Purple Fish

Tonight, Hubby comes back home! Yay!!!

I plan to celebrate by sleeping in tomorrow morning and allowing him to reconnect with his little PetePete. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? I think so.

We managed extremely well this past week. It seemed a day didn’t go by where someone didn’t check on us, have us over or look after us in some manner. And it was nice for me to know that people were thinking of us and keeping tabs on us.

Reagan did super well, too, except for one particular night where I got a grand total of 4 hours of sleep. After she woke up crying, screaming really, I could not get her to calm down or relax. So I did what you’re really not supposed to do simply because I wanted so badly not to be vertical - I took her to bed with me. From approximately 12:30 to 1:30 she laid next to me, blinking at me and cooing excitedly as if to say “Awesome! I win! This is cool! You have a soft bed. I like it here. I think I’ll thump my legs against the mattress for a while. Why are your sheets so much softer than mine?” I snoozed next to her, my hand wrapped around her ankle. I awoke at 1:30 to a small hand slapping the side of my face. Reagan has most apparently seen too many V8 commercials because the next thing I knew her small palm landed squarely on my forehead. Which was the last straw...and she knew it. I promptly scooped her up and plopped her back in her own bed. She wasn’t happy about it. She cried for a few minutes and then sacked out soon thereafter. But other than that, we’ve done GREAT at night!

Of course, it would be this morning that my little girl wakes up crying and feverish. When Reagan has a fever because she is sick, her body flames. But this was pretty low grade so I am diagnosing her with an acute case of STUPID-TEETH-THAT-NEVER-COME-THROUGH, yet again. She cried through breakfast. She cried through getting dressed. She kept crying when I tried to comfort her by dancing with her. At my wits end, I finally grabbed a little purple fish from her toybox - a teething ring type fish. I wedged it in her mouth and she stopped fussing immediately. So that’s exactly how she went to daycare this morning - purple fish hanging out of her mouth while her little jaw went bite-bite-bite, seemingly making her happy as a clam.

To all our friends who have prayed for us, called us, checked on us, had us over for supper, or even came over for a day, we thank you so much. You made this last week easily bearable...and even pretty fun. I’ve gained a new sense of confidence, too. It isn’t that I want to do this parenting thing alone, but at least I know I can do it. At least I know that I can set the alarm by myself. I know that I can get myself all ready and then get Reagan ready and get us both out the door on time. I know that I can care for her, give her baths, and make her giggle all by myself. And I know that in the morning when my daughter won’t stop crying I know to snatch up a small purple fish, plug it into her howling face, and find one thing to make her feel better.

Thank you, Lord, for the kindness of others. And for purple fish.