There's a Reason They Call Colds Common

Brigid's cold seems to be getting better, although she's still on her antibiotic and motrin and we give her dimetap at night to help her breathe. Mine, on the other hand, has gotten full-blown, no pun intended. I'm surprised I lasted this long, what with having Brigid's face in mine all the time. Sharing germs will only last so long before they jump ship and transfer. It's times like these I wish I had stock in Kleenex.

Brigid's walking gets sturdier and sturdier every day. I came home from work yesterday and she and Jack were in the kitchen around the corner and I heard him say, "Look who's home." Brigid walked around the counter and out into the dining room right to me and grabbed my legs with that toddleresque embrace, then held her arms up for me to pick her up. Very cute. When you put her down on the floor, she doesn't just sink to her bottom to crawl away most times; she'll get her bearings on her feet and then walk away. She still topples or bumps back down on her padded backside, but with each day her time spent walking is longer than her time spent crawling.

Had a good night last night, although she had two aborted attempts at napping. Monday is jazz day for the girls, so I have to get them up and out the door no later than 4:15 in order to make it on time, but yesterday, Brigid decided she wanted some boob time about 4 p.m. This lulled her into a zombie trance and she started falling asleep just in time for me to have to get up and out the door with the jazz troupe. So she stirred and never fell back to sleep. She ran around (or cruised around) the waiting area of the dance studio, amazing all the other moms, who said things like, "Oh, I can't believe she's walking," and "Look at her go!" We got home and I got dinner on the table, and she was cranky the whole dinner, obviously tired, but she ate plenty of garlic-buttered noodles. She wanted to nurse again right after dinner and snuggled up to me while I checked email. She drifted off en boobe about 7, so I put her in her PJs and that helped wake her up enough to delay bedtime. The girls and I watched a little of "Deal of No Deal" (take the deal, for crying out loud, you greedy greedy people) and Brigid was in bed not much after Margaret and Patricia, about 8:45 p.m. She slept through until about 4:45 a.m. and cried out a bit, fell back to sleep, but cried pretty heartily again about 5 a.m. I brought her in with us and she fell back to sleep for another four hours! That's the magic of the boob... and the explanation for the shared cold.

Food on the Floor...Does She Think This is the Old Ground Round?

This was Baby Brigid yesterday afternoon, all snots and tears. Although she's been feeling better generally in the last 24 hours, she's still quite congested and snotty. Poor baby. She had a good long two-hour nap yesterday afternoon with me and was still able to get to bed at a reasonable hour considering her nap ended about 6:15 p.m. She slept through the night again. I got her and brought her into bed about 6 a.m. and she slept close to three hours more with us, nursing occasionally. Now I'm coming down with the cold. My head is full and my throat hurts, so we've succeeded in passing it between us. She woke up in a good mood and seems to be feeling generally better. The antibiotic is strong and the baby Advil works well. We also give her baby dimetap at night and that seems to help her sleep through. It's hard when she isn't feeling well because she's just so out of sorts.

Brigid's latest love is walking through the house from living room to kitchen. The magnets on the bottom of the refrigerator attract her attention (hahaha) but usually end up on the floor in front of the refrigerator. I put them back; she takes them off. Last night, she held onto a little stuffed bear as she rambled back and forth. I'd say, "Where's your bear?" and she'd look for it on the floor, pick it up and carry it to the next place. Carrying things around seem to be what babies like to do. But they themselves don't particularly want to be carried around at this stage.

She did manage to sit through some of "Shark Tale" last night and talked to the screen while Margaret, Patricia and I watched and ate chocolate ice cream. I don't know if it's her first taste of chocolate ice cream, but she sure enjoyed some of mine. That's probably why I'm nursing my own cold now.

Eating has become an adventure. While she's still nursing and eating soft baby foods, she's also enjoying the tastes of other things. Last night I gave her pea-size balls of mashed potato to pick up with her fingers. She'd eat a bit and say, "mmmmm." I'd give her another, and "mmmmm." Then she'd get a spoonful of babyfood carrot with mango. "mmmm." And so on. Pirate Booty is a particular favorite snack. We've steered away from meats not for any particular reason other than the potted variety is gross and the regular variety seems too much for her now. We'll probably give her meat in a stew of some kind first because it's soft and mushy. But there's no hurry if she's content to eat her veggies and fruits. She gets enough protein in mommy moo juice and has taken a liking to yogurt. She also eats egg by the fistfull. Loves scrambled eggs. With the head cold, she's having a hard time eating and breathing, so she's probably not tasting much right now. Sometimes that's not necessarily a bad thing. We're having fish tonight (it's the first Friday in Lent, afterall, so maybe we'll slip her some fish and see how it goes. It will probably "go" on the floor.)

