Pukey baby

It's been a long three weeks/month and Casa Bennett. Apparently my home has turned into a germ factory and young Margaret Anne has been its main target. Poor chicken has had three stomach bugs and two ear infections since we before we left for Dallas on the 19th. Her poor mother (i.e. me) is very, VERY sick of this and I am willing to beg, borrow and steal whatever it takes to make her well again.

The latest bout started on Saturday night when she threw up her dinner just after I put her to bed. Since then, she's been alternating between throwing up about once a day and having diarrhea. After numerous phone consultations with the pediatrician, I went ahead and took her in yesterday afternoon. We went through several possibilities and checked that she didn't have an ear infection (thank heavens, since more antibiotics might mess her tummy up more). They do want to test for a urinary tract infection on the off chance that could be causing her trouble. But generally, they think her stomach is raw from all the upset and just needs time to heal. The game plan we came up with is to temporarily stop dairy to give her a break. That means going ahead and stopping formula, which I was going to start doing in a few weeks anyway. Then once she recovers, we can add back in cheese and start whole milk. Fingers crossed.

This whole thing has been messing with her sleep, too. And now without being able to feed her at night, she's up and not ready to go down again. Once she's healthy again, we'll have to do some tough love to get back to normal.

The whole thing has been totally stressing me out. I finally even went to my doctor yesterday because I was getting so worked up that even when I was able to sleep, I couldn't and was feeling really anxious. I expected a prescription for Prozac or something, but instead got some Valium with the instructions to let Bjorn handle more. When we were in Dallas, Meg only wanted me so since then, I've just been jumping on even though Bjorn has offered to help. So last night, I took some medicine, went to bed at 8:30 and Bjorn got up with her from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. He is quite a great guy, that Bjorn.

So, fingers crossed that this game plan works. And fingers crossed that she remembers how to sleep again! I could use some predictability back in my life. Well, until learns to walk and totally throws me for a loop again!

Report Card

I had my first official parent-teacher conference last week. I'll admit I was excited about the idea of sitting down with Andy's teacher to discuss, naturally, how perfect, smart and wonderful he is. The report was about what I expected, he does a lot of things at school that he doesn't do at home, like help with chores and that type of stuff. In general, he's probably a little above average in his letters and sounds, but much more clearly above average in his numbers and even has some basic math skills down.

He is a good kid at school and plays nicely with the other children in his class. We talked briefly about this one little boy that seems to scare Andy a bit (the dreaded Aiden, who will most likely be his best friend next month). She's aware that the other kid is a little overzealous, but says Andy is generally quite good about telling another kid to leave him alone if he's bothered (I wish I could say the same for myself). I got a copy of the report -- a six page, small-type tome with check marks beside all the various factors indicating his mastery.

Some areas for him to work on are writing and coloring, using objects to explore (i.e. tools, shovels, binoculars, that type of stuff) and using charts. I asked what kinds of charts nearly four-year-olds are expected to do (Powerpoint? Excel?), but basically that means kids about that age want to start recording milestones and other stuff in chart form. It's funny, since the meeting, I have been making a point to offer him more opportunities to draw and use tools for examining stuff. He is definitely making strides in his ability to color and even write his name. I have also noticed him asking me to make a chart for this or that so tonight we're going to make a "no-crybaby" chart to record the times that he doesn't cry and whine about certain things. If only the chart would truly make the crybaby behavior stop.

In the meantime, I'm home with Meg who has a sort throat, diarrhea and a fever. Bjorn took her to the doctor this morning and the good news is she doesn't have an ear infection. No word yet on if the sore throat is strep.

P.S. It's gotten cold here, so cold it even produced light flurries today. You know what that means? That's right! Cute babies in hats!

The one with all the vomit

It has been a vomitous weekend. Meg has a cold, which is no big deal except it makes her cough. And some of her coughs are so strong they not only bring up the phlegm from her throat, but her dinner as well. It only took about six wardrobe changes for me to figure out not to let her spend much time on her back and to scale back her feedings somewhat until she recovers. I know, I really am one smart cookie.

I took her to the doctor Friday morning when she'd thrown up twice in about 12 hours. The diagnosis was as I expected, a cold with mucus in her throat with instructions to water down her feedings and keep her propped up. She seemed much better and in better spirits Friday and had a pretty good night, but when she threw up again on Saturday morning (right before a playdate, natch), we went back to the doctor's. And in between 10:30 a.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday, she'd developed an ear infection. Remarkable. So we're on Omnicef with is to knock out the ear infection, but is making her tummy even more of a mess. She's been so sad that she spent the whole weekend practically in my arms. In some ways it was nice because I rarely get to hold a sleeping baby anymore and she clearly only wanted me, but I am sure tired. I'd also really like to do something else, like shower.

Today is day two of the antibiotics and I also invested in a vaporizer (my sister's idea) so hopefully between the two, she can get some rest and really kick this sucker. I think we're all ready to be on the other side of this.

Andy, meanwhile, developed diarrhea. This is only notable because it's the first time he's had that ailment since he's been potty trained. It certainly presents some logistical challenges that we haven't had before.

You know, just when I think we clear one disgusting hurdle like getting rid of diapers, motherhood throws a new challenge at me.