Nothing like a little love to make you feel better

I am working from home today recovering from a 24 hour bug that laid me low all day yesterday. This is the first time I've been sick since Cameron has become so aware and so verbal. I will detail a two of our exchanges below.

Me: Mommy's not feeling good so why don't we watch some TV? (Desperately keeping her occupied while DH took an evening work call.)
Cameron: Your tummy hurts?
Me: Yes, my tummy hurts.
Cameron: I give you hug!
She proceeds to give me a big hug and put her hand on my forehead to check and see if I have a fever (DH had done the same thing earlier).

This morning I had enough energy to drive her to school. As we were getting in the car:
Cameron: Your tummy hurts?
Me: Mommy is feeling much better and I will be going into work tomorrow.
Cameron: You wear make up and go to work?
Me: Yes, I will weak make up and go to work.
I just about lost it. Apparently sick, plain faced Mommy offends her aesthetic senses.

2011: No place to go but up

I consider myself a pretty optimistic person. I usually just anticipate that things will work out and I've rarely been disappointed. True, a planner by nature and type A personality helps guide things down the right path. But just 6 days into 2011 and I'm ready for it to be 2012.

Poor Cameron. And frankly, poor me and DH. She has barely eaten since Saturday and we're lucky if she goes 5 minutes without crying. Daycare worked with us on Tuesday and Wednesday so we were able to work normal hours. Thursday was a whole different story.

I started to suspect on Wednesday that there might be more going on with Cameron than just a sore on her lip. The not eating coupled with uncharacteristic constant crying and fussiness was just too much. I blocked off my Thursday afternoon and busted my butt at work in the morning in case we got the dreaded call. And it came at 10:45 AM. The teacher told me that Cameron suddenly had sores all over her mouth, inside and out. I had amused myself by Googling hand foot and mouth disease last night so I pretty much knew that was what she had.

But who am I to deny myself the 4th doctor's co-pay since we got back from the holidays? I made a doctor's appointment hoping for some advice on pain management and getting her to eat. And also, her breath stinks. I'm mean it's kind of close to gagging terrible. 6 days with negligible amounts of food was making me emotionally overwrought. Poor Cameron wants to eat but every time she put something in her mouth she would start crying. And don't get me started on trying soft, cold, bland foods. I went to the grocery store twice to stock up on food and she has refused everything. Heck, she refused ice cream!

Needless to say, the doctor diagnosed it as the coxsackie virus and gave us a codeine prescription to help with sleeping/pain. We haven't filled it yet because I am allergic to codeine and the last thing I want is for Cameron to break out in a rash on top of this stupid virus. He warned me that this is a 5-7 day type virus and told me that her bad breath would resolve when the virus does. I'm not sure I can wait that long! Interestingly, the doctor seems to think that Cameron's strep was a total coincidence. So I have hope that this virus started Saturday/Sunday and she'll be ready for daycare again on Monday. DH is hoping so too because I'm traveling to Darden on Sunday for a recruiting trip. As of tomorrow I will be done one sick day and it's only the first week of January. Good thing I can use my sick days for Cameron.

Please send us good thoughts and prayers for quick healing. If you saw Cameron's mouth you would think she has leprosy. I tried to find a picture example online but everything I saw was nothing compared to what she has. If she let's me take a picture of her mouth tomorrow (unlikely) I'll post it for you sickos who want to see it.

Overcoming a traumatic experience

Cameron was traumatized this weekend. No, it wasn’t breaking a femur or anything crazy like that. She just got sick and it touched off a traumatic experience that I need help from my readers to overcome.

On Friday Cameron woke up fussy and with a fever. I obeyed my mommy instincts and took her to the sick clinic when it opened, promptly at 8:30 AM. I love that her pediatric office does sick clinics! A 5 minute wait and we were lucky enough to be called back to meet with our regular pediatrician who was on duty. I explained that we had been around family who suffered from things like strep throat and bronchitis. Given we were going into a holiday weekend I wanted to get Cameron’s ears checked and have a test done for strep. Our doctor expressed skepticism that a not-even 2 year old could have strep but agreed to my request. The test wasn’t pleasant and DH was gagging in sympathy with Cameron. 10 minutes later we had our diagnosis: strep. The doctor was amazed and DH and I were thankful that we caught it early. We thought that after 3 days on antibiotics and pain meds Cameron would be well enough for daycare today. Sounds like a great plan, right? Oh, how wrong we were.

