See what happens when we let her out of the bubble?

On Thursday we went to storytime at Imaginon and SB wanted instead to wander about and touch everything she could get her little hands on.  Including toys that other little kids were holding on to.  Whoops.  How do you teach your little one not to grab other people’s stuff?  The world has been her oyster up until the moment I told her not to steal Thomas the Train away from that nice little boy.  Anyway, that nice little boy or some other kid apparently shared their virus with SB and she got her first official cold, complete with fever and…drum roll…the dreaded croup. 

Poor baby.  I didn’t even know what croup was until I googled it.  “Inflammation of the voice box and windpipe” um that doesn’t sound good.  Our little baby girl doesn’t have that big a pipe to begin with.  Now she sounds like she’s been smoking a pack of Marlboros a day for 62 years.  The doctor says she’ll be fine in a few days.  Her fever is already gone and the runny nose is slowing down.  Now it’s just the awful barky cough when she gets fussy.

So this sick baby thing is all new to us.  It’s been quite an education.  First of all, I don’t know how you full-time working parents with baby in daycare getting colds all the time do it.  Our shiny happy baby was a sad, pitiful mess all weekend.  She has cried more in the past few days than she has cried in all her 15 months combined, I think.  Her sleep is all screwed up so she’s tired and cranky.  Oh my goodness.

Pitiful.

 So here are a few things I learned:

When baby is sick, the house quickly turns into a disaster.  Kurt said something about the kitchen being a mess but it didn’t even register to me because OUR BABY IS SICK hello!  She needs Mommy to snuggle with her, not clean the macaroni and cheese off the floor.  It’s easier to clean up once it hardens anyway, right?

When baby is sick, Mommy doesn’t sleep.  Even when SB does fall asleep for a few hours, I found myself laying there in bed glued to the baby monitor listening to every sound.  Naturally, the moment I finally dozed off, she woke up in need of Mommy comforting.  Incidentally, I tried sleeping on her floor but it was so uncomfortable, I kept moving around and waking her up.  I guess I need a blow up mattress instead of 20 small baby blankets in a pile on the rug.

When baby is sick, Mommy gets sick.  It’s impossible to avoid when my sweet girl sticks her fingers into her mouth and then sticks them into my mouth (or nose or eyes...)   She wants to share everything with Mommy.  Cough cough.

When baby is sick, there’s not much to do except watch TV.  Watching 8 hours of Nick Jr is enough to drive a person insane.  I knew that I had absorbed too much when I found myself humming the theme song to “Jack’s Big Music Show” at 3 in the morning as I was trying to fall asleep.

Her nap schedule has been out the window and as I type this she is asleep next to me on the couch.  I dare not try to move her.  Fortunately, she's feeling much better today and even managed a trip to the grocery store.  I got her a "Get Well Soon" mylar balloon which she has enjoyed toting around the house.  Hopefully tomorrow we'll get out for a walk and some fresh air and be well on the road to recovery...