Yesterday we had sort of an early Christmas celebration with the in-laws, since they’re leaving tomorrow. My mother-in-law made a huge meal for everyone, which was quite yummy even though it was all British food and not at all what I think of as being traditional Christmas fare. There was nary a sweet potato in sight, and I just don’t think you can call it Christmas unless there’s some food item that’s been topped off with marshmallow. Still, it was good and we had fun. And Dave loved it, because it’s all stuff that I have no idea how to cook.

After dinner, we did our gift exchange. (Dave and I haven’t given each other our presents yet, which we’ve said is because we’re going to wait until Christmas Day, but if we’re being honest, it’s because neither of us has bought the other’s present yet. We’re romantic like that.) I got a really beautiful necklace from my mother-in-law and a couple of other things (frame, bookmarker, etc.). Dave got a high-definition DVD player that burns DVD’s, so he’s happy. Cate got a really beautiful snow globe that plays “Frosty the Snowman,” and some toys, although we only let her have one last night. I figure it’s better to space them out and let her enjoy one at a time rather than get overstimulated by too much at once.

Cate’s back at daycare today, to give me a break for a few hours to work and get some stuff done around the house. She’s pretty much totally over her cold, except for the runny nose that just won’t stop. Her mood is 100% improved, she was crawling all over the place laughing her head off last night. I can’t begin to say how thankful I am for that. My plan is to dash her by the pediatrician’s office tomorrow anyway – I know she’s better, but I’d like to have them take a look at her ears before we get on a plane on Friday just to be sure.

(Btw, I’m feeling better too, although I still have a cough that could wake the dead. And my eyes are all red and puffy, but I’m pretty sure it’s just an allergic reaction to something. There’s no gunk, so I don’t think it’s pink eye. But either way, believe me, I am looking and sounding ever so sexy these days.)

Thanks for all the emails and comments about my mom. She’s doing pretty well. She said she’s having a hard time finding the right balance with her painkillers – too much makes her nauseated, not enough leaves her in pain. But otherwise she’s doing really well. She has a follow-up doctor’s appointment today to get stitches out and whatnot. Last time this didn’t bring up any good news, but hopefully today will be better.

Cate finally seems to be recovering from the worst of this latest cold, but she’s still not back to her normal self. I ended up using baby tylenol suppositories to help with her fever because I couldn’t get her to keep anything down. Her fever finally broke yesterday, so she’s gradually been getting better. Her appetite is still off, but at least she isn’t vomiting everything back up.

I, however, am not so good. My cold seems to have turned into full-on bronchitis. I keep waking myself up at night with coughing fits that feel sort of like spasms in my chest, so that’s pretty miserable. Luckily I have a full course of antibiotics that my doctor gave me when I got sick last month, so I’ve started on those to try to kill this thing off before we leave for Mississippi. I try not to take antibiotics unless I have to (hence the reason I never took the ones I was prescribed last month), but past experience has taught me that when I get bronchitis, it’s always bacterial, not viral. So, time to bring on the drugs.

And I must confess, the absolute worst time to have a cold yourself is when your baby is sick. She wants to have her face buried in my neck all the time, and she wails when I set her down, so trying to figure out a way to free my hands so that I can blow my nose is almost impossible. And no one else can soothe her, she just wants her mama all the time.

Last night I put her in her crib when she was already asleep, but she immediately woke up and started to fuss. For the first time ever, I let her cry herself to sleep in her crib because I just needed a few minutes of her not being on me. I still feel guilty about that, but it took maybe four minutes at the most for her to settle herself back to sleep. And she wasn’t wailing, it was more like pitiful whimpering. So I’m pretty sure I haven’t inflicted any long-lasting damage on her. Still, it sucks.

Thinking of deep psychological trauma, though, I think we might’ve accomplished that when we took her to get her picture taken with Santa last week:

It probably wasn’t worth the money to get that one picture, but you know, it’s her first Christmas, so it seemed like one of those big milestone moments that should be documented. And he was a good Santa, real beard and everything.

Update on my mom: she’s doing really well. She’s home, and sounded totally normal when I talked to her. She’s started cutting her painkillers in half so they won’t make her feel stoned, so if she’s able to do that, it doesn’t seem like she’s in that much pain. So that’s good news there. Can’t wait to get there and give her a hug (a week from tomorrow!).

We are all sick as dogs here. With the exception of my mother-in-law, who seems to have an immune system of steel, the rest of us (including her boyfriend Roger) have succumbed to the snotty crud. It’s awful. Nothing like trying to take care of a sick baby when you feel absolutely horrid yourself.

Poor Cate seems to have the worst of it. The pediatrician found that she has the beginning of an ear infection, so we’ve got her some antibiotics to fight that off. She’s also had a really high fever (102.8 last night, 102.4 this morning) and has just been miserable. Last night was the sickest I’ve ever seen her. I tried to give her Tylenol or Motrin on a couple of different occasions, but she was so upset and agitated that she kept vomiting it back up when I put it in her mouth. We let her squirm around on our bed and whimper for a while to get her to settle down, then tried again. I finally managed to get some Tylenol in her, and she seemed to feel a little better after that. But it’s been pretty horrible for the most part.

This morning she coughed up mucus all over me and herself. That was a special little mommy moment that I hadn’t been expecting. Truly lovely.

In other news, my mom had a double mastectomy today. I just heard from my sister, who said that she’s out of surgery and doing fine, so that’s great to hear. My mom has decided to hold off on the implants for a few months. According to the plastic surgeon, this is a little different than the reduction, and the outcome is usually better if you wait for the surgery to heal first, so she’ll go back in for reconstruction in 5-6 months.

This has been the most bizarre week, between my mom’s two surgeries, us getting sick, my in-laws being here (who we haven’t seen since our wedding in 2005), and the upcoming holidays. I really can’t process everything that’s been going on. And the Sudafed isn’t helping either.

Oh, and I’m supposed to go to a meeting tomorrow and actually sound somewhat coherent and smart. Ha! We’ll see about that.