rose-o-what?

before our sick appointment last week, i had never heard of roseola. last tuesday, bina spiked the highest fever she's ever had: 104.8. i was slightly terrified. but she wasn't acting all feverish, which typically involves her being super whiny and lethargic. i called the nurse line and asked for advice. they said to monitor the fever and to bring her in if it lasts for more than three days. they also suggested to start giving her alternating doses of ibuprofen and tylenol. done. commence three terrible nights of sleep, culminating with a 3:45am wakeup last friday. no sleep for mama. luckily bina took a nap from 8:45-12:45 so i got to binge netflix on the couch because at that point i was suffering from a killer head cold. which always pairs well with no sleep. on the fifth day, her fever disappeared and she broke out in the tell tale roseola rash. and so now we know what the heck roseola is. and i hope we never see her again.

when bina is well and super cute and fun, napping, and sleeping through most nights, i often think: i want more of these. but when she is up all hours of the night and a fussy mess of tantrum and food throwing, emotionally unhinged every other minute...

i start thinking one is plenty and we should just adopt more dogs.

poor bina has been terrible at eating since she got sick last week. which makes sense i guess. but it's SO FRUSTRATING. some days i handle it well and go with the flow and don't worry about it. the kid is peeing and pooping. all is well. other days i just turn into mommyzilla and want to throw her and the dogs out the window if (a) the dogs eat one more thing off her tray (b) bina throws one more thing on the floor or (c) the dogs bark one more time during nap (slightly unrelated). like. bina. THERE ARE STARVING CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD AND YOU THROW ALL YOUR FOOD ON THE FLOOR. but of course she doesn't understand that. it's a fun game for her. for whatever reason she isn't hungry and is very entertained by the dogs eating her peas off the floor and then barfing them up on my rug later. sigh. mom life.

i was asking some of my mommy friends from austin about this whole not eating and food throwing phenomenon. they were all like. meh. the kid will eat when she's hungry, this is all normal. one of them said the only vegetables her daughter eats are avocado and beans. that made me smile. bina has been a decent eater in the past, so i'm sure this is just a stage like so many other stages she has been through. but oh my gosh it's so annoying and wrecking all of my control idols every second of every day. !!!!! and again, mom life.

another super fun phenomenon is that bina has been even more intensely emotional than usual since the fever. she learned how to happy scream/squeal at the top of her lungs back in december. and now she puts all that effort toward her angry battle cry. and. it is deafening. i need ear plugs. one day i was on the toilet and she stood in the doorway letting her vocal chords rip and i just looked at her, plugged my ears, and repeated "i love you. i love you. i love you." more for my own benefit than for hers, really. i do love her no matter what emotional state she's in, of course. but sometimes i need a reminder.

my mom is visiting this week. absolutely perfect timing as i was beginning to lose my mind with my sweet little crazy child after roseola. grandma is a huge hit around here. i've been able to get out and do a few things on my own, which has really helped my emotional state. sometimes you just need a break, right? and then you can come back and be focused and ready to keep plodding along this motherhood journey. do things like vacuum all the dog hair that is overtaking your house. and such.

we've made several fun trips to places where bina can roam. my favorite was the mall. bina was drawn to the wall of bras at GAP.

"i want the blue one, daddy."

adorable. she ran around the seating areas and window shopped her little heart out. so many happy noises.

we stopped at starbucks for some snacks and drinks. i got a smoothie. bina drank it.

last night we went to tony sacco's coal oven pizza. delicious. bina walked (ran) all around the restaurant charming everyone with her little blond bobbing head. she sat with grandma for a few moments to eat a bite of banana and a bite of deli turkey we brought from home. this energizer bunny doesn't require much to keep going and going and going.

and then she was back at it, doing laps around the restaurant. come to think of it. she had so much exercise yesterday, she should have slept until 10am this morning. but she didn't get the memo. 5:30 it is.

today i took our expedition to the shop because the driver side window wouldn't roll up yesterday. not ideal. especially when you live in michigan in january. turns out we also need new tires. i will be selling a kidney to cover the damages, if anyone is in the market.

after dropping off the car to be repaired, my mom, bina, and i drove to northville to get a bite to eat at great harvest bread co. at first bina rejected her sample slice of cinnamon swirl bread. but after a few moments she came to her senses and devoured it. she needed a thorough wipe down afterwards. i think her slice was the one with the most cinnamon sugar filling, which she managed to get all over her face and hands, of course.

now we are enjoying some quiet time as bina naps. puppy snuggles with grandma. all is well.

hopefully the munchkin is ready to have a good rest of the day when she awakens from her slumber. at any rate, mama and daddy are going out on the town tonight meeting two of my high school friends with their husbands in milford for dinner. yeehaw suburban life! celebrating my and one of my friend's shared birthday. the best day of the year. january 13. which this year happened to fall on a friday, which is always fun.

and now i hear the munchkin. let the fun resume.