Trifecta

Exactly a month has passed since my last post. These 30 days feel like an eternity to me. So hectic are the days that I drop into bed each night, grateful for a few moments of stillness.

The beginning of August brought Missy’s accelerated weaning and transition from our bed to her own crib. Both shook her – and me – up a bit but we managed.

Right when we got our footing with only one nursing session at bedtime and a few nights of only waking once (pure heaven), we welcomed a new puppy into our home. Yeah, I am crazy. A toddler and a puppy. Some hours, it is great. (My favorite hour is when pup and babe nap simultaneously). Some hours, it sucks. The timing for Miss Black Butte Swift – a.k.a. "Boo" – is not ideal but she came into our lives and is here to stay. So I’m dealing with it.

She wants – oh she so very wants – to be a good dog. You can see it in her. But right now she is just all, well, puppy. And needs to learn the ways of our house and what we expect from our dogs. After the rocky first days, she is settling in a bit. Of course, right when she started to form a routine and stopped stealing the baby’s toys at every turn, we received a visit from THE VIRUS.

Frick. Missy caught a viral infection that has bestowed us with constant yellow ribbons of snot, pink eye, irritated ears, fit-full sleep and general crabbiness. It’s been around for more than 2 weeks and she is finally on a mild course of antibiotics to abate it.

I cannot help but wonder if the onset of the virus is a direct correlation to our diminished nursing sessions. And from the two-steps-forward-two-steps-back camp, I increased nursing sessions to combat her dehydration and to provide some extra comfort and, hopefully, more antibodies. I mean, the night before the snot started flowing, the kid was pulling down my t-shirt and trying to crawl in while crying. I think she was trying to tell me she needed some nursing to level things out a bit. But I will certainly be known to our dinner guests that night as the-woman-who-was-still-breastfeeding-when-her-kid-could-pull-down-her-shirt-how-gross. Sigh.

Now that she is on the mend, I am slowly backing her nursing sessions down. But you can bet that she is not pleased. Not pleased at all. I feel like we are back at square one.

So I try to see each day as a blessing. How lucky to have such a full life. Sometimes though I just take it hour by hour and try to get through each day without yelling at my husband, grabbing the pup too hard by the scruff of her neck when she does something ultra-bad or being exasperated with my daughter. My daily incantation: this too shall pass. I try to go easy on myself in terms of what I accomplish each day. But going easy of myself was never my strong suit.