Recovery from Recovery

Sasha is feeling better it seems. At least she's in a much better mood and not so crabby. She doesn't seem to have a runny nose anymore. I think she's beaten whatever cold or flu that was ailing her. She is still not eating and her diapers are very strange looking (won't go into detail but trust me it's nasty) so I think her belly is still getting rid of something. Maybe a gastrointestinal bug?
I wish she would eat. She's been nursing like a newborn again and not eating food. Today for the first time ever, I had to force her to take a dropperful of vitamin drops against her will. I'm afraid that she might be suffering from nutritional deficiencies. I wish there was a better way but if she's not going to eat I'm going to have to give her the vitamin drops. I'd prefer that she get her nutrients from food.
If she's feeling better, I'm going to have to cut her back on her nursing sessions. I fear that her frequent nursing might be causing her appetite loss. I tolerated it while she was ill but now it's a habit that I have to break again. I am hoping her appetite will pick up once her nursing is cut back. Easier said than done, however. I know that cutting her nursing sessions back will mean lots of temper tantrums, whining, and a very crabby upset little girl. I have to keep offering her foods, even though she refuses, somehow without turning it into a power struggle. That's a delicate balance. I hope I have the strength. It's going to be a long weekend.

Meanwhile, my husband is feeling ill again. Didn't he just finish recovering from being sick? Blah can we get a break?

The bug

There's been some sort of cold bug going through our family lately. Jon started out with it a few weeks ago and it hit him pretty long and hard.
We thought that the rest of us had escaped unscathed. My immune system seems to have been really strong the last two years or so. But of course it's the holidays, so I started getting sick two days before christmas eve. Fortunately, the worst of it was over by Christmas Eve and I felt recovered enough to be able to go to my family's christmas party.


However it was on Christmas eve that I noticed that I had some strange rash all over my neck. I don't know how long it was there before I noticed it. You can see it in this picture the best (click to enlarge), but it's still not clear. (Pic from the family Christmas party. Sasha was riding on a rocking horse, and I carried her, horsey and all, into the living room when it was time to open presents). It really had me worried. It couldn't be a heat rash as I wasn't hot and neither was my neck. I had a heat rash elsewhere on my body to compare it to, and the rashes looked different. I tried to look it up online, but anyone who has ever tried to diagnose a rash by google image search knows how disgusting and scary that can be. Ugh! Closest I could match it to was measles or rubella. Which made me think. Hrm, Sasha had just gotten her MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) shot earlier that week. She had been crabby and not feeling well also. The vaccines are made with weakened viruses, but it is possible to get reactions from the vaccines. Was it also possible for people to actually come down with the actual diseases from the vaccines??? Was it then possible to pass on that disease to other people around you? It was a scary thought! I was actually really worried that maybe Sasha gave me measles from her mmr shot! But the rash disappeared the next day so I have no idea what it was. I guess it wasn't the mmr shot at all. But you can bet that if the rash had spread or if it was still there the next day I would have been asking some questions to the doctors.

Meanwhile, Sasha was not feeling well yesterday. She was very crabby and she stopped eating again. Such bad timing! I'm afraid we're going to lose any gains we might have had. She is back to nursing like a newborn and refusing to eat. I think she probably needs the immunological protection that nursing provides right now but once she's done fighting off whatever bug it is she's suffering from, I'll have to reduce her nursing sessions again in an attempt to get her to eat. Blah! That will be no fun.

Sadly, Sasha signed a new sign yesterday. "Hurt". That was the first time she ever signed it, and I think she was trying to tell us she had a headache. Poor baby. She was so miserable.

She also signed another new sign today. "Banana", which she signed at the mall when we asked her if she wanted us to buy her a banana.

Clingy, Affectionate, Hungry, Whiny

As my title suggests, Sasha has been clingy, super affectionate, whining a lot, and strangely very hungry. I'm glad that she is eating so well lately, and I do love all the extra affection she's been showing us. But it's interesting. She's affectionate to everyone, everything, all the time. If she is awake, she is constantly hugging or kissing on something. A stuffed animal, a doll, a family member, or even a calculator manual. Yes. She kissed a calculator manual!? Silly little girl! She's been more content to just park herself in my lap or in my arms and she'll just stay there.

