She spent it being a brave little trouper, smiling even though she was worse today than she was yesterday. And, yes, she was the only one in our family who wore green today.
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| “This is my lucky shirt.” |
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| “My 1st St. Patrick’s Day” bib. |
Category Archives: coraline
St. Patrick’s Day 2011 Coraline’s First
Filed under baby, coraline, mommyblogging, photography
Learning to Trust My Mothering Instincts
Song Lyric of the Day:
The devil ain’t lazy, no siree / The devil ain’t lazy, no siree / He likes to see us fight and fuss / Makes us mean enough to cuss / And then he blames it all on us / He works 24 hours a day
As I wrote the other day, Coraline’s been sick. We thought she had a cold, like she’s had — and kicked — before. She seemed to be getting better yesterday, but this morning when I got her up not only was she still coughing, but I noticed a raspy/wheezy sound to her breathing that wasn’t there before. As soon as I heard her, my gut told me I needed to call the doctor ASAP. I got her in for an afternoon appointment, fully prepared to be diagnosed with Newmommyitis. After all, the other day I almost convinced myself that she was developing pneumonia. To say that I’m paranoid about her being/getting sick is an understatement, one I imagine I share with most new parents.
Well, it turned out to be a good thing that we took her in (Rich left work to meet us there). The doctor examined her, finding that her lungs were clear and that she did not have an ear infection. Her RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) test, however, came back positive and the doctor diagnosed her cough as croup, to boot. The poor kid is miserable, with a runny nose, horrible congestion, and a hacking cough. She is now on Prednisolone to clear up the inflammation around her vocal cords (which is what causes croup — news to me). Her doctor said with RSV you usually get worse before you get better, and he suspects that Coraline is in that downswing right now. We have a recheck on Friday to see how she’s doing. She’s under orders to not go anywhere for the next couple of days, so I’ll be working from home tomorrow and Friday to take care of her; Rich also arranged to work from home the next couple of days so I don’t have to manage Sick Baby Duty by myself. We’re very fortunate that our jobs can accommodate this type of situation (not to mention our bosses’ support). Now to get Miss Baby back to 100 percent …
As for me, I’m not only happy and relieved to know that Coraline will be okay, but that I wasn’t being overly paranoid (Rich was also very concerned, just not as paranoid as I was). In this case my paranoia/concern turned out to be legit. I was validated for being worried, so I’m really glad that I trusted my instincts and got her in before she got even worse. Seems I’ll get the hang of this whole motherhood thing yet. Now to get to bed. It’s been a long day.
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| “I’m sick?! You’re joking!” (173 days old, 3/15/11) |
Sick Baby
Song Lyric of the Day:
Hospital food / It’s gonna help the medicine go down / Want some hospital food
Heads up: This post is going to contain lots of references to baby vomit, enough to make up a drinking game. Consider yourselves warned.
Having a sick baby is no fun: They’re too little to medicate without a doctor’s input and they can’t tell you exactly what’s wrong. The past couple of days were bad ones for Coraline. She started out with the sniffles on Saturday and by Sunday was really congested with a runny nose, a hacking cough, and absolutely miserable. A saving grace: She did not have a fever. Sunday was a lonnng day of trying to keep her as comfortable as possible — she was whiny and cried inconsolably most of the day, she felt so bad. No sooner had I given her a six-ounce bottle than bleeecccccccchhhhhhhhhh I was wearing it. All of it — she didn’t keep any of that bottle down. (Being on the receiving end made me think of that vomiting scene in Family Guy.) That’s when I started to panic. After changing her and getting out of my now-soggy clothes, I hopped online to look up symptoms of pneumonia in infants. Thankfully, she didn’t have the big symptoms: lethargy, fever, and weakness. She was still active, had a normal temperature, and was as strong as she always is. Coraline even got to feeling better after vomiting, albeit temporarily, it turned out. The vomiting was definitely a flag, though, so Rich and I agreed we’d take her to Children’s Hospital if she vomited like that again; we couldn’t risk her getting dehydrated. She managed to keep her next bottle down in its entirety. She only spit up a little during her overnight feeding (which I handled; I’m lucky that way), but nowhere near the amount she did that afternoon. I did have to change shirts again, though.
She looked better yesterday morning when we woke her up. When I called my mom, who keeps Coraline while we’re at work, to check up on her, the news was good: Coraline had a normal temperature, hadn’t vomited, was playing with her toys, and was trying to watch TV (she is my daughter, after all). Last night at home went pretty well, with her even feeling up to doing her best jumping bean impression in her exersaucer. Here’s hoping she finishes kicking this bug to the curb soon.
