insomniac mom who rose early for pedi appointment

It seems we need a little more text in this blog, so I've found a moment while Ixa is sleeping off her vaccine fussiness- the fussiness turned into a need for very much sleep, with breaks for comfort while she drifts back off. I haven't had this much free time since before she was born, but it still doesn't make up for how sad it is to see her cry harder than when she had the lumbar puncture because of her distressed reaction to vaccines today. We do think it is a good idea to do the vaccines for the serious diseases, because we don't want her to suffer worse (or worse)! She got DPT last month (the tetanus part really scares me- I wish they could make one just for pertussis) and today, HiB (homo-something influenza) and Pneumoccal virus. These are diseases that can kill or cause permament brain damage or hearing loss in babies, that are not rare enough! The shot nurse today said she had seen kids die of Hib. so there went our resolve to only give her one shot per visit. She gave them both so close together that there wasn't a break in the crying, and I had to ask, "that was both?"
So this month Ixa has begun to play with toys, on her own more, too! she reaches and grabs things and brings them to her mouth to suck. We managed to have just the right sorts of toys for this stage just from donations and hand-me-downs! But we did buy some bells to hang when she discovered a toy like that at her friend Ezra's house.
Today was 70 degrees here- no freezes yet like for our sibs in Ithaca! My nanny friend Joanna took us for ice cream, it was a moment of summer revisited. Her charge Adam now recognizes us, smiles and waves (he's one) and today when Ixa got fussy and was crying at the ice cream/burrito place, he tried to gently stroke her foot as if to comfort her... it's great to be around other babies and people who spend their days with them, Joanna gives me lots of feedback and perspective on the world of children.