The ear infection that won't go away

Last week, I blogged about darling daughter's second ear infection, her second infection in less than a month. After a follow up check up yesterday with a lovely nurse practitioner at my doctor's office, I learned that it will take a month for the fluid in her ears (which became infected and caused said ear infection) to be reabsorbed by her body. Until that happens, there is a chance that the fluid will become reinfected and cause another infection. A quick check of darling daughter's ears showed that one of them was still red. Since were almost finished with the amoxicillin prescription she gave us last week, she decided to extend it for another five days in hopes the medicine would clear up the redness in one of the ears.

Hours later that same day, darling daughter broke out in a rash from head to toe. Was it measles? Chicken pox? Or some kind of childhood disease? Or did she encounter something at the playground? Only another trip to the doctor's office (our fifth visit in a month) would give us a concrete answer as to what was causing the rash.

The culprit: amoxicillin. Apparently around day nine or 10, kids who have an allergy to the stuff can break out in a rash. Although she is showing a mild reaction to amoxicillin, she can't have any more. And other than giving her Benadryl and Motrin, we weren't given an alternative for the amoxicillin. I have my fingers crossed that the ear infection will go away. But with our recent track record, I doubt it.

Darling daughter still has her rash and I'm hesitant to take her out of the house. I know it is from the medicine, but I don't want to get strange or dirty looks from parents who will likely automatically assume she is sick with something. As well as being stuck in ear infection hell, we are also in self-imposed quarantine from dirty looks. As my friend T would say, good times, good times.

52 weeks: a photo essay

Recently, dear husband sent several photos of darling daughter to his parents. After they received the package, my father-in-law thanked dear husband for the photos, but he had a question: where was I in the photos?

I wasn't included in any of the photos as I hadn't taken any photos of me and darling daughter together in months. This is likely due to the fact I've been in group photo withdrawal for the last four months.

I've been meaning to blog about this project for months, but the subject slipped my mind. Anyway, photo Wednesday seems like the perfect opportunity to blog about it. In February, I finished my 52 weeks with darling daughter photo project. I should preface that this wasn't my idea. I got the idea from an online moms group. The premise of the project is to take a photo of you and your child (or children) once a week for a total of 52 weeks. They can be posed photos. They can be photos of you reading together, or playing in the park. The possibilities are endless. At the end of the project, you have a treasured keepsake. And it is a way for moms to get photos of them and their little ones together as moms are usually the photographers of the family.

I started the project when darling daughter was nearly six months old and it ended when she was 18 months. I have photos of us doing laundry together, her watching me knit, blowing out the candle at a family gathering to celebrate her first birthday, reading stories, playing with toys and at the park, craving a pumpkin at Halloween and decorating the Christmas tree. While a good majority of the photos were taken by dear husband, some of them were taken by myself.

While I was happy to finish the 52 week project as it took some work, I was a bit sad to see it come to an end. Obviously, I wasn't that sad to pick up the camera and start on 104 weeks with darling daughter. I'd like to do it again, but I'm not too sure when. I wonder if darling daughter would be willing to participate in the 52 weeks with darling daughter -- the teenage years?

Kleenex and sand

Yesterday wasn't my best laundry day. I needed to wash my running gear, so I threw it into the washing machine, not thinking to check pockets for Kleenex. When I went to retrieve my laundry to dry it outside, everything was covered in mini bits of tissue. After shaking each garment to get them as Kleenex-free as I could, I threw them back into the washer for a quick rinse cycle.

I thought the problem was fixed until I went to retrieve my laundry. Grabbing my shorts and a shirt, I found that they were covered in sand. Sand?!? What the heck? I didn't see a grain of sand after the last wash. So back in the rinse cycle they went. So after one wash, shaking and two rinse cycles, my laundry was finally free of both Kleenex and sand. Not too sure what was going on with the laundry gods yesterday, but at least my running gear is clean.

Another running reality check

Yesterday I ran 11k. And what experience it was.

If you live in Ottawa, you'll likely remember yesterday as a pretty miserable day with rain and cool temperatures. The night before, I firmed up running plans with my friend and coach, C. We decided to meet at our usual running spot and make a judgement call if the rain was too bad to run in.

