Croup sure is Crappy

So our little Marenino has the Croup. Actually, I don't know if it's "the croup" or just plain old "croup." Regardless, she's had a rough week. Wednesday she woke up, and seemingly out of nowhere had a bad cold. A stuffy nose accompanied by an exorbidant amount of snot makes for some panicky moments looking for kleenex. By Thursday she had a barky cough... and by Friday we were at the doc and on some meds. Let's just say that sleeping while lying down (and so sleeping at all) has been a challenge. (For all of us.)

As most parents have probably experienced, going to the doctor is a little nerve-wracking; you never know what torture your little one will have to go through. Even with the most wonderful and loving staff (like we have), when they pulled out the nebulizer mask-thing I knew it wasn't going to be fun. Ugh. It's the tiniest little taste of the powerlessness parents must feel when a child is REALLY sick.

I should clear this up: even though "croup" sounds like some horrible terminal illness, it's a fairly common thing that goes away in about a week. Croup basically gunks up your system and makes it (sometimes, in the worst cases) difficult to breathe. Lucky for us, it looks like Maren's croup is not as crappy as it could be.

In other exciting news, my parents are in the process of moving out of their Happy Valley home and into the lovely city of St. Paul. To help say 'goodbye' to the house and (more critically for ma and pa) help them move some of the years of... momentos we've accumulated over the years, my Chicago bro and his fam are coming into town. FUN!

In the meantime, here's hoping Maren will begin to sleep better very soon. Andy and I are tired.