It started out OK. Aside from a phase in the 6-9 month stage Cameron has always taken her meds easily. I mean, they taste like candy so it shouldn’t be a problem! But for some reason the antibiotics didn’t kick in right away so I can only assume Cameron’s throat started hurting more and more. She took her meds no problem on Friday. Saturday I had to resort to bribing:

• Yes, you can have your paci downstairs but only if you take your medicine first.
• Yes, you can have your blankie downstairs but only if you take your medicine first.

You get the idea. Saturday night, however she refused everything. And, as you know, you can’t miss a dose of antibiotics. So DH and I rolled up our sleeves and forced Cameron to take the medicine, much as we did when she was younger: on her back, arms under our legs, head immobile, and squirt the medicine under the tongue to get her to swallow. It worked perfectly when she was a baby. Now she got so upset and cried so hard that she ended up aspirating and throwing up the medicine all over the floor, her blankie and lovie. (Side note: this is where “extras” come in handy for things like blankies and lovies. There was no time to do laundry before bed but Cameron never noticed a difference.)

Sunday morning found me in tears. Not just because of Cameron but also because I (as it turned out after 3 hours in the Minute Clinic waiting room) was suffering from a sinus infection. How the hell does DH avoid illnesses in our house?!? He must have a pact with the devil. We packed Cameron up and headed to the Sunday sick clinic hours at her pediatrician. This time we weren’t so lucky and it took us 90 minutes to get called back. After being gently lectured by an older male doctor about how to get Cameron to take her medicine (GRRRR…don’t you think we tried everything?) he acquiesced to a penicillin shot.

We were forced to give Cameron ibuprofen last night because she was still running a fever and couldn’t sleep. Same traumatic experience although she managed to keep most of the medicine down. Today we realize that she also has an open sore on her lip which is interfering with her ability to eat. What would make it better? Yup, medicine. We've been somewhat successful sneaking in Baby Orajel but other medicines are still a no-go. So, internet friends, help a parent out. How the heck to I overcome this over the next few days/weeks? How can I get Cameron back to taking medicine easily? Or have we scarred her for life?

PS - I do plan on bringing her to daycare tomorrow assuming we can push her some drugs first. It would do her good to get back into a routine after 4 days away and she isn't running a fever or contagious. It is DH's first day back after a 2 week vacation so I can't ask him to take another day off so I'll be working from home just in case we get the dreaded daycare call...so keeps your fingers crossed for us!

Excuse me while I whine

I’m sick. Again. While it’s not the soul sucking experience that was strep throat from two weeks ago the constant sneezing and blowing of my nose has resulted in a distinctly Rudolph-like appearance. Just in time for the holidays, right? It is compounded by a cold snap that keeps me from feeling warm more than a few hours a day (when I’m snuggled in bed with the furnace of a dog next to me). I’m trying to figure out why exactly it is that I’ve been getting sick so often. I’m in the best health of my life and at age 33 I figure I’ve been exposed to a lot of germs up this point which should have strengthened my immune system. Apparently germs from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia differ from North Carolina ones.

Cameron has been sick frequently but she seems to shake it off and/or ignore it successfully. Is it because she is young and oblivious to how she should be feeling? Is the fact that I’m middle aged (really, is 33 middle aged? Kind of a scary thought) and feel the aches and pains so much more? I’m liberally dosing myself with drugs and still feeling miserable.

Interesting, DH has yet to catch any of these bugs. I have a couple of theories about how he has avoided illness so far this winter. He works at home so he avoids the work germs that I come into contact with regularly. DH avoids errand running like it’s the plague. Yes, he will go grocery shopping and to Home Depot. Most other errands fall to me which I don’t mind because it gets me and Cameron out of the house. I’m also more willing to let Cameron stick her fingers in my mouth and feed me food than DH is. Cameron’s latest obsession is to force feed me and DH her snacks and she won’t take no for an answer. The best is when she puts in her mouth first and then forces it into mine. Lovely picture, isn’t it? Finally, I have a theory, corroborated by my friend, the Internet, that men just generally get sick less than women. This study confirms that men get sick less but whine about it more. I think DH would disagree with the last part of that hypothesis. I am woman…hear me complain.

Would you agree that women get sick more often than men? How has your winter been faring when it comes to illness?

Static cling

What a week, my internet friends. I had my 2011 strategy planning sessions for two days, two work dinner events, a possible UTI for Cameron (negative fortunately), had Cameron sent home from daycare for a fever and I’m still recovering from my strep throat from last week which has meant a 9 PM bedtime and little time in the evenings for blogging. DH has been a champ, stepping up to handle the UTI doctor’s appointment and staying home with Cameron for most of the day yesterday. I ducked out of my planning session early to take the afternoon shift. Keep your fingers crossed for us that Cameron doesn’t get sick for the rest of the year. I’m more than out of sick time (we don’t really track it at BigFinance) and we have our big travel for the holidays. In the meantime, enjoy the effects of cold, dry weather and thin, fine hair.

