The trials and tribulations of Sydney

It feels like it's been a year since I last updated my blog. Things are just way too hectic. I started a new job about 6 weeks ago, and it has kept me busy ever since. There is simply not time for anything but work, Sydney, and sleep. Poor Tracie must be feeling a bit left out but then again, she's darn busy herself.

Sydney is now a full 5 month and 2 days old. She's a doll as always and weighs a "hefty" 14 lbs 6 ozs, which is right at the 50 percentile on the growth chart for baby girls. She has not started rolling yet. She tries, though. When she is on the blanket on the floor, she would roll over on her side almost completely but doesn't know how to unpin her arm from underneath her so she would roll back to her back. She has better luck in the bed, though. I think it is because the mattress is softer than the floor and having me lying next to her creates an incline to help with the roll. Unfortunately, she would roll over toward me only to find herself face down on the mattress with hardly any neck strength to lift her head up. She would get frustrated and started crying from not being able to look up or breathe freely. I had to help her turn over to be on her back again. It was somewhat comical to watch her try over and over again with the same result each time. If I don't lie next to her, she won't attempt to roll over. It figures.

She has endured a lot since my last post. She caught a terrible cold, apparently from the daycare center. We dropped her off one Friday morning just fine, only to pick up a Sydney with a slight fever and runny nose that afternoon. It was all downhill from there. It seems that Sydney has this thing for Fridays. In fact, we don't dare to mention the word "Friday" in front of her anymore. We remember all too well a Friday when she had her first serious bout of diarrhea and having to deal with it all weekend. We remember another Friday when we received a call from the daycare center because she was spitting up too much so we had to take her to the doctor. Just recently, the daycare center called to let us know that she had a horrible diaper rash. We spent the weekend dressing her in cloth diapers (Steve, if you are reading this, you would be proud) and letting her go "au naturelle" for a few hours so her skin can be exposed to air in hope of speeding up the healing process. If Sydney had issues, they would be discovered on a Friday for some inexplicable reason.

She still has not gotten over her cold. She is still sniffling and snorting even after 2 weeks. The poor thing breathes through her mouth at night. I have been cranking the humidifier every night hoping to give her some relief. We aspirate her little nostrils with an aspirator and saline sprays but it only makes her cranky. I can't blame her. I wouldn't want a big bulb stuck up my nose and only to find out that gooey things are still partying in my nasal cavities. It has been a scary and frustrating 2 weeks for all of us.

On top of it all, her skin problem continues to plague her. She has terrible eczema from head to toe. Her body feels like sandpaper. Her skin glows red when the temperature gets too high outside. Her little behind swells up with red bumps that sometimes bleed. We finally gave in and took her to the doctor. They gave her all kinds of medication, from Nystatin to some sort of cortisone cream and some sort of acne medication. We would put one after another on her skin, then add some baby powder on top trying to keep her dry, then decide that there was just too many things on her, so we would wash her off and start the process all over again.

Tracie is going crazy trying to keep up with Sydney's many issues. When we decided to start using cloth diapers on the weekends to give Sydney some time to heal, it started a whole new problem for Tracie. Not only did she have to wash all the diapers before putting them on the baby, she decided to wash them by hand after they are soiled. The decision did not last very long because Sydney is like Old Faithful. Her "geyser" goes off regularly with impressive force. Sometimes she would leak all over the carpet, the sheets, and whatever else urine can find its way to. It seems like Tracie was always washing diapers. I haven't mentioned the first time Sydney pooped in the cloth diaper. Enough said.

I'm glad I finally found some time to update this blog. Mother and daughter are sleeping soundly in the bedroom. I can almost hear Sydney's snore from here since her nose is still stuffy. Tomorrow, we're all going to a Braves game. It will be Sydney's first professional baseball game ever. Tracie's, too. They're going to be decked out in matching Braves' outfits. How cute it that??? I can't wait to take a picture of mother and daughter at The Teds (Turner Field).

Melancholy Sydney

One morning, Sydney woke up feeling blue. She suffered through a terrible diaper rash, and the heat was getting to her. This summer has proven to be quite brutal. Sydney was not a happy camper and started crying this particular morning. I tried to dance. I tried to sing. I even tried to twirl her like a plane, but nothing was working. Sydney was in a melancholy mood. She was a sad, sad little girl. Tracie tried everything in her power to snap Sydney out of her funk. Tracie offered her a fresh bottle, but Sydney refused. Tracie acted like a clown, but Sydney looked away. Tracie even tried to tickle Sydney, but the pouts just kept coming and the little sad cries were unrelenting.

We looked around the room, feeling a bit helpless. We came up with an idea. Sydney is, after all, a young woman ... a VERY young woman ... but nevertheless a member of the female species. What do most women like, beside chocolate? Aha!!! Tracie had gone shopping yesterday. It was worth a try. We went to the bag lying by the door and took out its content. We approached little sad Sydney still lying on the chaise in our bedroom whimpering.

"Sydney," we said. "Look what we got!! Want to try it on?"

That day, we discovered that Sydney liked ... shoes. She liked the pretty gold shoes. The second the shoes were slipped on her little feet, a smile appeared like magic. She was charmed. She liked to play dress up. That was just excellent!! Sydney and Tracie would get along just fine. I could tell by the way both of them lit up. Tracie had to hold the shoes on Sydney's feet because they were just a little too small for these shoes. But I thought they looked pretty good on her. I had to take a closer look.

"My goodness! Don't these shoes look just perfect on you!! Just look at how darling they look with your chubby little legs!!" I exclaimed. Sydney was grinning from ear to ear. Sydney just couldn't stop smiling. She was feeling happy that she had found her calling. She knew she wanted to be a model when she grew up. She smiled and laughed all day. She went to sleep happy. She slept with a smile on her face. That night, she dreamt of all kinds of shoes - brown shoes, black shoes, high-heeled shoes, flat soled shoes, tennis shoes, open-toe shoes. They flew to her, and she tried them all on. She paraded in front of a mirror, admiring how pretty she looked with them on.

The next morning, Sydney woke up happy. She thought of "her" beautiful shoes and remembered how pretty they were. Best of all, they were on sale. She couldn't wait until she was old enough to go shopping with mommy and buy her very own first pair of shoes. She thought mommy was pretty smart and was just the best mommy in the world. She did a happy dance and chanted "Go, Mommy!! Go, Mommy!! Go, Mommy!!" Ever since then, we kept a pair of shoes handy whenever Sydney was having a bad day. Everyone lived happily ever after.

- The End -