Two Sick Girls

This week has proven itself to be one of the hardest yet. I came down with a terrible cold over the weekend and am still struggling through it. Unfortunately I was not able to keep Carmella from getting sick too. She woke up at 4 a.m. this morning coughing and sneezing. I had to get the saline out and clear out her nasal passages. She absolutely hates the snot sucker thingy. She turns her head and wiggles and squirms. It makes helping her quite the challenge.

It’s moments like these that I wish we lived closer to a set of grandparents. It would be nice to call on someone to come over for a few hours to play with Ella while I tended to my cold, do laundry, and make dinner or whatever. However, play times are the most difficult. My energy level is way down and my throat was so sore this week that any sound I made hurt like crazy. I felt so bad that Carmella had to live in silence for a few days. Plus, every time I tried to bend over to pick Ella up, my nose would run all over the place. Then once I stood back up and the congestion resettled, I would cough uncontrollably. It was impossible to keep my germs from her. Now that I am starting to feel a little better, it seems as though Ella’s cold is getting worse. I actually am glad I am starting to get rested at night because I can concentrate on getting the baby well again.

It is so sad to see such a little thing battling a cold. What breaks my heart even more is that she has started to put a few sounds together that make it seem as if she is calling for me: maaaa, mum, mum, mum. Then what do I do but drop saline in her nose and come at her with a giant anteater looking tool. Oh, so sad.

Rice Cereal

She’s growing up. Our little Carmella had her first rice cereal yesterday. Actually, yesterday was a day of firsts for Carmella. She visited the zoo and had her first try at eating with a spoon. I didn’t get any pictures of the zoo because it was too difficult to try to take a photo and get Ella and the animals in the same picture. We will have to try again another time when we have someone else with us.

But she did see a few bears and the lions. In fact the male lion walked up and bit the female on the butt. She roared at him and he snarled back. Ella was for sure interested in them then. They walked away, but continued to make a lot of noise—must have been feeding time.

Enjoy watching our little girl experiment with the cereal.


[Ella takes charge.]

Another Rainy Day

Since we were stuck inside yesterday, I had all kinds of time to hang around Ella with the video camera. I told you how she is rolling over from her back to her belly...well, now you get to watch her too!