She Puts One Foot In Front of the Other

Well, Brigid had a better night last night despite the raging cold. She had a full day's dosage of antibiotics for her ear infection. The doctor gave us a prescription with the idea that we'd fill it only if we thought she needed it. A screaming kid who has a fever who keeps tugging on her ear probably needs the antibiotic, so I filled it Tuesday, gave her the first dose then gave her the two yesterday. She went to bed at her regular time last night, about 8:30 p.m., and slept through most of the night without coming into our bed. She woke briefly and cried but settled back down and didn't stir again until 7 a.m. She came in and nursed and fell back to sleep between us until about 9. I was late for work but I didn't care; I was exhausted and needed the extra shut-eye. When I left for work this morning, she didn't seem as bad; her nose wasn't as crusty and she was in good spirits, unlike the last couple days.

And in spite of her cold, Brigid has truly had an explosion of development in the last week and a half. Whereas she had been teetering precariously any time she let go of the furniture in an attempt to walk, only in the last couple of days that has changed. She now walks the length of the room, in the center of the room. She's wobbly, but she's walking. And when she does fall, she plops down on her bottom and then crawls quickly to any steady object -- the wall, the couch, your leg -- to help her stand so she can walk again. Each day for the last three has seen marked improvement. And she's "talking" more. Her babbling has taken on a different sound and quality, as though the babbling is connecting to things. She also does some signs for things, looks at items she knows when you quiz her (like "where's Daddy?" or "Where's your bear?") and she goofs around to get a laugh, knowing her action will cause a certain reaction. She'll lay her head down on the floor on her stuffed bear and look cute for you to say, "Ohhh, awwww, so cute. Lay headie down go nigh-nigh." She'll pop her head back up, smile, and put it back down again so you can say the same thing. She'll do this over and over and over again. Then she'll get up and walk over to another stuffed animal or her dolly and do the same thing.

When I ask if she's all done in the high chair (or even just say "all done?") she raises her arms up to let us know she's all done. She's begun saying Dah Dah to mean Daddy. She says Ma muh ma muh but I don't know if it's discriminate yet. She will look to Patricia or Margaret if you mention their names, so she knows who you're talking about.

She's also figured out how to get down the little step between the living room and kitchen. She had been crawling head-first down until the other day when she took a good face plant. Then, all of the sudden, I noticed her figuing out how to best circumnavigate the path. She crawled to the edge, sat down and scooted her legs out in front of her to get her feet on the floor of the kitchen first, then she scooted out further and got into the kitchen on her legs instead of her face or chest and belly. Smart, smart kid. She really enjoys walking from the living room to the kitchen and back, and loves taking the magnets off the bottom of the refrigerator. Of course, she tosses them on the floor, but that's an activity she can do forever. When she's not screaming to be held because her nose is so stuffy, she's screaming to be put down so she can go off on her predetermined path ... living room, kitchen, living room, kitchen. So much for being able to contain her just in the little area of the fenced-off living room. I think it's just to help us adjust to a lifetime of independence.

PS The picture of Brigid in the polka dot dress is a bonus -- it's the dress Lisa Lewis gave us for Christmas.

This Cold We Could Do Without

Poor Baby B, she's had a rough couple of days so far. Yesterday (Presidents' Day) she started with a runny nose. Really runny. I was wiping it every couple of minutes and it started getting raw and obviously sore. By mid afternoon, she was really congested. She perked up on Tylenol so I took her to the mall for a walk. Patricia and Margaret were at Grandma and Granddad Downs' house for a sleepover, so it was just the baby and me. Brigid enjoyed walking (yes, walking) a little here and there. Her walking really took off yesterday despite her cold. So we did a little walking on foot and in stroller. We went to get Daddy at work to take him to Mangia's for dinner and by the time we got to the Press, Brigid was asleep in the carrier, so she slept through dinner until it was time to leave. Then she woke up and started crying with a sound that was so, "I'm-not-feeling-well." She ate a little there, but then we bundled her back up and I brought Jack back to work. The evening went downhill from there. I gave Brigid a bath, got her in her comfy jammies and gave her some baby Dimetap. She wouldn't settle down even though she was obviously tired. When Jack came home from work about 10 p.m. she was wide awake and playing with the magnets on the refrigerator. By midnight, she was in a full-out drug-induced hyperdrive. I couldn't settle her so brought her into bed with us whereupon she thrust herself and flailed about for an HOUR. She passed out just after 1 a.m. I transferred her successfully to her crib, where she slept until about 5 a.m. She woke screaming but managed to fall back asleep for about 20 more minutes. I got her up and she was boiling hot. I've been working on the sign for drink with her, and when I got her into bed, she wasn't interested in nursing, which really told me something, but she was giving me the sigh that she wanted a drink. I got her a sippy of water and she guzzled it down. She then fell asleep on me, a very unsettled sleep, until about 8 a.m. when I successfully shifted her down to the mattress on her own. She slept another hour but it was so fitful. She couldn't breathe, the poor baby. Her breathing is labored, her chest is rattling and she's started coughing now. I'm just about to leave for a 1 p.m. doctor's visit. I hope it isn't anything more than a cold, such as an ear infection or strep. She had a fever this morning, so something is going on. I hope to have some answers in a little while.