Remember when sick days were fun?

I used to love sick days when I was a kid. As a triplet, it would oftentimes be the only 1:1 time I had with my mom. Plus, when we were in high school my mom would give us the occasional mental heath day. As mostly straight A students with multiple extra curricular activities it was needed and appreciated. Aside from mono in college I also never really felt like I was hit by a truck when I got sick.

Now that I'm an adult with a child sick days aren't nearly as much fun. No more mental health days because I have to hoard my sick days in case Cameron gets sick or if she gets me sick. After a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends I took Cameron to the Discovery Place KIDS in Huntersville. Two hours after we arrived back home I started feeling sick. I was miserable all day Sunday and knew that it would only get worse. First I was annoyed because I got the damn flu shot so why was I sick? I knew it wasn't a cold. Around 5 PM I let my work team know that I would be out all day.

I went to bed at 8 PM and got up at 10 AM after very restless sleep (DH ended up sleeping in the guest room) and headed to the Minute Clinic. I love that place. There was no wait and after I listed my symptoms the doctor took a peak at my throat. "Yep, looks like strep throat," he told me. A 5 minute test confirmed the diagnosis and I was on my way to pick up antibiotics and go back to bed.

My biggest concern these days is that Cameron not get sick. Especially because DH is traveling right now and both of us sick at home with no back up is not my idea of a good time. Fortunately she seems to have avoided it so far although I'm wondering where I picked it up then.

The things that suck about being sick as an adult include having to worry about catching up on work. I'm fortunate that my team can cover for me but I still had to do about 2 hours worth of work. Which I did in a complete fog. So I hope there are no major mistakes! I have also found that the older I get the more sick I get. A cold that lasts Cameron a day or two knocks me out for a week.

The only silver lining? Well our dog, Charlie, would tell you that it's the fact he gets to sleep all day in bed with me. Lucky dog.

I hope this post made sense as my fog continues to grow. What do you dislike the most about being sick? Does your job have enough flexibility to allow for multiple sick days? I plan on being out tomorrow too with a meeting here or there.

Language development

This week has been a rough one primarily because Cameron was sent home from daycare AGAIN yesterday for a suspected case of pink eye. Second time this has happened. I was home already battling my own illness but still forced to be on multiple conference calls. DH picked her up and I made a doctor's appointment. Diagnosis? Double ear infection, no pink eye. While I am glad that we got a diagnosis on the ear infection (apparently it was pretty bad) I am disappointed in how frequently Cameron has been sent home over the past 6 weeks. Example A. So of course I decided it was time to have a little chat with the Assistant Director. It wasn't satisfactory but I'm glad I unloaded. Only time will tell if my complaints have a direct correlation with how often we are called to pick her up in the next few weeks. The girl still has two more molars coming in...

Getting off my high horse I thought I would copy A. and provide an update on Cameron's current language development. She is regularly calling DH "Dada" and irregularly calling me "Mama". I can understand her when she says, "All done" or "Again" but a person off the street would just think she was babbling.

DH swears that Cameron said, "apple juice" last week but I think it was a fluke. Also a fluke was "bottle" as clear as day about three weeks ago, never to be repeated. I try to hold her evening bottle (last one!) away to make her say it but she throws a fit so that doesn't work. Charlie is another word that I know she says but it kind of changes regularly.

Cameron definitely understands a lot more than she speaks. Key examples include:

• Give that to Mama.
• Where's Charlie?
• Where are your socks? Your shoes?
• Do you want to go outside?
• Where is your swing?
• Time to get into your car seat.
• It's time for school.
• Are you hungry? Do you want some dinner?
• Where's your paci?
• It's time to change your diaper.
• Do you want milk?

As I'm sure you can imagine, some of the statements or questions result in excited noises. Others, I'm looking at you diaper change (!), result in crying and throwing herself around. I have done exactly zero research on how Cameron compares in her language development with other toddlers. I assume she is statistically average and don't worry about it. Of course, now that I've written it down, I have to ask the experts (aka my readers) do you think she's on track? Any funny words that your kids starting saying early that just made you shake your head or laugh?

Teething challenges

Yesterday I got an email from DH that tersely said, "Cameron has a 100.5 fever so I am leaving soon to go get her." As soon as I got that email I shook my first in the air at life in general. In a way I was glad that I have been so swamped at work that I didn't answer my phone when daycare called me first. I didn't even see the call because I have been literally running from meeting to meeting and sometimes I even managed to be on two at once. Blackberry in one ear and my desk phone in the other. And I was a critical component on both calls. Gah.

