Mom: Happy Thanksgiving

Last week was an exciting week at the Cook house. It started last Sunday. I could tell Susan wasn't feeling great - her nose was runny and she was sneezing. That night, she hardly slept at all. It was pitiful. She was also grabbing her ears - a sign of teething or an ear infection. The next day, we decided to go ahead and take her to daycare - even though she had maybe slept 6 hours all night.  We figured it was a cold and there just wasn't much we could do.  But I called daycare to see how she was doing around 11 a.m. and apparently, she wasn't sleeping and her ears were draining. So I called the doctors and they said to bring her in. So I picked Susan up and she was so pitiful. Usually when I pick her up, her face lights up and she greets me with a huge smile. But on Monday, she could hardly lift her head and she was just a little river of snot. So she and I trekked to the doctor. She immediately fell asleep in the car.

We got there at 1:35 for our 1:45 appointment. We see Duke Peds but our pediatrician is at a different location then where we went on Monday. But we has been here before for a potential sick visit and were very happy with the doctor we saw. WELL that was not the case on Monday. Susan and I waited in the waiting room until 2:15 and were finally called back. Where we waited in the tiny room for another 30 minutes. During this time, Susan was so cranky and tired. She kept nodding off on my shoulder. At 2:30, I was pissed and angry and marched down to the nurses station to find out when we were being seen. Of course we were next in line but we still weren't seen until 2:45. I went over all of her symptoms and the doctor checked her out. Then it was time to check her ears. I had to hold Susan sideways on my lap, with her legs between mine and my hand holding her head down on my chest. The doctor tried to look and based on what she saw in Susan's left ear, wanted the supervising pediatrician to come check her out. So then we waited some more! Then the supervising pediatrician came in and we had to repeat it. Only this time, trying to hold her still in my lap wasn't happening. So he made me lay my baby on the exam table, hold her arms down and lay my body across her little body so he could examine her ears. IT WAS HORRIBLE. She cried and screamed bloody murder in my ears the entire time. And it took forever because first the doctor had to clear the drainage before he could see inside! And of course she was "iffy" for an ear infection, whatever that meant.  So he gave us a prescription for an antiobiotic and numbing ear drops.  We finally left at 3:15!!!!  I got her home, gave her a bottle and came up with a cold-battle plan.

She slept much better than night, thanks in part I am sure to her new Vicks Warm Air Mist Humidifier, as well as the numbing ear drops.  Tuesday I stayed home with her so she could get some rest.  I had already planned to take Wednesday off and so did Chris.  The plan was to host Thanksgiving at our house, but with Susan feeling sick, we decided to wait and see how Susan was feeling Wednesday morning before making a final decision and letting my mom host in Greensboro.  Well Wednesday morning came and it was obvious she was feeling better.  My brother also flew home that morning, so my family stopped in with him at around 7 a.m. on their way back to Greensboro.  By this time, Chris and I were starting to feel yucky but were sucking it up.  On Wednesday, I cooked all day, and received a lot of help around the kitchen from Susan and Chris.  We also discovered that Susan's FIFTH tooth erupted sometimes between Saturday and Wednesday.  Go figure.  Took the last tooth four weeks to erupt; it took this one four days.  I am sure the matching 6th tooth is not far behind.

Feeling better on Tuesday

Helping my mama in the kitchen on Wednesday

On Thursday, Susan slept great and woke up happy.  She still wasn't feeling great, but was definitely feeling better.  Around 9, she laid down for her nap and Chris and I finished getting dressed and turned on the parade.  It was so nice.  Then my family came over (next year Chris' family will be able to come too) and we had such a wonderful day.  The food was wonderful and the company was even better.  Susan sat in her high chair and just talked to us and played while we ate.  We had and have so many things to be thankful for, so it was wonderful to share the day with everyone and celebrate all of our blessings.  I am sure Susan didn't really understand what we were talking about, but she could tell it was an exciting day (as her pitiful afternoon showed).  Christmas is just a few weeks away and while our plans are still very up in the air (cross your fingers Duke is playing in the Belk Bowl), it will still be wonderful.  And we have so many wonderful family traditions to share with Susan and to start as our own little family, which we are really really looking forward to.