Despite my rather whiny last post, my head has not exploded nor have my sinuses devoured my head. In fact, I’m feeling tons better. Still having sinus problems, but the headache is gone. Thanks, God.
I did have to go have an awkward appointment on Friday, as Thursday I discovered a red, tender lump in one of my breasts. Called up the lactation consultant and she thought it was mastitis, so off to see a midwife at my OB’s practice. It was very … weird. After telling her I noticed the lump the day before, she thought I meant sometime last week. She also got extremely freaked out that I took off my shirt for examination, and in the end had no idea if I had a plugged duct or mastits. No examination of the lymph nodes, a slight poke at the lump, and a lot of shrugging later; she ended up writing me a prescription for antibiotics (“it’s good for mastitis or a plugged duct” – what?). Since I felt a lot better on Friday, I decided to treat it as a plugged duct instead of mastitis. We opted not to fill it and ended up talking to Elise’s Great-Grandmother. She also got her share of plugged ducts and suggested some things to try, while continuing to nurse, of course. Great-Grandma’s suggestions worked because while the lump is there, it’s smaller, not sore, and the redness is gone. Elise the Hoover continues to draw it out, and I’m quite pleased by that.
Pi Day was Greg’s birthday, so we celebrated by doing errands and getting overly hungry and thus, owly. That was kind of a bummer, but once we stopped off at Subway, all was good. His brother flew into town that night, on spring break from college; so we get to spend a good week with him. Elise likes to smile and poke at her uncle, and we’re slowly letting him hold her as she gets used to him to minimize “stranger danger”. So far, so good.
Speaking of Elise, she had her first venture into solid foods – avocado – on Saturday. She didn’t really care too much for it (the Hispanic genes of hers are freaking out, I’m sure). There was some gagging that freaked everyone out, but other than that; it was fine. She also crawls around on her belly if she has something to push off of all the time (someone’s hands are the best), so it’s on the horizon before she’s independently mobile.
Last night Greg and I watched Fireproof, which was surprisingly good. A little sugary for my tastes, but Greg really liked the action scenes and thought that the movie had a great message behind it. We’ll probably end up purchasing it at some point to add to our movie collection.
And to make this post not all randomness, I’m finding this article over at Catholic Exchange to be very fruitful for me today: Christ’s Journey to the Cross: Lenten Inspiration for Mothers. Elise has been full on nap striking today (although she’s asleep now, thank God) but in the midst of the nap strike it’s easy to get overwhelmed and stand on the verge of a meltdown. I just wanted to sit, read my book, and veg; not try to decipher Elise’s cryings or her refusal to nap or anything like that. I wanted ME TIME, in gold script creating a little box where I could be, but Elise could not.
Instead of plopping her down in her crib and letting her to her own devices, for the seventh (!) time I found her suckie, settled in the rocking chair (there’s permanent indentions in the chair’s fabric from my arms holding her, and in the carpet from where I put my feet to rock her) and rocked her for what seemed like forever. I did click on a movie and get absorbed in it. I looked down at her sometime later – her head cradled into my arm, her fingers loosely wrapped around my thumb. Her suckie dangling out of her mouth, her eyes shut and she was off in the Land of Nod. Gently, I put her down and she stirred, but stayed asleep.
And now I have my ME TIME, which is more of doing everyone’s laundry, doing the dishes, and the like. It’s still not ME TIME, to read my book and not do a thing. But that’s okay. ME TIME can be a sanity saver, but it can also be overrated. Sometimes, the best ME TIME is serving Greg and Elise.
