I'm back. I'm not 100% but with the meds I get a good enough false positive to be productive and feel somewhat alive again. The Monkey is not 100% either but she's been fairing better than I have this entire time so I'm hopeful we'll both be healthy again come the holiday weekend.
So with that update, the Vail Household Quarantine has officially been lifted. We are now leaving the house once again and feel confident neither of us can contaminate those we encounter. I'm in major scrub down mode on this house. I've bleached, washed and Lysol-ed everything I can get my hands on. I figure it has to help. If anything it should smell clean around here. I wouldn't know because I still can't smell, taste (or hear) but with bleach comes clean. And when Mike gets back tomorrow he can be my judge and tell me whether or not the place smells and looks as clean as an operating room. That's what I'm after. Speaking of Mike, we think he may have dodged the bullet on this one. It seems he has a cold but not nearly what wiped me and the Monkey out so let's hope his pre-cold remedies did the trick and he gets over this one also by the holiday weekend.
I actually mistakenly lifted the Quarantine for about 40 minutes yesterday while the Monkey and I went running. Another false positive feeling from the meds and I just had to get us out of here. We didn't go far and by the sounds of my hacking and nose blowing about 2 miles into the trek, I was reminded of what a stupid move this was. I even noticed another fellow runner near us actually took a detour as soon as she heard me. I don't blame her. Aren't you supposed to officially report a crime if you see one? Ok, I'm not sure taking a sick baby out into public when you are also sick is necessarily a crime but it can certainly be thrown into the "Unfit" category. Whatever. Don't judge. Well, actually you can judge. It was stupid. At that very moment in time, it seemed like a good idea. I was wrong.
On to Monkey updates. I've been off the blog for what seems like forever (Tuesday) so yes, I have a list. Here we go:
1) Operation Cow's Milk is officially underway. And the Monkey seems fine with it. She must not be able to taste anything either. Good timing, Mommy. I've mixed 1-2oz of cow's milk in with her breastmilk bottles three times now and also, this morning I filled a sippy cup with cow's milk, warmed it up and handed it over. She sipped at it about 5 times so she didn't flat out reject it but she didn't guzzle it down either. Honestly, I was pleased with the 5 sips she took. I thought the sippy cup was going to get slung across the room, per usual. Perfect. I'm going to continue mixing it with breastmilk until her 1st birthday and by that point, will hope the breastmilk "fade out" will be a non-issue. I'm sending positive vibes into the breastfeeding universe on this one.
2) The Monkey has really improved her balancing skills. She's even taken a step here or there. It's only ever one step so clearly she is not walking but she's trying her hardest to get her strength and balance in gear so that she can. It's very cool to watch this process go down. It's nothing for her to squat down, pick up something that seems awkward or heavy (to a little girl her size) and she lifts it up, swings it around, drops it, goes back and picks it up again, etc. This is particularly fun for her with my running shoes. Bulky, awkward and maybe a little heavy for her, I don't know. She LOVES them. Like the love-fest fills 20 minute increments with this one and filling 20 minutes with any one activity at her age seems like a miracle. But she's up, she's down, she squats, she stands, she flings them around, and then.....she'll try to take a step. She'll take one and be fine. The second one catches her off balance and down on her bottom she goes. Then she gets up and starts all over again. It's an amazing fete that I enjoy watching it come together. She's a determined little bugger that's for sure. For all of her practice when she finally does start walking I hope I'm there to make sure she sees how proud I am of her. And I know she'll be proud of herself. She's certainly put in her due diligence on this project.
3) This is another for the "I'm fascinated watching my daughter" bucket - this morning she was bound and determined to join me in the bathroom. But she wasn't coming in without the empty Gatorade bottle. Fair enough. At this point, she was clear across our bedroom and had a ways to go. She put it in her mouth and bit down and started crawling. She'd get 4 or 5 crawls and it'd fall out. So she tried sliding it while crawling. This didn't prove efficient enough for her so back into her mouth it went. Again, she'd get 4 or 5 crawls and it fall. Dang if that little girl didn't try several different means of carting that Gatorade bottle to the bathroom with her and sure enough, she made it. Once she arrived, she wanted nothing to do with the empty bottle but her determination and reasoning skills were quite impressive.
4) Yesterday morning she was in the bathroom with me while I was pumping. This is typical and what she'll do is either play with her Old McDonald Farm or play under the sink. I have plastic shampoo bottles and what not under there and she loves nothing more than to pull every last item out from under the sink and then put it back (note: she also does this now with toys. my repeated attempts at getting her to clean up are paying off!). While this was all going on, like I said, I'm pumping. At one point she looks up at me and starts signing "milk". Now I guess TMI so I'm sorry for those of you who don't want to hear this but the bottles were filling up with milk while I was pumping. She was directly below me watching them fill up and she signed "milk." And she didn't just do it once. She kept doing it and doing it and doing it. And for those who don't know the sign for "milk", it's when you squeeze your hand like you are squeezing an udder. Yup. The Monkey is watching Mommy who is literally a cow with udders filling bottles with milk and she's watching and signing it. Are you freaking kidding me? That is hilarious! This is another sign that we've been doing over and over and over and just yesterday it clicked. Amazing. And what an excellent time to use it. This is my first experience with my "no-filter" child. I love that about kids and am excited for many more with Eloise!
5) As of yesterday, the Monkey now has an "Easy Teether" on her crib. Yes, she's a Beaver as well as a little Monkey in case anyone was curious. She has crushed her crib with constant chewing that it got so bad she literally was creating splinters. Nice. So as soon as we saw a piece of wood come off, she and I literally dashed off to Buy Buy Baby (to also return the 2nd baby gate that I've purchased that also does not fit the bottom of our stairs - seriously, kill me. at this rate, the 2 dining room chairs will serve as our baby gate.) and purchased the "Easy Teether". And what kind of reaction do I get out of the Beaver? She moves from chewing on the front rail of her crib to the side rails. Ah, but she can't do this for long because "Easy Teether" makes guards for side rails as well. I'm getting them asap.
Last update, not Monkey related....I finally got my flowers planted. We purchased them on Saturday but this is when I spiraled down into the dark depths of sick-oblivion and therefore my poor flowers sat in their containers until I put the Monkey to bed last night. Likely running on another med induced false positive, it was enough to get my mini impatient garden in the backyard planted and 6 pots planted. That's all I'm doing this year but it was a much needed improvement to this god-awful yard. (pics below)
For pictures today - during our down and out sick days I was looking for any kind of diversion for both me and the Monkey. Anything that kept us occupied for even a moment in time so I'd forget my head was pounding and my nose was draining and would stop the Monkey whining. This one day's distraction was the perfect kind of distraction - a birthday present! Much too early for the Monkey's birthday and I've also put the word out that we want no presents for this little one for her first birthday. She has plenty around here and so Mommy and Daddy will buy her a few new things and that's it. Nonetheless, Aunt Caren and Uncle John sent down a present and so on Tuesday I used it as a fun activity for the Monkey to open it. Here she goes....
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