schoop de croup

Rachel woke up around 1:30 or 2am with croup. Scary?...YES. She woke up coughing like she was really choking on something, and then she was wheezing like she couldn't catch her breath. My first thought was, "Oh no, my child has asthma!!!" She sounded like she was gasping for breath. I rocked her and she collapsed sweetly on me, but when I tried to put her back in her crib, I was scared to leave her because she sounded like she couldn't breathe. My brainstorming had yielded two possibilities: asthma or pneumonia. So I rocked her a little more, and then I took her down to Jarrad, and we called the advice nurse. I let the nurse hear Rachel over the phone, and, cooperatively, Rachel coughed for her. The nurse said definitively, "Yep, she's got the croup." I guess I am grateful it's that, since it's a rarely-serious virus-caused illness that passes in 5-6 days. No asthma, praise God!

Rachel and I went to my mom's extended family reunion Sunday afternoon, and we spent the night at MiMi and Poppy's house Sunday night. As soon as we walked into their house, Rachel clearly recognized where we were, and started looking for Poppy (who hadn't attended the reunion). She slept great Sunday night, and we were able to visit a couple of old friends on Monday. Here's a picture of Rachel Mae with GreatGrandma Mae.

cute moment

Monday afternoon, Poppy and Rachel were playing outside, and Rachel was chasing their cat (named Bear). He's a fluffy black cat who lives outside and is really sweet, but he is not used to the likes of Rachel. She tries to catch up with him and give him loving pats, but he usually shrinks away with intsictual self-preservation. At one point, Bear was lying in some ivy up on the hill, and Rachel got about a foot from him and was pointing at him, grinning from ear to ear. She looked down at Poppy and me, pleased with herself for finding the cat. She kept her eyes on us, pointing to Bear and squealing with delight. In the meantime, Bear slithered away without Rachel noticing, leaving Rachel pointing and squealing at the bed of ivy. She then bent over to give Bear a friendly whack, only to find he was gone. She quickly looked around for him, but he had disappeared into a thorn patch, out of her reach.

non-toy toy of the day

At the reunion, Rachel found the kids' table, complete with kids' chairs. She spent a lot of the afternoon rearranging the chairs the way she thought was most appropriate.