No Purple Hearts for bloody noses or fevers

We are still fighting the ever-bleeding nose here.

The Munchkin woke up yesterday morning, came into our bedroom and asked for a tissue, blood smeared all down her pajamas. This resulted in her second change of sheets in two days, a total wipe-down, and more Neosporin up the nose.

The kicker, of course, was when I was buckling her into her car seat, on our way to do a few errands before our weekly lunch with Obachan. She said, “Uh-oh,” and showed me a bloody index finger. She had just pulled it out of her nostril. Thankfully, I keep baby wipes, extra napkins and tissues in the car, and she hadn’t gotten any blood on her clothes. She hates having a wad of tissue shoved up her nose, but c’est la vie, kid. If you want to pick the nose, you must deal with the blood that flows. She spent the first leg of our errands (a stop at Michaels) with the tissue in her nose, earning the sympathy of many a shopper.

And of course, she has managed to have a bloody nose right before bedtime. Hopefully, we’ll get through the night. My washing machine and dryer are so overworked that a knob cracked and came off the dryer. Fortunately, we can order a replacement and put it on ourselves, $35 later (not including the expedited shipping charge of $13.95 for next day delivery). In the meantime, we are adjusting the timer on the dryer with a rag and a pair of pliers (the rag wrapped around the little post the knob turns, so the pliers don’t chew up the post).

Tad has his own health troubles right now, too. He had his one-year checkup a week ago Monday (80th percentile for height, 23rd for weight, 20 pounds 12 ounces, 31 inches tall, healthy and friendly – he tried to climb into his pediatrician’s lap), which included 2 shots – MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and varicella (chicken pox). The MMR info sheet and the pediatrician and the nurses all warned me to keep an eye on him, because one in six kids will develop a fever 7 to 12 days after getting the shot, with possibly other complications like rashes and swollen glands as well. Little Tad woke up yesterday morning (before his sister came in bleeding) and was just burning up. We hastily gave him a dose of Tylenol before popping his morning bottle into his mouth, and then took his temperature, which registered at 101.5 degrees. My poor baby boy. He fought it all day long, with some extra loving from Mommy, and Grandma and Obachan for good measure. We’ll see how he does today, but I’m hoping the worst is over. Add to that the fact that all four of his one-year-old molars are bulging out in his gums, with the top two perilously close to breaking through. I’m amazed that he’s as good-tempered as he is, but when he is tired, life is pretty miserable for him.

And we’ve had a resurgence in his breast-feeding desire – I thought he was ready to give it up, but these last three nights he has clung to me and nursed as if it was his only meat and drink in this life. Well, anything to make him feel better. It’s nice to be needed. I’m wearing all my new bras during the day and then change into the nursing one at night to feed him. It’s a pretty decent trade-off.

I feel like the kids are walking wounded. But at least they’re not contagious, thankfully. In the meantime, we’re hoping to hear back from some potential employers for the Webmaster – the minute he has a job, I’ll let you all know. Happy weekends to all!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 25th, 2006 at 12:15 am and is filed under Children, Mommyhood.
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