Home is Definitely Where My Heart Is

Well, our Baby Brigid is walking. She's not walking all over yet, but she's taking multiple steps in succession, which is the definition of walking. Sometimes she manages 8 or 10 steps at once; sometimes she gets in two or three, but she's upright and moving one foot in front of the other, so we'll take it. At 11 months, she's the latest of the three in terms of when they started, but I suppose if you have someone at every turn who's willing to pick you up and carry you about, walking on your own volition doesn't make a whole lot of sense. She seems very proud of her accomplishment, too. She just beams when she walks to you from wherever she's started. If she drops to the floor, she just crawls to you the rest of the way, equally happy with herself.

This last weekend marked the first time I was away from BB for any length of time, certainly overnight, as I was at a scrapbooking retreat. I was four days away from her, and it wasn't easy on any of us. I was pumping away from home to keep up the boob supply and Daddy was trying to keep her interested in what was on hand at home. My fear is I would be away for too long and she'd forget about me. At the scrapbooking retreat, I'd have moments of sadness being away from her and then someone would say something and I'd perk up and get on with scrapping or socializing with my scrapping friends. But at night, when I'd normally have nursed her before bedtime, I'd be a little sad, and more than a little engorged which would tell me I needed to pump. Meanwhile, Daddy was trying to get the baby to bed without benefit of the giant boob. He succeeded, but mornings were rough, too, because we bring her into bed for a little nursing in the morning, which gives us all a chance to sleep some more.

When I got home late Sunday night, I had to go in and look in on her, see her sleeping there, touch her back and downy head. Made me a little weepy, to be honest. I went upstairs and tucked in Patricia, who sat up talking to me in her sleep, and tucked in Margaret, who didn't stir. When Brigid woke at 4 a.m. I jumped up and ran to her, picking her up and snuggling her immediately. She reacted with such joy, it melted my heart. I brought her into bed with me and had a snuggle and she settled down for a long, long nurse and woke up happy to see me. I wasn't forgotten afterall. It was nice getting away, but even nicer coming home.

Look Ma, Almost No Hands!

Well, after weeks of gnawing on fingers, various days of fever and buckets of drool, Baby Brigid finally drove not one but two teeth through the bottom gums, one on each side of the two already there. It was a long time coming. This brings the total up to eight. And she's using them like a pro, gumming in the back what she can't bite into from the front.

And she is sooooooclose to walking. She wants to walk so badly. She's taken a step or two here and there going from one piece of furniture to another. She stands very well. And she never really wants to be held much any more. She wants to be down on the floor all the time, which presents a challenge because she's not walking. She's more prone to taking tumbles as she cruises the furniture and reaches or steps away.

Sleep has become fairly routine but the other night she woke up about 4 p.m. and cried her heart out. She fell asleep a half hour or so later only to wake up again about 5:30. I went in and picked her up. The poor sweetie had a full diaper. No wonder she was crying so early. Who'd want to be sleeping in a PJ full of poop? I had to change her, which only resulted in waking her more fully. It was hard getting her to settle back down, and she never really did fall soundly asleep, even in the big bed. It was a rough morning. And I'm afraid Daddy gets the brunt of it because he gets up early with the girls. But for the most part, her nights are sound and she wakes between 5:30 and 6:30 and then falls back asleep until about 8 in the big bed. She's going down to sleep abut 8:45 or 9 most nights. Her naps continue to be short (in the half-hour range) and she takes two most days. The true challenge is going to be Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week when I'm away on my scrapbooking retreat and Daddy has to get her when she wakes in the morning. I have the advantage of being able to nurse her back to sleep. He doesn't have the big guns to work with.

I'll be enlisting the help of Margaret and Patricia, especially on the weekend I'm away, so Daddy may be able to get some sleep in the mornings. We'll see if it works.

And speaking of Margaret, her rotation for swim class started in gym this quarter and she's dreading it. She has a chronic fear of jumping in the pool, and she's going to have to get over it. I'm not sure how you address something like that, and I'm hoping the gym teacher (he's the same guy who bought our Toyota from us five years ago) will have some suggestions for her.