Damn Flu

I think we were struck with the flu. I'm keeping things down today, but I'm achey all over and extremely tired. My stomach is still feeling queasy, too. Brian is now sick, so I had to suck it up and take care of Margaret today. She's mostly happy, but she's still having the occasional episode of diarrhea - one definite down side to using cloth diapers.

Somewhere in the mess of this past weekend, Margaret's first tooth popped through! I noticed it this morning when I gave her a bottle. It looks like it just came through, so it was probably within the last 12-24 hours that it happened (expert that I am ;) ). She took it so well, all things considered! Nothing like being hit with the flu and getting your first tooth in, all at the same time!

My baby is growing up... She's 7 months old today. Trying to crawl (definitely mobile, although not in any sort of formal way) and wanting to do everything for herself. Today was the first time that she really tried to take control of her feedings, too. She held the bottles so well. We tried a sippy cup, but she seems to want to play with it more than drink out of it. She'd rather sit straight up, which doesn't work too well when you don't understand that you need to knock your head back to drink out of a cup. But it was cute to watch.

She Got Me!

I've been up (on and off) since 3:30AM, puking and having a nasty bout of diarrhea. Why is it when Margaret gets sick, she handles it so much better (and it's a milder case)? Brian wonders if I have the flu.... Which means he'll be next. All I want to do is sleep but my stomach hurts. I almost had Brian bring me to the ER this morning because I couldn't keep any fluids down, and I was about as empty as empty could be. (Well, I thought so. My body has surprised me over and over again since then.) But I'm managing tiny bits of watered down Gatorade, so maybe I'll be okay.

You Know You're A Mom...

...when you get puked on in the bank lobby and you don't even bat an eyelash.

Yup. It was quite the day. Apparently, Margaret had thrown up a bit on Brian this morning. Having not seen how much, and knowing that in the past she had randomly thrown up only twice before (well, *only* thrown up twice before, and the incidents were weeks apart), I sent her to school anyway. He said she had been coughing before she vomitted, so I figured it was just her gag reflex over-reacting. She seemed normal, after all, and no fever was present. I picked her up from daycare around 12:45 (again, she was acting normal) and we went to the bank where my sister works to visit per her request. Margaret was acting quite shy during the visit, and was very quiet. About a half hour after our arrival, she let out a tiny, quick cry so I took her from my sister. Within seconds of the transfer, she started heaving. All over the right sleeve of my jacket, her poncho, and the bank lobby's tile floor. Which of course, caused it to splash back up all over my shoes and pants. I must have been stunned, because I didn't react much at all. Fortunately, my sister cleaned up the mess (I think she was afraid that if she took Margaret from me, she'd get puked on). I don't even know where she was hiding all that came out of her, because it doesn't seem possible that she could have had that much in her. We went home pretty quickly after that.

So Margaret's on Pedialyte exclusively for the next 24-48 hours. She still doesn't have a fever, which is good, but she did grace our presence with some nasty diarrhea not too long ago. Lucky me! Her doctor will be calling in the morning to check on her progress. Hopefully, this is a quick moving bug...

I'm It!

This is my first time being tagged! :)

I've been tagged by Renee, so here goes:

Four Jobs I've had:
1. Gas station attendant. Well, cashier is more like it. It wasn't demanding or stressful and if it had paid better and had benefits, I probably would have done it forever. :) I know, I'm a slacker.
2. Baker's assistant for my aunt at a bakery (this was during one of the layoffs from #3 due to "lack of work")
3. About a million different positions at White Flower Farm, Inc.
4. Secretary for a Municipal Assessor's Office (7 years now, amazingly...)

Four Places I've Lived:
(Well, I've lived in the same town for most of my life, so I'll have to get more specific)
1. Hitchingpost Dr
2. George St
3. Calhoun St
4. Funston Ave

Movies I'd Watch Again:
1. Finding Nemo
2. A Christmas Story
3. Harry Potter (any of them)
4. Me, Myself, and Irene

TV Shows I love to Watch:
1. Lost
2. King of Queens
3. Family Guy
4. Supernanny

4 of My Favorite Foods:
1. Baked Mac & Cheese
2. Chili
3. Chocolate
4. Pizza

Four Places I'd Rather be Right Now:
1. Anywhere but here :)
2. Montana
3. Vermont
4. New Hampshire

4 Bloggers I'd Like to Tag:
1. Kat
2. Kether
3. Crista
4. Blue

Who Woulda Thunk?

Did you know that pumpkins are fruits?

I never really thought much about it, until I saw it on a food introduction guide for babies under the "fruits" category. As are tomatoes (that one I knew), cucumbers, squash, peppers, ... Weird, isn't it? They're fruits because they have seeds in the edible flesh. True vegetables, like carrots, do not.

You learn something new every day.

Random Thoughts

Last night was a key night. Do I or don't I? In the end, I did. Start a new pack of birth control pills, that is. While I suspect that they are the reason why I can't manage to shed the last 15 pregnancy pounds, I think I need to be on them right now. They really do help with my PCOS symptoms in a huge way. And since we're really not TTC right now, I really should be on them. It was an excrutiatingly difficult decision to make. But I made it. For this month, anyway.

Margaret is on the verge of crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees, but when she wants to move, she drops the knees and sort of drags or pushes her body with her arms. She moves backwards more often than frontwards, and does this funny leg kick when she wants to turn. It's cute, but it's also a bit scary. I can't believe she's this grown up already!

We had a doctor's appointment Friday because Margaret has a cough that has persisted for 4 months now. After her examination and my answers to his questions, her doctor decided that she probably has asthma. We have to give her nebulizer treatments twice a day of Pulmicort, and if she has a bad day, then we have to add Albuterol to the mix. It may be that she'll only need this in the winter, but we won't know until we're past it. And it's all my fault because I have asthma...

Ever feel like maybe you shouldn't have had kids? Like you're not "breeding stock"? I worried about that a lot when we were TTC originally. As weird as it may sound, I often thought about dog breeding and how they prefer to have only the best of the best bred for the benefit of the genetic line. Here I am, I have PCOS, asthma, severe allergies, I'm overweight, short, and probably not the best looking person. Certainly not a perfect specimen of the human species, although I'd like to think I'm pretty smart since I always did well in school. I know I probably can't pass PCOS on to the next generation since the studies indicate that it runs through the paternal line (and that's true in my own family)... But the other stuff is all possible. Am I being irresponsible by allowing that genetic code to carry down to the next generation? I love Margaret with all of my heart, and then some... But I feel guilty that she is likely to have my health problems because I wanted a child so badly that I didn't consider the burdens I would be passing down to that child. It breaks my heart knowing that I'm the cause of these problems...

Trying New Things Out

In order to keep life interesting, I'm trying out new babywearing products. One of the most difficult is the wrap, which is essentially a long piece of fabric that you tie on in various ways. It's pretty neat because of it's versatility... But on the other hand, I feel like I have to be a contortionist to get it right. Especially since I'm working with 5 meters (approximately 5.5 yards) of fabric! Here's an attempt at a back carry, with the help of Brian since I couldn't do it myself: