Lucy and I are finally recovering from a cold. It was Lucy's first cold! The hardest part was that it was difficult for her to sleep. However, for the most part she is sleeping better and her nose is running less. We went to the market today and of course I felt like I needed to cough, and I was trying so hard not to cough which only makes it worse. I know that we had a cold, not the flu, and I also know that we are past the point of contagion (5 days after symptoms develop). But of course, everyone is going to think that I am out in public passing along the swine flu! Somehow we made it through the shopping trip without getting a lecture. I opened a package of cough drops and those helped. :) She has had fun lately with sensory play with paint, flour, and today flax seed in a bin. Last night she crawled under the counter and then pulled all of the stools in, effectively trapping herself. She began crying, I began laughing. I know, mean Mommy, but it was just so funny, I had to take a picture. She has started to play peek-a-boo using the blankets or a piece of fabric, and it is so cute!
Lucy is certainly spunky. Soon after she was born I had a friend ask me if I thought that all of my experience with babies helped in caring for Lucy. Yes, my experience has helped loads, from pregnancy to delivery and now infancy. I feel so lucky that there are so many tricks of the trade, if you will, that I have learned over the years and can use to my advantage now. But, at every step of this journey there has been situations that bring me past my experience or knowledge and into a new realm. In pregnancy, it was the nausea and vomiting that lasted until the day she was born, and the crazy, rare (unless you have Karr blood), tortuous rash that I was suffering with exactly one year ago. In delivery it was the urge to push when I was only 6 cm dilated and then Lucy's heart rate dropping at the end (at least with that, I knew what all of the interventions were that began happening quickly). When she was newborn, of course, was the Hirschsprung's scare. Now she is a healthy almost 9 month old and she has gone through all of my tricks for diaper changing. EVERYTIME we go to change her diaper now she throws a fit. She rolls over and makes it very hard to get a cloth diaper and wrap on. I have dealt with this before and distraction usually works well...a toy, a song or small book. All of these things did work for Lucy, but not anymore. I have gone through all of the cool safe things to give her and now nothing is amazing enough to distract her. She is too young to reason with, and to wiggly to simply hold down. Putting on a cloth diaper is near impossible if she is not laying down. Right now she is upstairs, sleeping and wearing a disposable! I gave in because I was getting so frustrated.
I share this all with you, whoever has lasted through this rant, because I want you to know that our Lucy is spunky, vibrant, happy, curious, brave and loving....she is all of these things, and she is helping me to grow and learn about HER, showing me that though there are generalities, each kiddo is different and that's why I am so lucky to get to know her.