If I had answered the phone I would have had to immediately cancel a series of calls that I had set up to deal with a major issue that could derail my entire project. Did I feel some guilt that it was DH and not me going to comfort our daughter? A smidgeon. But a minuscule one. Work has been absolutely insane and all I could think was, "Crap, now she has to stay home tomorrow too." I scrambled to cancel some non-critical calls but there were still about 5 hours of meetings I had to be in Friday (today). Fortunately daycare threw us a bone. We knew that the fever was a result of teething. They knew it too. She wasn't eating anything and was crying constantly with her hand in her mouth. Cameron ended up getting jarred baby food and a bottle of formula while she was there. That's how badly her mouth was hurting.

When DH picked Cameron up the daycare teachers told him that if she was doing fine tomorrow that she could come back in. It was like manna dropping from heaven. That's how relieved I was when DH told me. He brought her home and immediately administered our life saving drug, Motrin. It works so much better for teething than Tylenol because it lasts longer and helps with the swelling. Cameron seemed to sleep well (no major wake ups necessitating a new dose of medicine) and actually opened her mouth wide and sucked down the medicine this morning. Perhaps she's finally realizing the cause and effect of medicine providing pain relief? Her bottom left molar hasn't popped through the gum yet and I'm already dreading the top 2 that still have to come in. Her other teething pains were nothing compared to this. Plus, now that's she older she has a much bigger set of lungs on her and the incessant crying isn't fun for any of us.

For the parents of other infants who have yet to experience the pains of molars, let this post be a warning to you. Use drugs early and often. Any other horror stories out there about the big teething moments for your children?

Now that it's Monday, I can relax

As I mentioned in my last blog post, juggling work and childcare is virtually impossible. So I avoided even checking my email over the weekend so I could focus on Cameron. Let's just say she made that very challenging. If it wasn't for her 2 and sometimes 3+ hour naps I would be worn to the bone.

I think she's teething. It can't be anything else. Let me describe our weekend and you can weigh in on my opinion. Wake up happy. Suck down morning bottle. Fuss a little. Eat hardly any breakfast. Go down for 3+ hour morning nap. Wake up. Cry at the drop of a hat. Want a pacifier all the time. Refuse to eat lunch...maybe a few scoops of apple sauce. Go down for 2 hour nap. Wake up. Cry at the drop of a hat....and so on and so forth. We are still doing a morning and evening bottle and Cameron is so hungry for them that I know she wants to eat.

Our saving grace (and I can't believe I am writing this and thus possibly bringing down retribution from the karma gods) is that she sleeps wonderfully. Sick. Healthy. Teething. Fussy. She'll go to bed normal time and sleep through the night. She actually slept until 9 AM on Sunday! After going down at 6:30 PM the night before. Absolutely amazing.

Cameron is still missing her fourth bottom tooth. Given how easily the third one came in I'm thinking that this is either incisors or molars. What have other parents experienced in the teething department. Can I hope that the worst will be behind us in another day or two?

Another day, another juggle

I very happy it is Friday, if for no other reason then I won't have to juggle both work and Cameron over the weekend. These past 3 days have been stressful and chaotic for DH and me. We got a call on Wednesday at 11 AM that Cameron had a 102 degree fever. DH went over to pick her up and I packed up my computer to head home.

Like every other daycare out there we knew that Cameron would be home on Thursday at least before she could go back to school. What we didn't realize is she picked up a virus that has kept her fever going, clocking in at 101 this morning. For 2 1/2 work days DH and I have had to figure out our schedules, pray for long naps and try to avoid feeling completely overwhelmed. We're fortunate that we can both work at home but we also need to negotiate conference call conflicts. We are both in a very busy work period with little down time, even when Cameron is healthy and in daycare. I've been clocking longer hours in general and the only blessing that Cameron got sick this week is that one of my key contacts (read PITA, ridiculous expectations client) is out on vacation.

I'm very thankful that we have been able to juggle but it is definitely time for us to look into alternative childcare situations for when Cameron is home sick. The best scenario is for one of the two of us to just take the day off of work so we can devote full time care to her. Unfortunately if things continue at this hectic pace, it's just not possible. Another sticking point is that DH works from home so if we bring someone into our home it would be an added stress for him. I couldn't do it if I worked from home. I'd be constantly checking on things and unable to concentrate. I think that men are better able to compartmentalize, however.

