V I R U S

It’s been a crazy few days recently…Ava came down with a nasty virus last week. Chris and I got about 4 hours of sleep over the course of 3 days and I’m not exaggerating in the least. Not only did we barely get sleep, but the sleep we did get was on the couch and/or living room floor sans pillow. Ava didn’t just keep us awake, she screamed…constantly and consistently. Screaming wasn’t just at night; she did it during the day as well. This is extremely stressful and trying. Ava was absolutely miserable for almost one whole week! My heart broke for her. At first we thought it was teething, but her fever was too high (102.7). She wasn’t eating or sleeping either. She was so clammy…and just unhappy. Chris picked her up early from daycare and brought her home. We decided she needed to stay home the following day so my gracious Mom came over early in the morning so we could go to work. She was even going to bring Ava to her doctor appointment. I was getting ready to head out the door when my Mom’s back went out. Yeah. So, I called my Dad to rescue my Mom and I called my office to explain my unbelievable situation (all this with screaming child in my lap and injured Mom by my side). It was a scene for Hollywood. The doctor didn’t have a lot to report, other than the fact that Ava was suffering from a virus and there’s nothing you can do for it. Lovely. That’s about the time I started to feel like poo - hot, cold, sweaty, aching, pain in my throat. My immune system was shot after 3 STRESSFUL days without sleep and I caught the virus. Gracious Mom to the rescue again! Her back healed on its own (she swears it’s a miracle) and she took care of Ava for a bit so Chris and I could sleep. It was heaven. I don’t remember the last time I’ve been so thankful. It was just huge. And, no, of course Chris didn’t catch the virus. He never does. He’s superman, I’m certain. I also can’t remember the last time I’ve had such a bad fever. It was awful and I just kept thinking, “This is what my poor baby has been going through…” I wanted to scream and cry too. I don’t mean to be a whiney-pants, there are bigger problems in the world I know…I’m just so glad we live so close to family. I don’t know what we would have done otherwise. It’s funny because people make such a fuss over how sleep deprived you are with a newborn and I just laugh to myself because this stage with Ava has been the most grueling and testing to date. Teething is ugly. Daycare illness is ugly. Besides, she’s aware of her surroundings now and knows when you leave the room and knows how to have a tantrum to get what she wants, etc. I’ve quickly learned how much I don’t know. My confidence level as a parent has been knocked down, way down.

Anyway, enough of that. Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jeff were in town on Friday and Saturday. They took Chris out to Busch Gardens on Friday and Ava and Mommy put their sick butts to bed early. I attempted to take some photos of Samantha on Saturday, but she just wasn’t feeling it. I’ll try again this weekend. I also have some new pics of Ava but I’ll post them later.

Ava is a big girl. Her favorite game is “Ring Around the Rosie.” She’ll hold your hands and go round and round and say “DOWWWN” at the right part and then sit down. I guess I could have summed that up as she plays it correctly… She really enjoys her Baby Einstein videos, almost to an unhealthy point. She’s working on feeding herself with the spoon. Tonight she fed the wall and high-chair also with her spoon. Ava’s daycare provider is convinced that Ava understands her when she speaks to her in Spanish. I sure hope she’s right!

I can’t think of anything else and there are warm brownies downstairs so I gotta run ;-)