Hibernation

She did it! Last night Erin slept through the night-- a previously-unheard-of 11:15 pm to 6:30 am near-hibernation. Besides yawning a couple more times than usual, she didn't seem bothered by it. She probably wondered what her parents were so excited about over breakfast.

Erin is growing up quickly. Each day I look forward to coasting down the driveway after work on my bike and sneaking a glimpse of Erin or Frances in the kitchen window. The dogs bark and run to the door, Fran sticks her head out into the kitchen to say 'hi', and Erin just looks around with her big eyes and flailing limbs. She's started smiling and giggling when I change her diaper first thing in the morning. She's also outgrown most of the newborn clothes.

I switch back to the ED next week, and the shiftwork will disrupt my regular contributions to Fran's daily routine. No matter what time it happens to be, I'll be no less excited to get home on the bike and see what 'first' Erin has accomplished that day. Life is good.

-- Dad





Ok, my turn to write about what led up to her sleep marathon. As I think that I mentioned in an earlier post, Erin got a yeast diaper rash while we were in Portland and we've had a really hard time getting it to clear up. This is probably because, as I discovered several days ago, she has thrush too. Hard to clear up one without dealing with the other. So, we decided that we'd give the old remedy for thrush a try. For those of you who aren't familiar, gentian violet is a permanent dye which is used to stain some samples to look at under a microscope, it also kills yeast and is non-toxic and over the counter. The downside is the mess and oh what a mess we made. I put a little on her tongue and nursed her which resulted in picture number one. Messy, but not horrific. I then put a little more on her tongue and nursed her on the other side. This went well for several minutes until she gagged and projectile vomited copious amounts of lavender milk all over herself, me and the couch. It's a very good thing that the couch is already purple! After frantically trying to clean up the mess, she finished nursing and conked out. I was certain that since she'd lost so much of her meal that she'd be up soon, but the little girl surprised us by sleeping the whole night. How lucky are we. I know that there are no guarantees that this will become a habit, but it was pretty nice.

The naked baby in the sunshine is our attempt to help clear up her bottom. The girl loves to be naked, but I don't trust her indoors so turned the patio into a nudist colony (Oscar, Duncan and Erin participated, but I opted out). Since we were outside, of course she kept her fluids to herself for a change and just enjoyed the sun on her nether regions.