I am also going to be very thankful when we can drop Cameron off at daycare and our lives return to normal. She is definitely still her happy, playful self. Just with a fever. And very long (2-3 hour) naps. On a good note I called her pediatrician yesterday at 11:50 and we were seen by her regular doctor at 12:15. How great is that? No ear infection, just a bug and the fourth kid that day they saw with the same symptoms. Nothing but a fever and a slight runny nose.

How do the rest of you handle juggling work with a sick kid? Do you have back up childcare? Is it normally Mom or Dad who has to sacrifice work for family?

My adventures at the Minute Clinic

After I wrapped up a long day of calls and wrangled a very tired and cranky daughter my left ear started really hurting. As in, holy crap, I think I have an ear infection. I've been sick off and on for several weeks. It's starting to effect my attitude towards work, my general energy levels and the snoring is driving DH nuts.

After putting Cameron down for bed I decided to look up the Minute Clinic. My sister, A., recommended it as an alternative to making a usually inconvenient appointment with my primary care physician. I found one a few miles from my house and resolved to head out to be there for its 8:30 AM open.

I woke up at 12 AM coughing my fool head off and quickly downed some NyQuil in the hopes that I could return to sleep fairly quickly. For a change, and probably because I am so run down, it worked and I woke up fairly refreshed but still sick.

In accordance with my plan I made it to the Minute Clinic at 8:20 AM. And there was already one person in line ahead of me. I had a 9 AM call that I had to be on but I was hopeful that the 15 minute appointment guidelines would apply. And it totally did!

Super easy check in process although I was annoyed to see that Cameron has to be 18 months old to receive care. When I was called back into the room and started listing my symptoms everything was noted down electronically. A quick swipe of my insurance and FSA and I had two recommendations for over the counter drugs and a prescription sent over to my regular pharmacy. The nurse practitioner was very friendly and asked relevant questions. Total time? 15 minutes in and out. I'm sure that wait times vary depending on the time or day but when I left there were 3 people on the list behind me.

I loved that I could go on my time and didn't have to deal with the hassles of paperwork. Diagnosis? Sinus infection. Hopefully I'll be well on my way to recovery by this weekend. Have you ever been to a Minute Clinic? How does it compare to an Urgent Care?

The post where I wonder how WAHM can also be SAHM

In case some of my readers aren't up on the lingo WAHM stands for Work at Home Mom (not to be confuse with WOHM "Work out of Home Mom") and SAHM means Stay At Home Mom. I prefer to be known as awesome.

Yesterday Cameron was home from daycare with a double ear infection. Yup, DH and I thought it might be pink eye but lo and behold it was really the ear infection. My sister was incredulous that we had no idea. "You mean she didn't wake up during the night multiple times?" Nope. That's not how Cameron rolls. But we did know something was wrong so off to the doctor's DH went with Cameron. Diagnosis in hand we decided to keep her home for the day so she would nap better and recover more quickly.

Unfortunately neither of us could take the day off of work. DH's calendar was a bit more flexible than mine but I had about 5 hours of conference calls where I was an integral component. So not only did I have to have my headset on for most of the day, multitasking was absolutely out. It worked out OK but I was pretty stressed for most of the day even with DH shouldering the heavier load with childcare. And Cameron napped for about 5.5 hours total. All in all it should have been a piece of cake but it was still stressful. I could never really concentrate on Cameron when it was my time to care for her or work when I was supposed to be herding cats on my conference calls.

As I lay on the couch in exhaustion catching up on the 8 (!) episodes of Fringe we have saved I wondered, how do the women who work full time jobs also juggle being the primary care giver during the day for their kids? I don't mean freelance work which can technically be managed in "off" hours (although talk about tiring!) but a 9-5 job. I met one woman at BigFinance who told me proudly that she was going to be working at home while watching her 6 month and 5 year old sons. Really? I'm sure that worked out fabulously.

I have an exceptionally happy, long napping baby and there is no way in hell I could do it for more than a day. And that was with DH. I worry that technology has allowed us to juggle too many things. I appreciate the flexibility from BigFinance and the technological tools that allow me to work from home at least once a week. But when I work from home, I work from home. Sure, I might throw in some laundry or run an errand or blog but my time and attention is focused on work.

What do the rest of you think? Totally possible to juggle a full time day job and caring for kids? I assume that it would get easier as the kids get older but I would think that 0-6 is the hardest.

PS - Cameron is doing totally great today and didn't even glance at me as I waved goodbye after dropping her off at daycare. And I am happily ensconced at my desk slogging through email.

