Another First

A lot of times, I tend to think of Emry having firsts as something good. She rolled over for the first time. Tried bananas for the first time. Sat up by herself for the first time. And soon she will have her first Thanksgiving, first Christmas and first New Year. All kinds of fun things to watch and enjoy with her. But there are certainly other firsts to be had.

At the end of last week, Emry had her first cold. We think Ed brought the germs home. After all, he works with lots of people in a big store with lots of customers. But he didn’t get it too bad. I was the one who went through a whole box of tissues, and nearly lost my voice, and tried to keep the house clean by wiping down everything and putting the hand sanitizer in an easy-to-reach place. I’m not usually so OCD about germs. After all, the cold will pass in it’s own time and who have I got to share it with? Except now I have Emry.

In the back of my mind, I knew the little girl didn’t stand a chance. For the choice is easy: stay away so she doesn’t get the cold and let her starve or feed her. Needless to say, I chose the latter – although I was very careful to wash my hands, and not sneeze on her, and even try not to breathe too close to her. But she awoke Thursday morning with some sniffles. And by Friday, I had to get the nose-bubble-thingy out and persecute her as I tried to clear her nasal passages. It’s just a good thing we don’t remember what are parents do to us as infants…

She’s still waking up a bit congested in the morning, but all-in-all she has survived her first cold with very little trouble. (And since she’s also teething, sometimes I couldn’t pin down if her moments of fussiness were her cold or her teeth). We’ve been keeping warm, and have our humidifier on, and even having our nose cleaned out isn’t as bad as it was the first day.

A first cold is inevitable (as is a second, and third, and who knows how many a person has in their lifetime). And even though she was worn out the first day, I would not call our little girl miserable at any moment. Somehow, this little girl always finds a reason to smile and be happy. And best of all, she actually wanted to cuddle a little. A rarity I treasured for a few hours!