Haaack! Wheeze! Snorfle!

So...I'm sick. I'm sicker than I remember being anytime in the recent past. It's just a head cold...but it's oh-so-much more. I'm running a slight fever, I'm weak, my stomach is upset from the phlegm that runs down my throat. I'm a party and then some. I've essentially lain in bed all day today, and it seems beyond me to do much else.

It doesn't help that I didn't sleep really at all last night, not just because of the snot-filled condition of my nose, but because I just couldn't get comfortable. I tossed and turned, and tried to relax and laid still and closed my eyes...and was awake. And uncomfortable. I tried the living room sofa. The den sofa. Back to the bed again. And fell asleep somewhere around 5 a.m., after having already sent the email calling in sick to work. If I have another night like that tonight, I'll be staying home again tomorrow.

So I've spent the day in a clogged-sinus induced haze, wondering vaguely when I might have the energy to do the work I need to do, both the paying kind and around the house. And around the house is especially important, because, dun-dun-DUUNN, Caetlin turns the big 2 on Sunday. Which means in-laws coming to visit tomorrow, and my parents and sister coming on Sunday, and all of us shlepping over to a photography studio to have pictures made. Plus new toys and other gifts for Caetlin, plus something needs to be done to feed and water everyone, etc. Plus I have a baby shower that I am co-hosting on Saturday.

Plus Caetlin (the source of all this disease) is still sick, and her nanny has it too, though not as bad as me, and I'm horribly afraid Bruce is going to pick it up over the next days and then we'll really be screwed. Because this is only really the second day of my illness. Think about that, folks: the second day. Most of the time, it's the third or fourth day that really lays me low. I'm so scared to think what may be in store for me over the rest of the week.

And we have other stuff to do. Beyond the work that I mentioned, we're scheduled for an ultrasound of El Segundo on Thursday. I have been looking forward to this for literally weeks, and all I can think about now is whether I'll have the energy to deal with it. Caetlin still needs to be cared for, though her nanny has really hung in there better than we could ever have asked her to.

Some other random news from our House of Sicknesse and Grave Pestilence:
- I've become a huge fan of the neti pot. How did I not know this existed until recently?



As someone who has serious issues with all things sinus, this thing is the awesomest. I've been getting all kinds of gunk out of my nostrils, working them over every few hours. It's kind of not as cool when one sinus is so plugged that the water doesn't actually go anywhere, just hangs out in the nostril, but it helps nonetheless.

- I've been able to indulge my inner Olympics dork, TiVo-ing all the overnight and primetime coverage and dozing through it all day. I've gotten wayyy into water polo, which is seriously awesome. I've also been caught up in Michael Phelps and USA swimming, though it's tough not to be caught up in it with NBC basically moving in with Phelps and giving him evening foot massages and breakfast in bed each morning. Still, the 4X100 M relay was the most exciting swimming race I've ever seen. Can you imagine- five teams in that race were below world record time. Can you imagine swimming faster than the existing world record and not getting a medal? How crazy is that?

- One thing I haven't been too fond of is the love NBC commentators seem to be lavishing on the Chinese, especially in gymnastics. We all need to agree that the Chinese women are not 16 and move on. I actually agree with Bela Karolyi that the rule is stupid, but if you're going to have the rules, enforce them already! And those children are so clearly not 16- no breasts, no hips, no thighs, no maturity of face, lack of maturity of motion...compare one of the American gymnasts, who are certainly 16. It's not just about height or curves- I can sympathize with a short woman with a boyish figure. But looking at the Chinese gymnast who is 20- and looks it- only makes it more apparent that the Chinese are completely breaking the rules. And the commentators gave them a complete pass. Maybe they have to- they are broadcasting from a repressive, censorious regime, after all. But come on- couldn't we get a little skepticism? And really, the Chinese men are not the end all, be all of men's gymnastics. We get it- they're good. Moving on.

- Am I the only one who finds it amusing that women's beach volleyball is on in primetime, while men's beach volleyball is on at like 10:30 in the morning? I'm guessing the sport isn't exactly the only, uh, draw here. The guys wear basically basketball uniforms, while the women wear those itty-bitty bikinis. We ladies can't even get a little Top Gun volleyball scene action. I'm sure it's not dignified enough for the Olympics. Though to be fair, to get back to water polo for a second, there's enough of that sort of thing going around in water polo. Tivo is your friend, ladies!

Okay, enough Olympics dorkery. Wish me luck that I can kick this thing by the weekend, which would be faster than I ever have beat a cold before, as well as deprived of my normal crutches of Zycam (it works for me, I swear!) and Tylenol Cold medicine.

And, here she is in happier-and windier- times:


And looking like the big kid that she is- almost a whole 2 years old!