The Tears are from the Onions

A new first for my baby-- he's sick. Actually, I don't think he's sick so much as I think he has allergies. A week and a half ago, he started this cough thing. It wasn't very strong; to be honest, it sounded like a fake cough (but I knew he wasn't faking it). We found out later in the week that the other boy who stays with him during the week (Parker, whom Ethan adores) had bronchitis. Maybe I should have been worried, but I just wasn't. Of course, I come from the school of thought that some exposure to germs is a good thing and we don't necessarily give medicine for a fever because I think a fever is a sign that the body is fighting-- and that's good. I want to develop his immune system. But then there's this cough. And last weekend, the cough sounded a little more wet (whet?). There was definitely some sort of fluid, but no fever, and he was still his happy-go-lucky self. He barely slept on Saturday and Sunday nights, so Monday morning I called the pediatrician's office and no surprise, they weren't any help. They said they didn't want to see him because he didn't have a fever and to just give him some Benadryl. I realize that this is not their child, that they deal with helicopter parents on a regular basis, but I wish they would simultaneously realize that this is MY child and this IS important to me. Anyway, we've give him some Benadryl here and there this week and it hasn't seemed to help and we've given him Motrin to help with the teething. I did some research and have started giving him warm herbal tea because my mother's instinct has reminded me that warm fluids can break up any congestion in his chest. I've also channeled Martha Stewart and am currently making some homemade chicken stock, hoping that will also help.

I've also recently developed a love for Big Lots. We've bought furniture there a few times (we firmly believe that we'd rather spend our money on memorymaking rather than populating our house with *things*) but Susan is always telling me about the good deals on groceries that she finds there. So tonight I stopped in, just to buy a few boxes of Earth's Best ABC pasta that were going for a $1. I bought two boxes, and some bread and ketchup and an Annie's Natural marinade and some fabulous chocolate chips that I've never seen anywhere else. It was like a little aisle of heaven, there in Big Lots. Our money is so tight these days; most days, I'm not sure how we're making it (and we are just barely making it and there are days when it doesn't feel like we're making it at all). It was nice to actually feel like I got a good deal.

And now, I'm watching Grey's Anatomy, a show I gave up on long ago, because every single episode made me cry. But every Wednesday, sometime during Lost, there's a commercial for the next night's Grey's and I get sucked in and watch it and now I'm tearing up again and not from the onions I cut for the stock, but because of this show. Ugh. I should totally give up on this show again.