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| Not feeling too shabby on Saturday. |
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| Not feeling so great on Sunday. |
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| On her way to feeling a bit better on Monday. |
Filed under baby, coraline, mommyblogging, personal
The Beauty of Sleep
Song Lyric of the Day:
And now It’s always good / I fell asleep from day / And all the promises
Chemical Brothers featuring Hope Sandoval / “Asleep From Day“
When Coraline was first born, she didn’t sleep well. It seemed like she actively tried to sleep as little as possible overnight. Of course, newborns can’t tell night from day, but still. No sooner had I finished nursing her than she’d wake up again in 20 minutes wanting to be fed again. And 20 minutes after that. And so on. Needless to say, this did not sit well with my former insomniac self. Bad late-night TV only got me so far.
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| Snug as a bug in the hospital. |
A few months in (three, I think), she finally started sleeping for four-hour stretches. Me being me, this first time this happened I woke up in a panic thinking something was wrong. By then I was so used to being woken up by her that when she didn’t wake me up, I still woke up. So I still wasn’t sleeping well, keeping my bat-like hearing on high alert for even the smallest peep from her. Seriously — I used to wake up in our ranch house in Virginia from the cats walking on the carpet. In the living room. Bat. Like. Hearing.
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| Swaddle Pod! |
And on she slept. She could finally tell night from day and soon started sleeping up to six hours at a time. But she did her best to average four.
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| No Swaddle Pod can hold my arm in! |
Coraline really started sleeping well once she graduated from her bassinet to her crib at the start of this year. I think the combination of more space and a firm mattress made the difference. Or else Rich and I were snoring while she was in the bassinet in our room and she relished the peace and quiet her very own room afforded her. (I admit: I tend to shout/chirp/mumble in my sleep. The spouse loves that habit of mine. LOVES it. I’ll bet Coraline loved it, too.)
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| All this room, this firm mattress — so luxurious! |
No more swaddling, no more bassinet. Just a sleep sack and a big crib. Soon, even longer stretches of sleep followed. And finally, a couple of days before she turned five months old, the magical proverbial switch flipped: She now sleeps through the night, going to bed for the night between 8 and 8:30.
Sucking her thumb while she sleeps on her tummy.
And yet her mommy still sleeps with both her ears open.
Filed under baby, coraline, mommyblogging, personal, sleep
Photoblogging: Happy Girl
Coraline enjoys some time on her gym (118 days old, 1/19/11).
Filed under baby, coraline, photoblogging, photography
Trying Not to Drown on Dry Land
Song Lyric of the Day:
Oh it tears me up / I tried to hold on but it hurts too much / I tried to forgive but it’s not enough / To make it all okay
I’ve been doing my best to stay positive of late. Our A-frame in South Knoxville has still not sold, Coraline’s fighting nursing, our roof is leaky, people close to me have ruined their relationships, reality shows continue to take over TV, etc. Even something as mundane as work computer problems yesterday felt like another nail in the proverbial coffin. Last night I curled up under my Slanket and had a good cry. I’m doing a lot better today, so that’s good.
No matter what stresses we’re dealing with these days, at least we had a good long holiday weekend. Saturday Coraline’s Grandma Carol and Grandpa Doug came over for awhile, followed by our good friend and Coraline’s honorary aunt, Tamara. After the grandparents left, Tamara joined Rich and I for two games of Settlers of Cataan. Guess who didn’t win no matter how competitive she got? Someday I will win at that damn game. I’ll be sure to shout it from the rooftops when I do. Sunday we went over to our new neighbors’ house, where I finally got to formally meet the mom and her three sons. I won’t say Coraline was flirting with the boys, but let’s just say she certainly enjoyed the attention. After that, errands and then some downtime.
Monday we finally took down the Christmas tree and decorations. I insisted on keeping them up that long since Coraline got so many (eight? nine?) Christmas outfits I wanted to take photos of her in front of the tree wearing some of them. Because that’s what being a mom is all about: dressing your baby up for your own amusement.
As crappy as some things have been lately, Coraline never fails to cheer me up without even trying. And last night she hit a milestone: She slept through the whole night!
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| The part you can’t see says “Just ask Grandma.” |
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| Coraline Claus reporting for duty |
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| You know I really can’t sit up in this thing, right? |
Photoblogging: The Kind You Don’t Take Home to Mother
You think her outfit has attitude, you should meet her in person.
1/10/11, 109 days old
Filed under baby, coraline, photoblogging, photography
My Happy for the Day: Coraline Hits the Gym
This is one of my favorite things these days: watching Coraline play on her gym. She “talks” to the flashing, smiling sun at the top of it, the one that blinks in time with the music. She’s just now started grabbing the toys that hang from it and staring at her reflection in the mirror. Filmed on 1/5, 11, when she was 104 days old.
Filed under baby, coraline, mommyblogging, my happy for the day, video
Photoblogging: Coraline Dressed to the Nines for New Year’s Eve
Rich and I found this little tuxedo onesie awhile back and couldn’t resist picking it up for our girl. It seemed like the perfect outfit for her to wear to celebrate her first New Year’s Eve. Complete with tiny gold top hat, of course.
Filed under coraline, new year's eve, photoblogging, photography
