Spit-up

We started the new year with a sick baby. On the 1st, she had a temperature of 102, a rash, and just wasn’t her cheery self, so we took her to Urgent Care. Luckily, it was just a cold, but it was still hard to see her so down and out.* (And, of course, Ben and I both had the cold a few days later.) I stayed home from work with her on Tuesday and Wednesday (one of my normal days off anyway.) We were snuggling together in the arm chair when Clare started coughing. Hard. She had just eaten, so pretty soon everything in her stomach was on me. It was not pretty. As soon as she was done hacking up a lung, she fell asleep. And I let her lay there. For two hours. While I was covered in spit up. I just couldn’t bear to wake her. (Please note, she was not lying in her own vomit. That had projected itself far enough up my arm and down my leg that she had a perfectly clean spot on which to rest her head.) She needed sleep so badly. Had you told me a year ago that I would sit in my daughter’s puke while she slept, I wouldn’t have believed you. The list of things I wouldn’t have believed is getting long.

Before I had kids, I never understood it when friends with kids cancelled at the last minute, or simply failed to make plans altogether. I mean, I understood, but I didn’t really understand. Until you have kids, you just don’t know how hard it is to get out the door some days. Impossible, even. I wish I could go back to my pre-baby self and say, “Enjoy it! What you have now will not last. Drink more wine!”

I do not say any of this to complain. I would not change my situation for anything, spit-up or no spit-up. It is just interesting, how fast life changes. How much it has changed in the span of just 7 months.

We did get to see some friends over New Year’s weekend, which was wonderful. One couple and their almost 3-year-old son recently relocated to Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi! Can you imagine? If we did that, this blog would be so much more interesting! We also got to see another couple and their almost 3-year-old son – we hadn’t seen these friends in nearly two years. I hope another two years doesn’t go by before we see them again. And, I got to see my dear Lillie girls, who I see more often than every two years, but not nearly often enough.  I always feel so happy and refreshed after a good gab session with those girls. (And full – but there is no such thing as too much cheese.)

So, one of my resolutions for 2012 is this: spend more time with friends, no matter how hard it is to get out the door.

Also. I got an iPhone after Ben's phone was stolen. Which only means one thing. Instagram! (Ben is using my old phone. He is not phone-less. I was eligible for an upgrade, so I got the new phone. Just thought I should explain that.)

*Edit to add: We ended up taking her to the doctor yesterday, and she has an ear infection. Her first one! Hopefully she will not get too many more. Also. I did not have to wear a jacket. In January. In Wisconsin. It felt great. Of course, today we are back to winter.