January 4, 2011 by Sarah
has not been cleaning up after my 9 month old’s stomach bug messes. I thought it was a 24 hour stomach flu, but it turns out it is more like a 72 hour bug… and counting. And yea, it is the kind of messes you’re thinking about. I will spare you the details. The other really not great thing about my new year’s was not spending it alone with hubby, since you know, we were wondering what was up with the baby. (You know how there’s that initial shock thing, where you find yourself running through everything they’ve put in their mouths and wondering if that’s what made them sick or is it a tummy flu…). Also not great is that I find myself in a bizarre time warp- like, is it the new year? My iphone says yes, my body says… well, it actually is saying get sleep, eat better than you are, remember that it will be over– eventually.
But, the really great thing about my New Year is that I feel amazed at how my body is able to care for this small person who needs me so much these days. Since she got sick, she hasn’t wanted to eat anything. She had only been eating things like yams, bananas, avocados, apple sauce. We take it really slow with food around here. So, we just went back to our full-time breastfeeding which we do so well. And she’s doing fine. She’s not dehydrated. She’s happy when she’s not, er, sick. She’s fine. Reminds me of newborn days. Mama has to give her baby everything. Baby needs Mama for food, clothing, shelter, transportation, poopy diapers, picking boogers, everything. Then, they get older and can crawl around, can eat dust and scraps they find on the floor, (kidding! but also, not!) they go to the bathroom when they want a bath, (what, yours don’t do that?!) and learn that they can wipe boogers on your shirt. But, then they get sick. And you realize a few things. 1- that they still really need you, and that means all of you, and 2- that you are so very thankful that they aren’t really all that sick, that most of the time they are smiling, happy, amazingly cute little kiddos who smirk when you ask them what was that you just put in your mouth, and laugh at the dog, and just generally make your world the best world to be in.
So, yea, I guess I can say it along with everyone else: Happy New Year! May your 2011 be filled with peace and joy!