Early Monday, Rebecca took Paela into the pediatrician to make sure Paela was able to breathe and what we should do to prevent bronchitis or pneumonia from setting in. Both of us have decided that we're not as comfortable with our pediatrician's flippant and giddy attitude because we associate it with a less-professional demeanor. Other people might appreciate a doctor who isn't always down to business, but we're a bit bothered by it.
We were instructed to get saline drops and put them in her nose, followed by suctioning out gunk. Like you really wanted to know that. But it meant we took Paela out to Target and perhaps taking her out everyday to places isn't the best thing for her: but we do it anyways. Also, the saline drops have spoiled her perfect skin. Apparently we aren't very accurate with our aim into her nose [it is a rather small target...] and the overflow onto her cheeks has caused her skin to break out. Once we stop putting salt water on her face, maybe she'll go back to perfect skin.
Tuesday was when I got hit with the same cold. This made for a long difficult day at school, especially when my late class was a planning session for our upcoming interview series. We also had a frank discussion about our expectations for this MFA program. Many students hadn't been as involved in the program as we had hoped. Most of them had spent the past months in a state of confusion because no one had clearly instructed them on what to do. We, as the body of older students, hadn't realized we needed to explain to them that they shouldn't be told what to do, they need to engage themselves, searching for ways to be involved. Since that night, everything has changed. I wish we had known to have this discussion earlier.
My cold had gotten so bad by Thursday that I took the day off from school, stayed home and let Rebecca have her first "out of house" experience without Paela tagging along. Rebecca said that it was very nice to have the freedom to go whereever she needed to and run some errands without the baby being there. Even though we still had to pack Thursday evening, I had an appointment with someone I am interviewing for an upcoming event and I took Rebecca and Paela along for moral support. I finalized the direction I wanted to take my interview and discussed the general topics with Michael. When giving an interview: developing good rapport is very important.
And then, we drove to Oregon. Even as we were leaving, we kept re-evaluating whether or not it was a good idea to take two sick people on two 12 hour drives. But we did it anyways. Paela slept for most of the drive, waking only every four hours to scream how hungry she was. Driving with a kid is very problematic because they only get light sleep, not deep restful sleep. This put her schedule -- if she even has one -- out of step and made for an overtired baby.
But Saturday helped to remind us why we go. It was a long weekend with plenty of time to talk about the past year and where we want to go for the next.
The drive home was a little better than the drive to Florence. Paela figured out how to let us know when she was hungry before it was too late. However, we decided that Medford, Oregon is a terrible place where no one helps you out -- even if you have a baby. And I'm tired of people thinking I said the name Kayla when her name is Paela. We need to find a clear way to pronounce that P so people don't mishear her name. I don't like the name Kayla.
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