Poor Baby

I woke up at about 1 AM this morning to the sound of dog barking in my room.

Then I thought, wait a minute, we don't have a dog...

It was The Guppy, coughing her poor little lungs out with this racking, dry cough that raises the hair on the back of my neck whenever I hear it.

The rest of the night I was up with her, trying to get her comfortable enough so that she could sleep. She finally fell asleep around 6 AM, and slept until 8 AM, when she woke up and promptly got sick all over the bed.

She's gotten sick twice more since then and we are all just camping out in our pajamas, hoping it doesn't turn into something worse than a cough with a stomach bug thrown in for good measure.

How is it, that no matter how fast our children seem to be growing, that the minute they get ill they suddenly look so helpless and small again? I lay on the couch with The Guppy and hold her in my lap, stroking her back as her tiny body is racked in a coughing fit.

Mommy, will you lay with me all day? she asks me.

How can I not?

Poor Baby