It's been awhile since my last post...so for lack of a good transition, this sentence will have to suffice. The past week has been a stressful one. My daughter (who is normally a rather warm baby) spiked a fever of at least 102. And of course this would have to happen late on a Saturday when all normal pediatrician offices are closed. So, as a first time mom I panicked and announced to my husband that we should take her to the ER... thankfully my husband had more of his wits about him and countered with, "maybe you could talk to the on call doctor first." This was a good idea. When the doctor returned my call several minutes later, I started to see my paranoid little self the way he must see me... 'oooh my goodness, I had to take a break from my perfectly good cookout to talk to a hyperventilating first time mother, who has absolutely nothing to worry about.'
He somehow managed not to belittle my fear...calmly told me to give her a fever-suppressing medicine, and simply to watch out for any kind of rash.
Well, 4 days later, her fever finally went away, and a sad little rash did appear all over her stomach, back and face: apparently all signs of Roseola, a fairly common virus among babies under 3. What a cruel virus tho....that the only tell-tale symptoms don't come till AFTER the fever...and apparently till AFTER the child is no longer contagious. So you're left to worry for days on end about why your child has a fever: is it because she's teething...or could it be that she's getting the flu?
Anyway, one of the side effects of the virus is a decreased appetite. This, combined with my daughter's sudden disdain for meals that come in a jar, has forced me to giver her more and more foods that I'm eating. Hence, tonight...exasperated that she wouldn't eat her once-beloved baby food lasagna, I resorted to giving her my eggplant parm...which to my surprise she loved! (But hey...it is fried, cheesy goodness...what's not to love?) So here we go...I can't decide if it's going to be a relief not to buy so many jars of baby food, or a hassle since she still can't eat as many textures and foods as we can. We'll see...
And finally...I was so excited this year to start my own vegetable garden. I planted a lot of seeds, and a few plants, including lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash, onions, carrots, cucumbers, and celery. (I also planted sunflowers for Charlotte to enjoy looking at.) I knew full well that we had deer living near us, and thought I would put a fence around the garden...but I never got around to it, and hadn't seen the deer all season. But a week ago, they attacked and ate parts of my tomatoes, peppers, and the tops of all my sunflowers. I literally cried over my sunflowers. I don't care what you say, it was worth a good cry. Now I just haven't had time to get a fence up, and they keep coming back...nibbling at my squash, and my cucumbers. It's so sad. It's the first time in my life I've ever thought to myself that deer really should be shot.
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