First ear infection

...and hopefully the last. Rachel obviously doesn't realize that getting sick in the middle of Mommy's magazine production cycle isn't very constructive. At least my boss was sympathetic and ordered me to leave.

I got a call from daycare around 2 this afternoon; Rachel was tugging at her ear and complaining that it hurt. So, I cancelled a video shoot that I had completely forgot about, anyway, insisted on getting a doctor's appointment in Portland, threw a ton of work-related materials into my bag (thinking that I may as well have them with me in case the worst happened and I had to stay home with Rachel for the rest of the week), raced to daycare only to find Rachel cheerfully drinking juice. "Mommy, my ear hurts," she said, smiling. So I bundled her into the car and headed north -- and, of course, I ran into wet, messy snow. I was a half-hour late for my appointment but at least we got in.

Rachel was a champ during the exam; she only cried when they made her take her clothes off. In case you're wondering, she weighs 27 pounds (25th percentile; it appears our daughter is still on track to be tall and skinny) and her lungs sounded great. She never even flinched when the doctor used the piece of equipment that they use to peer into the ear! (probably because the doctor offered to examine piggy's ears first; piggy is a stuffed animal from school that I asked daycare to let us take home and they said yes).

Anyway...her left ear was red and inflamed, and after I told the doctor that Rachel has had a cold for the last few days, she nodded and said it's time to give Rachel antibiotics (which is really all I had wanted, anyway). So now she gets to take medicine, which she is very excited about because it's dark pink and she likes the taste. I also gave her some Ibuprofin for the pain. She said the antibiotics tasted better.

The good thing was that we got home early after I picked up some pizza (Rachel had requested it and, after the week I've had so far, I was in no mood to cook even though we really can't afford to eat out right now, even pizza). Rachel said she was tired and wanted me to read to her after we finished eating at 7, so she ended up going to sleep at 8:40 p.m. instead of 9:15. Which is good because I need to get us in early tomorrow (AGAIN) so I can catch up on all the work I missed today.

Oh, yeah, and when I checked my work e-mail from home, the ugliness of this week continued. I am really, really looking forward to PopPop's visit this weekend. Perhaps he won't mind if I drink heavily (providing I can find some strong liquor that doesn't taste too awful) and cry on his shoulder?