Sniffle, sniffle

Alas, is this the story for all babies? Are they just constantly getting sick, then getting better just to get sick again? Not fair. Not fun.

Piper has had a severely runny nose for the past few days, which comes with her cough coming back and some not so glorious nights. She'll rub her little face with the back of her hand, thus spreading snot all over her face, and somehow, that seems to make it worse for her.
The other morning, I tried nursing her, only, she couldn't breath through her nose! I think that made her quite upset/nervous, so she just screamed louder. Her attempts consisted of her mainly just biting me in frustration. Yeah, not great for momma-bear.
I had to lay her back down in bed, get some warm saline water and shoot it up her nose to loosen up the bad green-guys. She hates that part. So would I. Things should only come out of your nose, not go back in.
Anyways, once the water had softened everything up, I had to use another syringe (yeah, we've got a decent collection now) to suck all that snot out! What a fun way to start the morning.
She did nurse just fine after that, and I think she was happy I put her through some minor torture to get her on her way to a full belly.

Still, her being sick is not great, because, once again she is due for some shots! This is the second attempt at her 6 month shots (she will be 7 months tomorrow), which includes her H1N1. Bleh.

Oh, and then the next day, she is scheduled for her first RSV shot. So this poor baby is due for a lot of punctures. But maybe none of them will happen at all due to her being sick again.
That part is getting really frustrating.

So far, she hasn't had a fever and she has been eating really well (milk+solids, both), so I am not really worried that she is anything other than "wintertime" sick, but still. I don't really want to start having to reschedule these again. And I don't know if anyone else has had to reschedule with Fraser Health, but it only takes about a month and half to get your appointment! So then she would be much further behind on her vaccinations... again.

Still, in other news, Piper is on the whole, a fairly happy baby girl. She loves to watch the cat, and get a handful whenever she can, or she loves looking outside and watching the birds. She helps me in the kitchen, by sitting in the sink and pulling all sorts of things in there, while admiring the faucet (she will figure it out one day... I'll cross that bridge when we get to it).

Piper is eating solid foods really well now, much better than a few weeks ago. So far she's tried, sweet potatoes, carrots, potatoes, peas, pears, apples, banana, blueberries, pumpkin, acorn squash, sugar squash, zucchini, cantaloupe and avocado. This week we're going to try parsnips, green beans, butternut squash and buttercup squash, oh, and asparagus (ok, maybe not all this week, but that is what I am making).
So far, I am really enjoying this feeding process, and the prep part. I love diving into the freezer and picking out little cubes of this or that, or making a mix and seeing how it goes. She certainly likes the blander tastes, like squashes and cantaloupe, opposed to pears and apples. She seems to be a veggie girl more than fruits. I sneak the fruits in her cereal (imagine that, eh? Sneaking in the sweet stuff! Hmmm).
I feel great that I am still making her food myself, even if its not directly from my body, like breast milk is (though she is still nursing lots and well). There is something fulfilling about it. Though, this is the easy stage, when there aren't really any recipes yet, its just mushy fun. We'll see how this changes as her appetite evolves.

Ok, so I am just kinda babbling now. All in all, I can breathe a little easier knowing surgery is a little ways away from Christmas and I will do my best to relax in the mean time. I am trying to find the precious moments in some of this mayhem and keep those on the forefront of my mind. I've got a happy baby who smiles at me when I come into the room! (she'll then sometimes start to cry because I remind her of all the things she wants: milk, milk and more milk. Well, being wanted it always nice)

Happy weekend:) I'll get more of our family portraits up soon...