Monday Mommy Musings

Cameron has her first case of pink eye. I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping we could have avoided this milestone for many more years. DH is bringing her to the doctor this morning and he'll be on baby duty until I get home tonight. I think this is the first time he's had her alone for an entire day (vs. in the mornings and evenings when I'm traveling) so please wish him luck. I'm more concerned about having to put drops in Cameron's eyes. This is a baby who refused to take sugary sweet Tylenol or Motrin. I can't imagine how bad it will be to keep her eye pried open while squeezing drops into it. Fun times, I'm sure.

Probably the worst part? I didn't know Cameron had pink eye so we went to Holden's birthday party and interact with 3 other babies. Sorry, moms! I did the responsible thing and emailed them and I hope that there wasn't too much cross-contamination of germs. Update: Cameron looked fine this morning except for a scratch underneath her eye. So we dropped her off at daycare per usual with the hope that we don't get the dreaded pick up call.

We're slowly introducing milk in Cameron's bottles. 2 ounces milk, 4 of formula. After a week I'll go to 50%, and so on. She should be close to 100% whole milk by the time we go for her 12 month well appointment. In other fun eating news, Cameron is now refusing to eat anything that is jarred food related (yogurt is out, for example). It looks like the 8-10 jars we have left are going to get donated. We'll also probably end up with at least 1/2 of a tub of formula too. I hate throwing out that stuff...it's so expensive.

Standing...always standing. That is Cameron's new mantra. Cuddling with mommy? No way. And let's not forget - she can do it by herself. No help necessary or wanted. It has resulted in quite a few head bumps and bruises but that's why they make skulls so hard, right? Last night was the first where Cameron decided she wanted to stand in the tub while taking a bath. Aside from some initial nervousness about slipping and whacking her head I actually kind of preferred it. It was so much easier to soap her up in all the right spots. Bath toys have become a must and the little squirters are the best.

Finger nail clipping has become a pain in the ass. Cameron has a couple of scratches on her face because it's a battle for me to clip even one nail at a time. I miss those days of clipping away while she was breastfeeding. Does anyone have any advice on how to make the nail clipping process a little easier?

Another challenge for us is hair. Cameron has the mullet going but because her back hair is curly you can't tell. But I'm more concerned about the hair falling down into her eyes. Daycare sent her home with a Pebbles ponytail (with a rubber band!) and I took it as a message. The only problem is that I can't find good hair fasteners that will stay put and not interfere with napping or be a choking hazard for the other kids when it eventually falls out. I'm adamant about not cutting her hair. Not because I want to be like Celine Dion or Kate Hudson but more because once you start cutting bangs you either need to keep doing it or deal with the pain of growing it out later. Goddess In Progress wrote about this in January and I'm hoping once Cameron's hair gets longer things will be easier. Anyone else have advice?

When a doctor's note isn't enough

Cameron has been sick all week. She's been fever free since Monday but as I wrote in my last post she has a wicked bad sore throat. I'm allowed to say "wicked" as I hail from Massachusetts. DH and I have been layering her pain medications - Motrin and Tylenol. But still she will eat maybe 3 ounces in a sitting if we're lucky.

I thought ahead and got a doctor's note outlining the dosage of the two medicines. Go me, I thought, patting myself on my back. This way the day care will have to give Cameron her medicine. After all, I had a doctor's note.

Nope. No deal. Apparently the day care will not give medicine unless it's a life threatening situation. Not to put my crass hat on or anything but WTF? I totally get that they are trying to avoid liability but what if Cameron had an ear infection and needed antibiotics while in school? Is DH supposed to interrupt his day and make a round trip to the day care to give her the medicine? I say DH because he is much closer than me and would have to be the one to do it.

Has anyone else experienced this with your day care? Do I have any recourse here? Cameron still has a sore throat and I'm worried she will drink even less than she has been for us.

Struggling with control

Yesterday after her second (brief) nap, Cameron woke up crying with a 102 temperature. DH and I coddled her and gave her some Tylenol and put her down for a longer third nap. The biggest problem? She wouldn't eat.

I should have known something was off when she woke up and ate only 3 ounces instead of her normal 6. She did it again eating only two ounces after her morning nap. For some reason Cameron refusing her bottles frustrates me more than any other thing she does. I have no idea why that is. Whine for an hour? Fine, my ears might hurt but my frustration level stays moderately low. Take a short nap? Roll my eyes and tell her that she's going to get a fourth nap that day. But refuse to eat? It immediately increases my blood pressure.

I wonder if ultimately it all hearkens back to breastfeeding. It was a struggle to get Cameron to nurse consistently for many weeks. So all I could do was obsess about how much she was eating. Dropping over a pound off her birth weight didn't help either. So somehow eating became that trigger that would result in me passing her off to DH and walking out of the room if she refused to eat.

