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?)

Can you hear me down there?

{MLK day}

daddy had off today, and when the crud seemingly wasn't disappearing on its own, he called the pediatrician helpline to see if there was something more we could do. she told him to take your temperature and see if you had a fever. keep in mind, though ear thermometers are supposed to function with minimal effort, daddys don't always know how to work them. so when yours couldn't get it to register and the lady suggested "taking the rectal temperature," he just removed it from your ear and shoved it in the bum (so sorry about that honey). and when that didn't work, he realized that one of the protective caps was on and felt the need to reattempt the measurement sans cap. you poor thing. needless to say, we won't be using that thermometer again. nor will daddy be taking your temperature...

and speaking of ears, i cannot apologize enough if you develop a complex about your right one. for one reason or another, it simply will not stay back. when we hold you, put you in your carseat or lean you up against anything, your right ear folds over and refuses to straighten out! mommy will continue to manually pin it whenever i take note of this occurrence but fear that at this point, it may simply be too late. short hair could be an impossibility for you, my dear. i'm just sayin.

(protruding right ear can be observed here. it's ok though 'cause you'll get hair...someday)

(and you're so cute it won't matter! love the hands on the knees in this one, btw)

iCare/Daycare

{21 weeks}

daycare sucks. not for you; for me. i hate that they take you away from me, and that i have to work and can't keep you at home and watch you myself. but i know deep down that you're probably having more fun there than you would with me anyway, and you're actually learning things i might not be able to teach you (currently, you are "working on sitting"). they even had a cute little cubby and labels in the fridge and around the room for you before you got there. however, it does not help when i come to pick you up and they're like "oh she smiles all day; she has the best smile!" and then i come over for a love break and i get no smiles!!! dangit wth. ok so this doesn't happen everytime and you do sometimes beam at the sight of us, but seriously - you could at least pretend that you're happy i'm there and anxious to come home...  ;)   mommy is just insecure, though. i know this. when i had to drop you off on monday for the first time, it took Mimi Sally a good 10 minutes to talk me down in the parking lot  (and caused her a good scare when she answered the phone) because i was too upset to drive away. it was your "mommy? where are you going? face" as i left that stuck the bubble in my chest. ouch my heart hurt to leave you. this is why daddy shall do it from now on (except under extremely extenuating circumstances). 

unfortunately, since starting daycare, you have developed "the crud." this snot-infused, Darth Vader-sounding congestion presents itself at night and causes you difficulty breathing. at least it seems like it's difficult. i call you my little love dragon because you also tend to hiss. you HATE when we use the snot-sucker (a-hem nasal aspirator excuse me) to restore your air passages, but it gets the job done. of course, even after propping you up in your crib and getting a humidifier with Vicks insert for your room, one of us ends up transferring you to our bed in the middle of the night or early morning. we should just start you there - I think you sleep better with us (funny - mommy sleeps worse. not that i mind).   :)


*disclaimer: daddy did want me to mention that he offered to take on the responsibility of dropping you off from the start because he knew how hard it would be on mommy, and this was an isolated incident. i'll be better next time, i promise. 


bonus: your mimi has a short day on Thursdays and is going to be picking you up early when she can to spend the rest of the day with her. she did this for the first time last week, but forgot that your stay would probably require a diaper change and didn't have any on-hand. consequently, you were returned to us wearing this:

why yes, actually, that is, in fact, a puppy pad. 

needless to say, i changed you at once (as soon as i picked myself up off the floor and stopped laughing). 

My Boo

{5 weeks}
Your main form of communication right now is by grunt, which momy & daddy take to mean you're having tummy issues and are unable to go potty. Poor baby! We asked the doctor about this and of course he says it's normal and there's not much we can do. That led us to try several OTC and natural remedies. My favorite is the "Colic Calm," which has a lovely tar-like color that totally turns your mouth black so you look rather goth when we administer it. And if some dribbles out, you look like super-zombie-baby. (Don't worry, we took pictures).  :)

You don't like us to get anything done (preferring instead to feign sleeping for 15 minutes and then call for us - wide awake). You heart your paci and have a hard time calming down without it. You still love walking outside, which we try to do as often as possible with the fall weather being so nice right now. You're eating well - sometimes even from the bottle (yey!) and actually even started on the 2-hole nip (something we discovered after a couple 40-minute feeding sessions with the single-hole one).


You're not so much into us reading for you just yet, but we try to do it anyway. Oh and sadly, you do have the baby acne.


Milestones in the past couple weeks:
• You keep your own head up pretty darn well, and can follow objects we move in front of you.
• Daddy is convinced that you're partial to Journey because you watch his phone when it plays (don't tell him, but you watch it for Britney, too).
• You flail your arms wildly about when you're surprised or scared. It's pretty cute.
• You definitely recognize mommy and daddy's voices.


Daddy has been coming home for lunch to see you, and we've already attended our first party together (Aunt Loryn's birthday in Winston). That was at 4 weeks! You did pretty good - daddy fed you, Aunt Jaclyn rocked you to sleep, and you stayed asleep most of the rest of the time.


This past weekend, mommy & daddy went solo at Uncle Jay's 30th birthday party while you stayed with Granny Mac. She said you did great. But I have a confession: that wasn't the first time we left you with the grandparents! Mommy & daddy did get out for a 1-hour date when you were 2 weeks old, and you stayed with Mimi Sally & Zade Adam when we celebrated Aunt Jenna's first home purchase when you were 3 weeks.


Got you 2 princess dresses & a bunch more books (though I don't know why... haha) at our neighborhood garage sale this weekend. Love you so much. Still waiting on that smile...  :)