Stir it Up Michelle Obama!

Leslie Morgan Steiner, a former writer for the on line version of the Washington Post, offers this interesting commentary about the possibilities for our new First Lady of Color: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/24/steiner.michelle.obama/index.html. Whether you stand at the right, left or center of the aisle, you must admit that she is right about the Bush ladies fading into the background. For goodness sake, controversy and expressing one's opinions will not kill a person. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what issues Ms. Obama chooses to speak up about. And being a recently inducted working mother, I would also like to see her tackle work/life balance issues and work on getting our family and medical leave laws changed to require paid leave for a period of time that rivals other industrialized countries. Perhaps I should start a new blog entry on that issue alone?

Talking Katemonster

I Want my Mummy!

Here is a cute photo taken by her day care provider, Ms. Cyndi, last week. You cannot see it, but her onesie underneath the bib reads "I Want my Mummy!"

Unfortunately, we found out that Kate had an ear and sinus infection to add to her upper respiratory infection around Halloween, so we have been busy administering medication, going back and forth to the pediatrician's office and wondering how many times it is appropriate to call their 24-hour help line to ask a sick baby question. It also turns out that she does not fuss that much when she is in pain, so we have to be super vigilant in picking up on her signs of discomfort.

We did not find out she had a problem, until day care called to tell us she had mucus oozing out of her eyes. You may be thinking--how appropriate for Halloween. It can indicate infection elsewhere in the body. Cue anti-bacterial eye drops and antibiotics. Unfortunately, we were back in the doctor's office a few days later only to find out that her ear infection was likely Amoxicillin-resistant. Hopefully, the stronger antibiotic will do the trick. She has been sleeping and eating well; she just gets fussy at times, and we give her infant Tylenol to help with the ear ache. It broke my heart a few days ago when I discovered her whimpering and taking short, quick breaths. Luckily, she is no longer doing this. Le sigh.

She did manage to paint a mini-pumpkin and a piece of art work in day care, to watch her Daddy carving our big pumpkin and to help us pass out Halloween candy (if lying snugly wrapped in her blankie on Daddy's lap counts as helping.)