The Return of the Crud

so basically, you've been sick for almost 4 weeks now. it started off as a bit of congestion, and you had your first (low-grade) fever on Friday the 29th (of January) - which also happened to be the first of several snowdays in the past couple weeks from which you were quarantined. :(  we could tell you felt yucky, but even then it was only mildly irritating to your normally-sweet disposition, so we just let you sleep as much as possible and tried to wait it out. but in the last week and a half, the congestion has morphed into a runny nose and produced a scary-sounding cough that occasionally causes you to projectile vomit on anything in your path. not so much a good time for the washing machine to up and quit. 

just last week, you started putting both your fists in your mouth, drooling fiercely and then screaming in pain when we give you something to gnaw on. you seem to be calmed by the miraculous orajel swabs i preemptively purchased for teething. does this mean you're teething? and if so, those toofers need to stop hurting you. why do babies need teeth anyway? 

of course, mommy and daddy freak out a tad at the slightest screech (you being our first baby and all), so we took you to dr. brassfield on monday. to be fair, your cold symptoms did seem to be worsening rather than clearing up. but as we suspected, there's not much we can do to help you (you seriously can't imagine how frustrating that is!). if i haven't mentioned it before, we love our doc and ansley does, too. when she's not sick. 

at least we ruled out the big things. dr. b looked at you and said "i bet you don't cry for long at your house." nope. can't imagine why...

i guess i should take a second to explain. first, a disclaimer: i am not an expert, nor do i recommend raising your child exactly as i do. i know there are a myriad of methods out there and, really, who knows which is better than another. what works for me may not work for anyone else. so i'll try not to give "advice" unless it's asked. the following (and any further parental nuggets i choose to share herein) is simply "how we do." take it or leave it. right or wrong. crazy-brilliant or just literally crazy.

i've mentioned babywise in here before, and though i believe in its merits and fully trust its effectiveness, much like me and the pill, babywise and i have broken up. it was a mutual decision and an amicable split, but b-dub and i differ when it comes to the "cry it out" scenario.

there may come a time when i will feel the need to do such a thing. and i may eat my words with a healthy dose of my own saltwater tears, but at the current moment i simply cannot understand why i would set my baby down and leave her to cry when we can rock or sway for a few minutes, or even lay her in the crib while i watch over her as she floats painlessly off to dreamland. you could say she has us wrapped around her abnormally-long little fingers. but i just think right now she's a pretty good little baby, and i'm fairly certain she's not lacking the ability to soothe herself (her personal morning talkshow is evidence of this..). 

we did get into the habit of co-sleeping during the sickness as i feared for her respiratory function and needed to hear her breathing, but are finally easing back to the crib and she's done fabulously. yes, there are times when jon or i go to her in the middle of the night to re-insert the paciplug, but for the most part she sleeps well. and for me, that's enough. 

**disclaimer 2: if you're feeling out of sorts after reading this post, you're not loopy. i'm retro-posting, since i didn't have time to do so when i first started writing this. if you're new to.. me.. or this blog, i'm going to be doing quite a bit of this since i have "journal entries" that date back beyond a year and am seriously trying to organize pictures to go with them. i also have a list of pics and videos to add before i really "catch up" and can start posting in realtime again. so please forgive me if i don't get to the latest ansley stat. i'm trying!! i know.. i suck. 

will cute ansley pics help???

(snow-suiting up!)

(but.. now how do i get to my hands?)

The Daily Ansley

{almost 12 weeks}

yikes 4 weeks. shameful. mommy needs to get on the ball and write in your journal more often! sorry babydoll. well a lot's been going down the past month, so you'll have to excuse my tardiness with this entry. you've logged a record number of hours with the grandparents lately, as daddy and i have taken on the task of painting the entire downstairs and upstairs hallway. they love it, though, and even request more time with their precious ansley. thank heaven for grandparents. seriously.

in other news, you've started producing more drool than your mouth can contain. this is alternated with spitup, and you are now soaking through at least 2 bibs a day. speaking of which, mommy made the big leap and started back to work 4 days a week when you were exactly 10 weeks old. it was sooo hard for me to leave you the first few times, but i was brave and only cried a little bit. miss darlene watches you from 8:30 to 5:30 tuesday through friday. she says you're good but "only take 30-minute naps." mwahahahaha we've totally spoiled you letting you sleep on us during the day. oopsie. i can't help it - it's the best feeling in the world. a baby sleeping on your chest is just the sweetest. someday you'll see. 

(gee what a lovely drool bib you have!..either that or you've been doing some serious working out)

the grandparents have gone a little crazy with the outfits, but you are moving into some seriously cute ones, which will require me to change and take a picture of you pretty much at 30-minute intervals throughout the day. oh well! unfortunately, you now have less hair than the day you were born so i especially love putting you in headbands (my little blair waldorf), as your hair is currently falling out faster than it's coming in. and man, oh, man, we cannot get enough of those smiles. how i love your beautiful smiles. especially when you get so excited that you squeeze your fists and wiggle around. it's literally the cutest thing. can you even imagine how in love with you we are? it boggles the mind. 

we had a breakthrough the other day when daddy held up an object and you reached out and grabbed it. you solely practice this trick with your left hand (woot! go lefties!!! secretly hoping you're left-handed), but we'll take what we can get. it's quite entertaining. still not so much loving the books, but you will sit and watch daddy play video games like a champ (yes, i'm sure call of duty: world at war is incredibly mind-enriching for our little one daddy...).

(You're trying to eat your Zaboomafoo. I think your eyes are the same size in this picture!)

you're also making some pretty awesome noises at the moment. little short screams and assorted coos. we have some great conversations with your incoherent babbling little self. 

halloween was our first big holiday, and we did it up right with no less than 3 costume changes. you were asleep most of the night, but woke up in good spirits and loving your hula costume!! pretty sure you preferred it to the lion that i made into a lioness with the use of a pink ribbon, but you were so cute in both. 

we just found out the other day that marisa and marc are having a girl AND that aunt jennifer is pregnant!! mommy came home and told daddy who proudly trumpeted that "he'd started it." jaclyn and chad had baby jake just a few weeks ago, and we are way too excited for you to have more little "cousins" to play with! and i'm calling it right now, somebody's kids are gonna get married to somebody else's from our group. it's like, inevitable. just do the math.   :)