Momma Monday no. 33

This past week Cupcake has discovered her tongue, and enjoys sticking it out.  She has gotten her first fever (which I'll elaborate on later) and recovered.  She has learned to make a fish face and enjoys making it all the time.  She has developed a taste for apples, even though I was going to wait to give her fruit, she stole it from me and started sucking.  Most importantly, she has learned TO STAND HERSELF UP, ALONE!  I know babies are supposed to crawl first, but this little girl HATES crawling she gets so frustrated and fussy when on all fours.  However, when she climbs on us she has found she can stand up and let go for moments at a time before falling. She also "walks" while holding our hands. I'm going to guess that by 7 months she'll be walking.

All Babies love their Moby wraps

Now for the daily breakdown:
Monday, Uncle Jxn was still visiting and functioning as my Manny (male nanny) and driving us around while I sat in back with Little Miss.  It was so nice to have him around for the past week.

Tuesday, I noticed I was coming down with a tickle in my throat, so I bumped up the vitamin C and herbal teas.  Sonja had no symptoms.

Wednesday, more tickle in the throat but I thought I was winning, Sonja still no symptoms. Back to normal life without Uncle Jxn.  All alone during the days again :( although, my sister did join us at the farmers market.

Playing with a paper bag

This little girl loves PAPER!

Thursday.  Really getting sick of this little cold, increase the V. C yet again, up to 4 teas a day, finished the Umcka and increased my multi vitamin to the full dose.  Cupcake hung out with her grandpa while I taught class, kind of a big deal since she used to cry all the time when he'd hold her- just a little phase she was going through from 3 1/2 months til 6 months.  When I got home, he was telling me how she was standing herself up and he thought she'd be walking soon.  I didn't really think much about it though...

Pine cone from the park

Friday, that cold really took over.  It was awful.  I met my mom for lunch, but couldn't enjoy it because I couldn't taste it.  I got home and luckily Sonja slept while I nursed her and we co-napped for a few hours before her daddy got home.  I got in the shower and felt a bit better.  I also started breathing in my peppermint essential oil (it helps open up nostrils so you can breathe!).  I thought SLC was getting a fever but husband disagreed.  I am a hypochondriac and he was pre-med so I trusted his judgement more than mine.

No. She did not really drink this.

Saturday, Husband had a softball tournament all day starting at 9 am.  When he left, I mentioned the fever again but he said she was fine.  I felt terrible again, and we ended up going back to sleep.  When we woke up she was really warm so I finally called for back up.  I called her naturopath but she isn't in on Saturdays (even though she gave her cell phone on the voice mail) so I ended up calling my mom. My mom told me to get her some baby Tylenol, which I didn't want to give her, but since she's past 6 months I figured I would if I had to. As we're pulling into walgreens I realized she was really really warm, but as I was walking in I thought to myself, "No, she can't be too bad otherwise she'd be throwing up all over the place,"  I walked no more than 2 steps and she projectile vomited all over me. That's when I started panicking.  I rushed to the pharmacy counter and asked for a napkin.  She handed me some wet wipes and got me the walgreen's brand baby tylenol (because all the actual Tylenol had been pulled from the shelves!) and got me the thermometer I was originally going there to buy.  I opened the box and gave her the dose before even buying it, I was so scared.  She threw up SO MUCH, way more than she ever had.  And I was mad, I was sick, all by myself and Husband was playing stupid softball, and if you didn't already know this I HATE sports! Especially, softball.  But, by the time I got a hold of him and told him to get home Cupcake was already back to a normal temperature.  In fact, while he was getting cleaned up from softball she was climbing on me.  She proceeded to pull herself up onto me, push off and hover on two feet without support for about 2 seconds before plopping down onto her bottom.  Talk about shocked parents!  For as sick as I was, and she had been; I was in total disbelief, if Husband hadn't been standing right there to see it, I might have thought I'd imagined it.

After he was clean up, he took Sonja with him to get me some lunch from Whole Foods so I could get some rest.  I ended up eating some Chicken noodle soup.  I WAS DESPERATE to feel better.  I am still considering myself vegetarian now.  But I had to try EVERYTHING I could to get better quicker.  I couldn't take any cold medicine because I'm breastfeeding so it was necessary.  Plus, most of the medicines on the market were tested on animals anyway, so vegans and vegetarians alike, let's not kid ourselves, medicine is hardly animal or cruelty free.

I had to do our taxes that night (goodbye $600). After what seemed like a terrible gambling game (if you have turbo tax you know what I mean- see that stupid total at the top and get excited until you enter all of your income...), we ended up picking up some dinner to go from Whole Foods (again) we came home to watch a movie.  I was trying EVERYTHING I'd read online about natural remedies and last on my to try list was garlic.  Raw Garlic. I knew it was going to be hard to get down but I can swallow anything! I thought.  I bit into it and was shocked at how intense it was, it burned my whole tongue. but I powered through.  I chewed it fast and chased it with water.  It was so gross and burned and when I sat down to eat dinner I instantly felt like I was going to puke. I set Cupcake on the rug and ran to the bathroom.  I went to the bathroom while holding the trash can on my lap waiting to throw up.  I started salivating uncontrollably and continued to do so for a few minutes, thinking, "if you throw up you'll just have to do it again, don't puke, don't puke."  eventually, the goose bumps and salivating went away and I was able to join Husband for dinner.  So note to all breast feeding mamas, if you choose the garlic route for any remedies be ready for that reaction!  Also, some babies will be irritated by the garlic transfered into the breast milk.  So, there is also that risk there as well.  But, my baby is used to my intense seasonings and I knew she's be fine with it.

Sunday,  Sonja woke up fever free, I on the other hand woke with a terrible headache.  I had forgotten to drink my daily coffee on Saturday, so, of course I'd end up with a migraine on Sunday.  Thankfully, most of my cold symptoms were gone.  Now, I was dealing with headache and nausea.  After getting situated in the morning and a breastfeeding session, Husband took our little Sweetness to his parents house with a few ounces of milk and let me get my rest.  I am so lucky to have a caring husband who works all week and takes over full time dad duties when he gets home.  Sunday evening after much needed rest and herbal remedies (and Tylenol for the headache) I was feeling much better.  I even got a load of laundry done!

I love the feeling post illness.  I am so thankful for my health.  I feel so much better, like I could take on the world.  I am so very thankful that I'm feeling better before starting the new week. I am even more thankful for a husband who give me and my body a chance to recover.

Happy Momma Monday!