The Land of Milk and Chocolate

I'm running on empty. All week I've been checking on my baby girl at daycare because she was sick for the first time. Sunday she had fever, cough, sneezing, restless, watery eyes and the need to be held. So I did just that, all day. I looked at my husband that night from my recliner and said, "Do you realize I have watched 7 episodes of Desperate Housewives back to back?" And these are 1-hour each not to mention the other random shows I watched in between. I suppose that alone might depress anyone. But at least it wasn't 7 hours of the same Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode, which would have been the case if Caleb had been sick.

Maddy was well enough we decided to try to go to school on Monday, but I hated leaving her. On the one hand I did not want to be the mother who left a sick child for the others to be contaminated. Later in the week, I realized it didn't matter the entire group was sick. It's just part of building their immune systems. I remember the routine with Caleb. Do we take him? Do we stay home? Do we call another caretaker? As a mother, I just want to be there to soothe and comfort, but as a working mother I have to reserve my sick days for something of the serious nature.

Maddy's appetite has dropped off recently, too. I don't know if it's due to her cold or maybe she's growing. I don't think she's possibly teething although Caleb did start when he was 4 months old. She'll be 15 weeks old on Tuesday. With her taking less bottles at school, my refrigerator/freezer is getting stockpiled with little baggies of milk. I'm on week 3 of breastfeeding my baby and managing a full time job. It feels so unnatural. I get milked 3 times a day, once at home and twice at work. It's supposed to build her immune system, right? Well I guess it took her 2 weeks before she was sick rather than the 1 week it took Caleb. He was formula fed at that point in time. Healthwise I don't see much of a difference for baby, but I do see a difference in the cost. Breastfeeding costs time not money. Unfortunately, these days time and money are hard to find.

I am feeling down right now. I want to eat every piece of chocolate in the break room. We have lots of miniatures in there. Hmmm...let's see, I have 35 extra points a week on my Weight Watchers diet and each bar is a point. I guess a few wouldn't hurt, especially since I'm a nursing mother. I need those few extra calories, right?

Last One Standing

This is our cat Buttons. She is our only pet now. In the last 3 months we have lost our other cat and recently our dog. Buttons is our Wal-Mart kitty.  I was leaving Wal-Mart one day with my friend Grace and she pointed out a kitten under the lineup of lawnmowers.  She was chewing on a chicken bone with no meat. I knew for sure she would run, but she didn't. From day one she has been full of love. She has blossomed into our HUGE bundle of fur. 

Oliver is my cat who I adopted in Tallahassee, FL during the summer before I started graduate school. He was always a little high strung and nervous but he followed me faithfully. He lived in Charleston for a while, then Columbia until we settled in Rock Hill. He was primarily an indoor cat but when we moved into our home we had to put him outside since he misbehaved so much. He loved the outdoors.  Typically every Spring he'd come home with some sort of injury but always survived. This year after Madelyn's arrival he disappeared and hasn't been seen since. I miss my buddy!

This is Jake our beagle. He was my first dog and I wasn't particularly fond of him, but he was just beginning to grow on me. This week we lost him in a tragic accident that has been heart wrenching. The night before he was gone I observed him with Caleb and thought it was adorable how he played. He was following Caleb who was pushing his dump truck. He kept licking water out of the dump truck. Then he started sniffing Caleb's diaper. After that he ran to the backyard where I watched him play with Buttons. They were just becoming good friends. He would pounce all around her playfully and she would watch him with a look on her face that read "you big baffoon".  I am going to miss him more than I realized.  We have lost a real friend.