Up until we went to the doctor's earlier this afternoon I was convinced that it was teething. True, DH was sick last week and 102 is high for a teething fever but Cameron was still a happy baby in general. Plus there was a lot more drool than normal. Then I thought it might be her ears although she wasn't tugging at them too much. Regardless I took a day off from work and we went to the doctor's after a nice long morning nap. Turns out Miss Cameron has a very bad sore throat. Not strep but blisters are involved.

All we can do is give her Tylenol and Motrin. The doctor recommended Cameron stay out of school tomorrow. DH will be the taking the lead on that one while I head back to work. I thought ahead and even had the doctor write a note for daycare so if she was still a bit out of sorts we could have them give her pain relievers when she returns on Thursday.

Once I had a diagnosis I felt much better. My patience level has increased dramatically and I didn't try to fight Cameron when she refused another bottle. I am beating myself up a bit over being so stressed about her not eating. How about the rest of you? What are the things that really increase your stress level with your kids?

In the market for a stroller and car seat

Yesterday was a Bank holiday which was perfect because Cameron's school had a teacher's workshop day so it was closed. DH and I took Cameron to the doctor's office for a quick check up and H1N1 vaccination. I scheduled her an appointment last week because she has been battling a cold for several weeks and I was concerned about the wheezing I heard, especially when she first woke up. We have a humidifier running but it didn't seem to help. Isn't it totally typically that of course Cameron sounds much better and all her symptoms stopped just before we went to the doctor's? We went anyway because I had called the day before and asked if they FINALLY had any H1N1 flu shots in and they did.

As we walked back to the room I asked the nurse if Cameron could get her H1N1 first vaccination while we were there. I couldn't schedule for it because technically it was a "sick" appointment. The nurse replied, "We have some but not for her age group." Immediately I questioned her, "What do you mean? What age group is getting the shots?" She avoided answering and directed me to talk to the doctor when we saw him. I have to admit I stewed a little. Cameron is only seven and half months old and in day care full time. How can she not be in one of the age groups that the practice was prioritizing. Fortunately the doctor was excited that we wanted to vaccinate Cameron and he ordered the shot for us. Apparently there were only 5 doses left so I guess it's a good thing we had an 8:30 AM appointment! Now I have to schedule her booster shot but I figure there should be less supply issues in a month.

Cameron is up to 18 pounds, 9 ounces. Not sure what % that puts her in but she is trucking right along with her growth. And getting VERY heavy to lug in her Graco SnugRide car seat. What does that mean for us? Time to start researching new car seats and strollers. I would love to hear recommendations from readers for both. In the car seat arena we are looking for a convertible and something that isn't too expensive since we have to get two car seats for day care pick up / drop off purposes. For a stroller I am looking for something fairly light and easy to open and close. Other than that I just need it to recline enough so that Cameron can nap if we happen to be on the go. I know many of you have been down this path before so any and all advice is welcome!

Daylight savings success

I haven't decided yet if Fall Back is going to be easier than Spring Forward for Cameron. I know when I was a kid I used to love Daylight Savings in the Fall. Simply put, it allowed me to gain an extra hour of sleep. That made getting to Sunday School a lot easier. Conversely, I hated Spring Forward. Loosing and extra hour of sleep? It took me days to get my equilibrium back. For babies I think that the opposite would be true. Fall Back is harder because they wake up and have to deal with grumpy parents who keep saying, "You know it's only 5 AM, right?" Spring Forward just means parents either have to wake their kids up earlier to keep the same timing or deal with a "later" morning. I guess I'll know for sure in 5 months when it's time to turn the clocks ahead.

Cameron did wonderfully this weekend. I've still been getting up far too early (5 AM) to get her a bottle but she falls right back asleep until 7ish. So on Sunday after her 4 AM bottle I managed to stretch her to 6:30 AM (mentally considering it to be 7:30 AM). Cameron's bed time was a bit earlier than usual but no more than 15 minutes. And to top it all off, she had 2 two hour naps each day over the weekend. Isn't that awesome!?! I love nap consolidation. Of course I kept thinking she would wake up so I wasn't nearly as productive around the house as I could have been. But now that we know, DH is already planning to buy a second rake so I can help him next weekend. I hate raking leaves. It just seems so futile. Especially because only 25% of the leaves are down. Can't we be "that" house that waits until all of the leaves are down and then rake?

In other news Cameron continues to battle a cold. I'm starting to get concerned because it has been weeks and she doesn't seem that much better. She coughs infrequently and has some wheezing in her lungs and a slight runny nose. No fever and she seems to sleep fine at night. Am I crazy? Should I go ahead and bring her in? Figures that our co-pay just went up from $20 to $35. Stupid health insurance.