Her second molar finally broke through. I suspect she is fighting off whatever illness my husband is suffering from. She's been eating like a horse, so I think she's probably going through a growth spurt. Anyone who remembers what a growth spurt feels like, I'm sure they can remember growing pains. They hurt! So I'd presume a growth spurt is a painful process for a young child. Combine all of the above, and we have a whiny, clingy child. I wish I could take away all her pain and discomfort.

Demands

At the doctor's office waiting on her Daddy. She got a big kick out of the little chairs and the books and puzzles.

Lately, Sasha has been making requests. Or shall I say demands?
This past week, whenever I sit on the floor, Sasha will toddle up to me, sit in my lap, look me straight in the eyes with a stern expression, sign milk at me, and will grab at my shirt as if to say "Milk now woman...that's an order". She's always signed milk, but usually during nursing, not as a request to nurse until now. It's funny but it will quickly get old.
"Tea" is her newest sign. Of course. She's a little tea fiend. Again, it's as a request/order, not as a cute little "aww look mommy it's tea" kind of thing. It's like "Tea NOW mother". I'm pretty proud of her new sign.

Today she was playing with her cabbage patch doll and it was very cute. She was mothering it. She was feeding it a toy bottle, hugging and kissing it, dancing with it, making it dance, making it ride her toy car, and she gave it to her daddy to take care of a few times as well. She's been affectionate with her doll, her stuffed polar bear, and her stuffed doggy.
Actually, she's been super affectionate all week to everyone. Kisses for everybody, especially mommy! I swear I get like 50 spontaneous kisses a day from that sweet child. I can't imagine a more affectionate toddler.

She wants to give her daddy kisses too, but unfortunately he is sick. I had to take the night off work last night as he was ill. It came on very suddenly. Within an hour or two, he went from ok to unable to speak. He came down with a sore throat, his nose and ears and sinuses hurt. I think he had a headache and body ache as well but no fever. It was scary how fast it seemed to be spreading so I took him to the doctor. They were mostly useless. The rest of us have been ok. So far I'm feeling fine, Sasha is showing no signs of illness, and Cassie is ok too. I'm hoping that whatever he's got was something I got vaccinated against with my flu shot, thus passing immunity to Sasha. I hope. I just have to keep an eye on Cassie as she did not get a flu shot. I REALLY hope we don't have everybody sick! That would suck.

One recovery down

Princess Sasha at 6 weeks old.

Today I came home to a still-sick baby and a tired husband. Sasha had not slept much during the night, husband reported. To me, that meant she would sleep well with me during the daytime. So I snuggled my Sasha and I nursed her as we drifted off to sleep in the bedroom.
I woke up and felt like I was being watched. Sasha was beaming me a huge smile. I'm not sure how long she was awake before I woke up, and I couldn't help but wonder how long she was flashing that big smile at me. She shook in delight when she saw that I was awake and looking at her. She had my full attention and I realized Hey, she doesn't seem very sick anymore. We played together for a little while until I finally decided to get her up and change her diaper. I took her temperature and it was back to normal! 98.4F. A miraculous 'overnight' recovery...I say overnight since we sleep during the day and are awake at night so the daytime is like our night. Yeah it's all backwards.
My 12 year old daughter was already home from school. She decided to practice her bass by giving us all a concert. Sasha was highly amused and watched her big sister intently.
The only problem today was the fact that my dear husband didn't get much sleep and he is definitely coming down with the flu. He didn't seem very comfortable at all and I felt bad for him, especially since he would not get any time off. I had to work tonight and Sasha is a strict boss. She doesn't cut him any slack even if he is sick or tired.
At work, I chatted with my husband. It was a quiet night. He said that Sasha was a sweetie so at least the night was bearable. She is back to her old self.
I am glad to have my princess back.