Infested

I'm usually pretty healthy -- I don't catch colds and flus very often.  In fact, I think the last time I had the flu was 15 years ago.  

That was before I had a 5-month old living with me.

I was warned.  I was told that I would start getting all kinds of lovely diseases.  I scoffed at the idea - surely I'd be able to fend these illnesses off.  

The Wee One caught her first cold around Halloween. Although she remained in a perfectly pleasant mood, she was pretty pathetic -- sneezing and snorting and coughing and sniffling.  I took her to the doctor, who said she just had a cold.

The next thing I knew, I had caught her cold.  I was snorting and coughing and sniffling.  Ick!

Then The Wee One's eyes started oozing a greenish discharge.  They were matted shut one morning so  I called the doctor and they said to bring her in.

This time, she had the dreaded pink eye in both eyes and a double ear infection.  The doctor warned me that pink eye was very contagious. Again, I scoffed,  I hadn't had pink eye since elementary school. 

Two days later, my eye was oozing.  I had caught the dreaded pink eye on top of my cold.

I even missed work. I ended up working from home two days so I could keep the Wee One out of daycare AND I took an actual sick day.  

It took me about two weeks to get over this nasty cold and I'm still treating my pink eye.  It sucks!.

Of course, my husband did not catch it.  He's the only healthy one in the house!

And of course, this has wreaked havoc on my weight loss since I have felt like complete and utter crap.  I gained 1 lb last week.  :(

A plethora of firsts

Wee One is going through an exciting series of firsts -- all at the same time:

 

• First teeth

• First cold

• First pink eye -  in both eyes!

• First ear infection - in both ears!

In addition to all that, she gave me her nasty cold. And, for bonus excitement, every time I cough it wakes her up. 

This is why I am rocking her at 1:30 am.  Good times!

I would sleep in another room, but I'm afraid my deep sleeping husband won't hear her when she wakes up to eat. And if I'm not in the same room, who is going to check 500 times a night to make sure she's breathing?

Those are some important duties!

I can handle the cold, If I get pink eye, however...THAT would be embarrassing.

Guess what else the baby finds funny

Poop!

More specifically, the kind of poop that causes a rock, paper, scissors marathon in my house.  "Wait, wait - best out of 3!"

I knew it was going to be bad when I heard the explosion all the way in our kitchen.  When I walked in the living room, my husband said,"I think she might need changed."  Understatement of the year.

I'll spare you the gory details but suffice to say, she needed a bath.

However, the whole situation gave her the giggles. She chuckled as I was changing her. She chortled as I walked her naked self to the bathroom. 

As I put her in the tub, she was practically guffawing. She was laughing so hard her stomach was shaking.

I have to say, as gross as the diaper was, baby giggles more than make up for it!

Maybe I should be concerned

Sanctimommies are everywhere:

• "I would never give my baby formula."
• "If you use drugs during delivery, you'll dope up your baby.  Your body can handle the pain."
• "No TV for two years or your baby will be autistic or have ADHD or be an idiot."
• "Only eat organic food or your baby will be autistic or have ADHD or be an idiot."

Since I have broken every single one of those rules, I think I need to stop visiting the internet.  It stresses me out.  Let's take TV for example.

For the first few months, I tried really hard to keep The Wee One away from TV, but I swear it was like a magnet.  No matter where she was in the room, she would crane her head to look at the TV.  And yes, maybe we could have opted not to watch TV, but we like it so no.

At her 4 month appointment, I asked the pediatrician about it, fully expecting to get a Judgy McJudgerson sort of lecture. Instead, he looked at me like I was an idiot and said of course babies can watch TV.  As long as she's not plopped in front of it for hours, she would be perfectly fine.  He said she was just looking at the lights and it was just background noise to her, much like the radio would be for us. He even said she might enjoy kiddie tv because of the songs.

It was a huge weight off my shoulders!  We even tried some kiddie TV.  (And let me tell you...that Caillou is a whiny brat.)

Last night we were watching Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.  Not a horrific choice, but definitely no Elmo.

The Wee One was rolling around on a playmat -- and of course, craning her head to look at the TV.    All of a sudden, she started cracking up.  She giggled for about 5 minutes at the TV. 

So my 4-month-old not only watches TV - but she finds Percy Jackson to be hilarious.

Good times.