I've been super swamped at work and before that Jonah and I (and my partner) were sick for a few weeks. I just learned on Friday that we likely had Adenovirus. We are recovered finally.

The funny thing is that since he has been feeling better Jonah seems to have grown a bit and his appetite is up as well. He is working on his canines and first molars at the same time right now. I think he has gotten one little bit of one of the molars broken through. He hasn't had any new teeth in since February when he got his 8th tooth. I'm thinking in the next few weeks there should be a lot more.

I feel like I can barely keep up as I've been having to work so much and the work just keeps piling on. Jonah has just started getting into that stage where he is dragging stuff all over the house so it feels cluttered at home -- on top of any housework that needs tending to as well. I told my partner that we will just have to live with it for a few more weeks as we are smack in the middle of our busy season and we are also moving into a new office next weekend.

Sick, sick, sick

My nose is dripping as I write this. Baby and I have the flu. We had a cold last weekend and the week before that I had a sinus infection. This is no fun. I think we caught the flu from my partner who thought he had our cold but this is definately a little flu-like bug and we only had a head cold before.

Poor baby has been really feeling poorly. Diarrhea, a cough, and a bit lethargic today with a running nose. At the end of last week he had a fever that lasted a few days as well, along with vomiting and diarrhea. I'm thinking that it is just a mish-mash of viruses. I asked our sitter and she confirmed that she had not been washing his hands after they went to the park so that might be one way that we are all getting exposed. It seems as though there are a series of bugs working their way through Seattle at the moment.

The good thing is that with the continued nursing I can help my little baby both stay hydrated and fed even when he isn't really hungry for solid food. Nursing also provides him with extra cuddles and comfort when he isn't feeling good. I really see the value in nursing past a year. Honestly, my whole take on babyhood is that infancy lasts through at least the first two years.

The other thing that I think about is how the American Academy of Pediatrics says to nurse for at least a year -- that's at the minimum. The World Health Organization, not known for being a really progressive organization, advocates nursing for at least the first two years. Still so many women abandon nursing after one calendar year feeling like they put their time in. We are mammals though and isn't that what mammals do -- nurse their young? It seems crazy to me that gorillas and bears take better, more instinctive care of their young than we do as humans.

We were watching a program on cable this evening, about gorillas in captivity in comparison to the wild. The zoologists have been spending a lot of time trying to help support nature behavior and development in their captive populations. Makes me wonder what a human habitat would look like. Not our post-modern industrial homes but something that would support our natural behavior and development. I guess I would start by looking to what more simplistic societies do. Then maybe take a cue from camping. It sure as heck wouldn't involve including cribs for the babies.