Looking out my kitchen window yesterday morning, all I saw was rain. Did I really want to run in rain? Did I even want to run at all? (Answer to both questions was an empathic no). I called C, got her voicemail and left the following message:

Hey, it's me. I notice it is raining outside. Is it too heavy to run in? I know you said you are getting over being sick and I wouldn't want to get sick again or God forbid, develop pneumonia. Let me know if you still want to run. I'll be here for the next 30 minutes before I head out to our meeting spot.

Thirty minutes passed and no phone call. Looking out the kitchen window again, I noticed the rain had picked up. Damn. I do not want to run in this crap, I thought to myself before picking up the phone and making one quick phone call to C. Again, my call went to voicemail where I left the following impatient and crabby message:

Hey, it's me again. Really, the rain has picked up and I really don't want to run in this weather. And who would, unless you're a duck. Since you aren't answering your phone, I'm going to go ahead and meet you at our meeting place. But I still don't want to run in rain.

To be honest, even if it had have been sunny, I still wouldn't have wanted to run. I've lost my running mojo. I think it disappeared during Race Weekend last weekend. Maybe it disappeared when I crossed the finished line. Or maybe it disappeared somewhere in the massive crowd in Confederation Park. I don't know what happened, but I think I've hit the wall, so to speak.

Being the great and encouraging running coach that C is, she decided we should run. And she even brought me a rain jacket. After prolonging it as long as I could, we ran. The number of runners running on the pathway was sparse, but there were lots of ducks. We ran from one side of the canal to the other. Since I have a 10k run on Saturday, I needed to get a long run in. By 8k, I was done, but I made the decision to keep on truckin' and go another 3k. I don't think I was ever so happy to see the finish line. My feet were sore. My butt was sore. And I was soaked.

I apologized for the crabby message and C accepted my apology. She said that once she may have sounded just like the message I left. I love running, but sometimes it is hard to talk yourself into hitting the pavement. But does it ever feel good to cross the finish line, especially in the rain.

Reviving my Swiffer mop

Since purchasing my Dyson, which sucks up everything, including toddler socks, my poor Swiffer has been relegated to the back of the broom closet. Why buy Swiffer cloths when I can simply plug in my Dyson and vacuum the dust bunnies to my heart's content?

Last week I was browsing through the blogs I follow. One blogger mentioned she had knitted Swiffer cloths. Swiffer cloths?!? You can knit them?!? Holy crap! Why didn't I think of that? I immediately logged into Ravelry and voila! Swiffer cloth and dry dust mop cover cover patterns suddenly popped onto my screen. And best yet, most were free patterns.

One of the reasons I wasn't using my Swiffer was because I had run out of disposable cloths to use. Although the cloths are great, I hate using them because they end up in the garbage. Why spend money on something you are going to throw out anyway? Since I've got a bin filled with cotton yarn (so addicted to the colours) I found a ball and quickly knitted this pattern. I made this cover in less than a day. It is super easy and it would be a great pattern for those who are learning to knit. The only thing I would change is making the pockets a bit deeper by half an inch. Also, they work perfectly. Once you are done, then can be thrown into the laundry to be washed. So, hello Swiffer mop and goodbye to Swiffer cloths.

Photo Wednesday

I took this photo after darling daughter and I lined up her Little People along the dining room table this morning. She'd bring one to me, I'd say the name of the character (ie: sheep, boy, cow, pig), and then I'd ask her to say the character's name. Obviously, we repeated this several times. She is very partial to the sheep. Also, she thinks the horses are cows. Oh, soon-to-be two year olds are funny and cute little creatures.

A new month, a new ear infection

For the third time in less than a month, we made another visit to the doctor's office this morning. The first visit happened in early May, where the doctor politely informed me that she was suffering from an ear infection. The second visit occurred two weeks later when darling daughter began to exhibit ear infection symptoms: a persistent cough and runny nose. It turned out it wasn't an ear infection, but fluid in the ears. I was told to use a saline nasal spray to help flush out the nasal passages in hopes of relieving congestion. Once the congestion was relieved, the cough would disappear.

Despite the fact she hates getting her nasal passages irrigated, the saline solution did help. But on Sunday, the persistent cough started up again. So once again, we made another visit to the doctor's office this morning. The nurse practitioner confirmed what I already knew once she looked into her ears: ear infection. And a raging infection in both ears at that.

So a big cheer for Amoxicillin. Although she only has had one dose, it seems to be working. And after we've successfully beat this infection, here's hoping no more ear infections for awhile.