Down the Tube

Friday morning started with the alarm going off at 5:30 so that Craig and I could Natalie up to the children's surgery center by 6:20 for her tubes to be inserted into her ears.

And did you know that in my little town, there is still a line at Starbucks at 5:55 in the morning?!

And did you also know that there are people in this world that are completely made up with high heel boots, make-up and curled hair at 6:20?!

Regardless...we had a pretty uneventful morning.  I suppose things went according to plan - we checked in, were admitted, she drank her goofy juice and off she went.  The procedure took less than ten minutes and she was back in our arms and ANGRY.  And wanting ONLY Daddy and definitely NOT Momma

Reading FOX in the waiting room before the procedure.....in her new Santa pajamas.

Friday night was rough - the antibiotic ear drops that are required for the next few days burn her ears and she has a hard time calming down from receiving them.  She wasn't asleep in bed for much more than an hour before she was up and crying in her crib for "Dada."  I figured it was the start of a pattern so I just pulled her into bed with me and I slept on six inches of the mattress while she had the rest of our king size bed. Ajax taking good care of his patient. And now on Sunday afternoon she is more or less back to normal.  Still not a big fan of the ear drops, but she is running around the house, eating big meals and not crying over the littlest of frustrations. And she slept through the night last night.   Here's to hoping it continues.

"Ear" We Are...

There is an epidemic of pregnancy hitting my Facebook feed. It's attacking with more fury than "wedding fever," which of course makes it harder to resist.

It looks like so much fun...charting how big the baby is getting and taking belly pictures every week. I should get on the bandwagon and give Natalie a sibling, right?!

Nope.

Not after the last four weeks.

Craig and I have not slept through the night since before Thanksgiving.

Things are getting desperate up in here y'all.

I know, I know. I've had a newborn on the every three hours feeding schedule. This nighttime song and dance should be old hat by now.

But the thing is...we've come so damn far from her newborn days. September and October were filled with full nights and late mornings. I could stay up and watch Jon Stewart and not go to sleep with a sense of dread filling up my body because I KNOW that I will be up in just a few short hours. It's almost like we've tasted the parental promise land but now we have been shoved back into exhaustion exile.

Help is hopefully on the way though.

Natalie has an appointment with a pediatric ENT in the morning. The little miss has the propensity for ear infections and we have been battling the same one for close to a full month. After a few rounds with that antibiotic and this antibiotic we are looking at the long-term solution of getting tubes in her ears.

According to others, I should be a nervous wreck because it's SURGERY and ANESTHESIA and it's my BABY.

But I'm not nervous or scared or even very worried.

Because quite frankly, I just want to sleep.

And I trust doctors, modern medicine and above all....I trust in God. Freaking out will not do me or Natalie any good. She takes her social cues from me and Craig, so if I act like it ain't no big thang, she will hopefully stay calm and be brave.

Wish us luck!

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Sick Day

So....volleyball season is over.  Like I told the girls, I will miss spending time with them, but not getting to school at 7:15 and leaving at 5:45.

But life has not returned to any sense of normalcy yet.

Craig and I went to PF Chang's for dinner before seeing the newest James Bond movie, Skyfall.

Which, on a side note....was AWESOME.  I know that the creative forces behind the franchise caught a lot of flack for casting Daniel Craig as the new 007 but I think it was a genius decision.  I highly recommend it.

And on a second note, apparently Craig "isn't that into James Bond" which I found out AFTER seeing the movie when I wanted to watch Casino Royale on Saturday night.  I feel that this is the sort of information that we should have discussed during our premarital counseling.

Alright.  Back to our weekend.  About 45 minutes before the end of the movie, Craig's mother texted and said that Natalie was running a low grade fever - hovering around 100.  We finished the movie and Craig called his mother but by then Natalie had settled down and was sleeping.  But as parents we still had a decision to make - pick up our possibly sick daughter or let her sleep over at Grandmama's house.  Quite frankly, it was a tough choice to make.  I don't want to pass my sick kid off on anyone else but at the same time....she was SLEEPING and one of my major rules is - DON'T WAKE A SLEEPING BABY.  So we decided to let her stay asleep at Grandmama's house and if there were any more problems, Craig would go pick her up.

Which is precisely what he did at 12:30 that night.

Saturday and Sunday were spent at home, trying to get her fever to break.  We would give her the Tylenol and she would cool down but then right before her next dose, she would be burning up again.  The fever never rose over 101 so I didn't think an Acute Kids appointment was necessary.

Until Sunday evening, that is.  Since volleyball season is over and basketball season has begun, I'm on Natalie sick duty if the case arises.  Last year taking a day off from work wasn't so bad because I taught strictly PE and there were four other coaches there to help take care of my classes.  But this year I'm teaching two sections of Texas History which have definite lesson plans that need to be taught.

So I was in a bind.  I didn't want to send her to Ms. Rebecca's house possibly feverish and definitely cranky ESPECIALLY with the new baby boy that has joined our little daycare group.  I didn't want to be called out of class at 10:00 to come get a sick little girl and then have to scramble at the last minute to get my classes covered.  BUT I also didn't want to stay home with Natalie and then have her be perfectly fine and have nothing wrong with her.

I laid it all out for Craig and convinced him that we should probably take her to the Acute Kids place near our house.  And it's a good thing we went because the little miss has an ear infection in her right ear and lots of fluid in the left.

So we've been home today.  Playing and staying in pajamas well past the time that is appropriate.  My mother came over and brought lunch and then sewed up my aging Cabbage Patch Doll Ellie who is well past her prime.  Natalie watched carefully as Nonna fixed Ellie's "boo boos."

She took a great three hour nap followed up by lots of chasing, giggling, coloring and playing with her baby dolls.  After a Sunday spent being mentally attacked by the "she doesn't love you because you had PPD" demons....today was exactly what I needed.

And then this evening happened.

In the span of practically an hour, my child.............

- ate her father's deodorant and declared it "yucky."

- tried to bite my face mid-tantrum

- slipped bottom first into the sink and then proceeded to turn the water on all over her.

I daresay she is feeling much better, don't you think?




And about that face biting incident.  Let me expound a bit.  She was at the top of the stairs and wanting to carry a large bag DOWN the stairs.  Mmm.  Not gonna happen twinkle toes.  I took the bag from her while explaining to her that she could get it back at the bottom.

Apparently my logic did not compute with her plan and a mini-tantrum commenced.  I picked her up and was trying to calm her down while, again, explaining my thought process.  (Usually if WE stay calm during her meltdowns, she calms down rather quickly.  Well, as of right now at least.)

She tried to hit me and I held her arms back and said "No hitting Natalie.  We do not hit because that is mean and it hurts Momma."  Which is our mantra for pretty much everything discipline related.  Short and to the point.

So what was her next choice?  She came at my nose like Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs with her mouth wide open, ready to chomp down.

I couldn't help it.

I put her back down at the top of the stairs and collapsed into a fit of giggles.  Her reaction was priceless - she knew that she SHOULD be getting in trouble for her actions, but she couldn't quite figure out why Momma was laughing hysterically.  She just kind of stood there with her eyes wide while wringing her hands awkwardly.

Classic.

And that's life with a toddler.