Life Happens

Isn't it true that life doesn't slow down for very long before something new pops up?

Sometimes it's a good pop up (like a Pop Tart - warm and sweet). Sometimes it's more like a pop out (like poop). But pop-ups are always complicated. And when we think we're catching up (though whatever that illusive "catching up" really means, I'm not sure), we're not.

Over the weekend I had an extremely crabby two-year-old.

I was pretty sure she was getting her molars and this was normal molar behavior.

But when she screamed and thrashed all through Saturday night and held her mouth and screamed "Owie!" and when every question I asked her resulted in, "NO! Nu-uh! NO!" ... well, I started to wonder if it was something more.

Yesterday morning I noticed a new sore on her lip. She'd had one on the side of her mouth, but I thought it was just a pimple. I asked her to stick out her tongue ("No! Nu-uh! No! -- but then she did it anyway) and saw more sores speckling her tongue.

Turns out my baby contracted the oral-version of the herpies virus, a.k.a. cold sores. The dashingly handsome sidekick also contracted this as a young child (and before you freak out, it's not related to the herpes STD at all) but he hasn't had a sore in ages and ages.

We're not sure how she got it, but I guess at this age when little hands go everywhere, she could've gotten it anywhere.

I've managed to avoid the virus for more than eleven years. (Once you get it, you have it for the rest of your life. Small children have the worst reaction. When she gets older, she'll probably get cold sores from time to time, like the DHS.) But I'd been kissing and holding her so much these last few days, I wonder how much longer I'll have to enjoy a cold-sore-free mouth. Did I mention that oral-herpes is highly contagious?

So, I keep washing my hands. And I've been praying that maybe the other kids and I will be miraculously immune. In the meantime, I'm doing a lot of holding and rocking. The only foods she'll eat are soft things like Jell-O, pudding and yogurt. But at this point I'm just glad she's eating something. We're watching a lot of Little Einsteins because that's the only show Sophie will watch without crying. I'm wearing old clothes, washing a lot of laundry, and doing a lot of praying for presymptomatic healing.

It's Nutcracker week for my older girls, too. So let the fun (and the insanity) begin.

Someday I may get around to writing a more interesting post. Someday....

Thanks for sticking with me through the doldrums, folks.