Six month stats

As of 9/28/09 Cameron is:

26 inches long (50%)
16 pounds, 2 ounces (50%)
42 1/2 cms head (50%)

She is perfectly average all around! So everyone who stops me and tells me how little she is can suck it :-) Yes, not nice but it's a little insulting to hear, "She's so little" all the time.

Cameron was a real trooper with the shots. She didn't cry at all for the first shot and only for 30 seconds after the other two. The doctor's office didn't have the combo shot on hand so we did the Rotavirus oral followed by the first dose of the regular flu shot, Hib and DTaP. In a month we'll go back for the second flu shot, Prevnar and Polio vaccines. I decided to give Cameron the regular flu shot because she is in daycare and has already had two colds. There is no guarantee that this year's flu shot is the right "kind" of flu but if there is a chance to avoid illness, I'll take it. I plan on getting my own flu shot this year for the first time in 10 years. The last thing I want is to be sick while taking care of a baby!

I spoke with the doctor about two issues: Cameron's fluid intake and the H1N1 virus. On the feeding front it has been a struggle to get Cameron to eat even 24 ounces a day. It is usually more like 20-21 ounces. But the doctor wasn't concerned so I'm trying to be less worried on my end. It's hard though...

On the H1N1 front I simply asked whether we should be concerned about having the vaccine rushed into production. Her philosophy is that it's the same delivery system as the regular flu shot. I've been leaning towards getting the H1N1 for Cameron (and myself) simply because it really has been making the rounds and I hear it hits a lot harder, symptom-wise, than the regular flu. I'm still not 100% positive but I have some time to noodle on it and come to a final decision. The vaccine won't be out until October and I'm hearing November is more likely.

I'm working from home this week as DH leave on a business trip tomorrow. Cameron is taking what is sure to be a very long nap right now in her crib. Then DH will bring her to daycare. It's nice that we have that flexibility in our working lives to do that. And I know that she will really nap, as opposed to the 20-30 minute stretches she does at school!

Welcome to Fall, where exactly did Summer go?

I can't believe that today is the first official day of Fall. It feels like just yesterday I was pregnant and eagerly counting the days down until Spring and Cameron would arrive. Of course Fall in North Carolina isn't exactly like it was in New England. For starters it's supposed to hit 80 degrees today. Surprisingly we have started to lose leaves off the trees, mostly because it has been dipping down into the 50s at night. Perfect sleeping weather.

Speaking of sleeping, Cameron is basically sleeping through the night. She still requires swaddling and the occassional pacifier insertion but she's good for 11-12 hours. Woo hoo! Of course that's probably because she doesn't nap at daycare but that's a whole other post. We had a brief blip when she came down with a cold. Normally I'm not a worrying but her weezing was troubling so I decided to hit up the pediatrician. I took her to the doctor's (yay for Sunday hours!) and found out that her weezing would go away on its own and she didn't have RSV but she had an ear infection. Uh oh. Is this the start of recurring ear infections? I hope not although I suffered from them extensively as a child. Nice to see that my months of breastfeeding helped her to avoid illness [eye roll]. It was odd because she displayed no signs of an ear infection. No rubbing. No ear tugging. Nothing. I can only hope that she reacts that well once she finally starts teething.

In other news, Cameron is slowly adjusting to formula. She definitely still prefers the defrosted breastmilk but I got her to suck down 6 oz of formula this morning. We also switched to Level 2 nipples. We only have 4 so I have to pick up more. One of the reasons I wanted to switch nipple flows is because Cameron has been reducing the amount of liquids she takes and I'm hopeful she will take more if it's less work. True, she eats 3 pretty big meals a day (usually 2 jars or one jar + equal amount of rice cereal per feeding) but she's down to 24 ounces a day. Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be concerned? More importantly does less liquid mean she may stop sleeping through the night? Yes, that last one is really the most important.

Finally! My loathing of exercise is (somewhat) justified

I have mentioned previously that I am not someone who finds exercise to be even remotely enjoyable. There are a hundred other things I would rather be doing which is why I just don't exercise. Then I saw this front page article on CNN with the headline, "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin." Awesome. Yes, I realize there are other benefits to exercising. But right now I'm taking this as justification to continued exercise abstinence.

Speaking of health concerns...what's up with this swine flu vaccine? I'm hearing that the federal government might mandate it? Is anyone else concerned about the fact that this vaccine was rushed into existence and now production? I'm not sure I want Cameron to get it if there isn't sufficient evidence that it really works and there are no side effects. Thoughts from my readers?