way… December 1, 2008
Stay tuned for more photos. We’ve got lots of good stuff we’ll get posted soon.
Lately, Emma has gotten really good at standing up. Sometimes she’ll hesitantly stand all on her own, keeping balance with a hand on something sturdy. Every once in a while she’ll be standing without other support (but she doesn’t realize it). And she’s recently started “border walking,” where she shuffles around the edge of a coffee table or down the length of her crib.
She’s also taken to standing in the corner of her crib closest to the door, where she knows we’ll enter if she screams loud enough.
The Little One also began eating cereal puffs last night. It was really amazing. She seemed to know that she needed to chew. So she used her two front teeth — one on the top, one on the bottom — to crunch up the apple cinnamon bites.
She’s also taken very much to the dogs. Greta still will barely get near her, but Berkeley will let her tug on her ears and jowls. It’s pretty funny.
Ashley tried taking her on a crawling tour of the house last night, but Emma got side-tracked by the basket of board books in Mommy and Daddy’s room, so the tour ended early.
She now laughs when we cover our heads and then peek-a-boo out and likes to pull the cover off our heads to make us say so. Emma’s still getting up for bottles during the night — never more than two. And she’s gotten really good at making it known when she isn’t happy.
In other news, we can’t wait for Emma’s first Christmas!!!
‘Photos by Ashley’… December 1, 2008
Here’s a little change of pace from our typical postings of photos Papa has taken. Here’s a set from Momma Cash! Click HERE to see the slideshow!
