Pregnancy Journaling, Freaky Pregnancy Dreams

Well, since we returned from Chicago a week ago everyone has been sick but me. Two days ago, Darah started coming down (why do we say "coming" down?) with a cold.

She has it bad now, the poor honeybananabunny. The snot is thin and just runs out of her nose constantly. And when she coughs, it sounds like she's a machine that has water trapped in its interior. I guess these are just the common things that parents go through - kids who have snotty noses and mucous-raspy coughs. Feeling sorry for her because she cannot breathe out of her nose and does not yet know how to blow her nose is probably a universal experience for all (especially new) parents. It's a common cold, but we took her in to see the doctor this morning anyway. The doctor cleaned a little chunk or orange wax out of her ear and inspected most of her baby orifices, but found nothing notable or worrisome. Her cheeks were red and flushed, but her temperature was actually below average (at 98.3). She had been terribly cranky last night and this morning when she woke up, but was in a very outgoing and active mood at the physician's office - go figure! As soon as I sat her down on the floor to fill out a form, she scooted over to the other end of the room to play with the toys and train table. She wasn't shy at all. The only sign that she was sick was that she had a stream of snot hanging from her little Cindy Loo Who nose.

Darah has been extremely irritable since she became sick. If something doesn't go her way - any little thing (for instance if I set her down on the floor) - she starts crying this really over-the-top whiny cry. It's too bad because she was being particularly fun and cute right before she got sick. She comes up to me several times a day to hug me. She hugs my neck and "kisses" (puts her mouth on) my cheek. It's the best feeling in the world (well, one of them). She has just figured out how to sign "help" to me. For a while, she would clap her hands when I asked her if she needed help. And now she holds two fists together and moves them up and town together - which is a lot like the actual sign (or the one I've been doing: a fist on top of a flat hand moving up and down). The other day, Darah tried to put her socks on for herself. She has mastered taking off her socks (as you would, with a bit more frustration and a bit less grace), but she has her own version of putting on her socks. She has a couple of versions of putting on her sock, actually. She'll either set a sock on her foot and pat the sock or she will stretch the socks (holding it with both hands) over the foot. We were very excited about it, so it's not wonder she has become very excited about it. Now, for fun, she takes off her socks and tries to put them back on. But she has to ask for help...and this is how she put "help" and socks together. She was frustrated with her sock, so she did the help sign. I was so happy. She's putting things together, and it's so exciting to see each small thing she figures out. She's quite proud of herself, too.

As for me, I've been feeling okay (nothing notable happening) until Saturday night, when we were at Tiramisu in Quincy with Dana and Colin. Actually, the problem started a bit earlier in the day when we were having a lunch-library date with Kim and Eli. I did not feel like eating much of anything on the menu at Chicks (most of it is fried...), but went with the portobello fries (fried portobello mushrooms). As I was eating them, I was feeling as though they were going to make me sick. They did, but not until we were having dinner at the restaurant in Quincy. We both ordered salmon and it was done beautifully, but I had trouble enjoying it because of...my hormonal body. Darah didn't make things easier. She was in an awful mood (probably feeling sick) and wanted to be held by me the whole time. It was busy and cramped and hot in the restaurant, which just made me feel worse. I had terrible abdominal pains and cramps and a little bit of nausea. It lasted until I fell asleep that night. The following day, Sunday, I felt okay but did have a bit of nausea after dinner (after having a heath bar and marshmallows for desert, to be precise). Today I'm very sick and have been trying to nap. We didn't sleep for long (Darah was up and ready to play the "sock game" in forty minutes), but it was nice to be able to lie down and leave the mess for later.

The Quote of the Week:


"I don't buy that whole Mr. Nice Jogging Wolf thing. He's big and he's bad"
- Ming-Ming, The Wonder Pets Save Little Red



Darah's words, 13 months:

Ut-oh
Fis (for fish)
Fichy (for fishie)
Chee (for cheese)
Ma-ma or Mom

Mum-mum 

Eee (for "I want my milk" at the dinner table)
Ba (ball)
No-oh
Doh-n (for don't)
Muah (for kiss...well, that's her actual kiss)


* She talks a lot, in sentences even, but we're not sure what she's saying

Darah's signs, 13 months:

More (fingers squished and tapping each other - yes, it's hard to describe verbally)
Help (clapping or fists together moving up and down)
Want (making fists with her hand)

* She copies others, we just don't use them frequently enough


Darah's Favorite Books, 13 months:

Skidemarink (book-song hybrid)
Five Little Ducks (book-song hybrid)
One Sneaky Sheep (a touch-and-feel fluffy tale)
Goodnight, Baby (a short, simple book...her favorite lines are "wriggly, giggly tickley toes" and "splashy water, boats in a storm")
Goodnight Moon

*She loves books with baby faces

My mother's advice for taking care of a sick babyD:

"You have to give her three baths a day"
(Much like the advice my father gave me when he discovered Darah does not yet know how to give a five yet: "Well, she doesn't know how to because you don't do it with her often enough. You have to do it with her like five times a day." Gee. Thank you Dad. If I do everything I want her to know five times a day, I'm sure we'll both be in tip top condition.)