I want to express deep gratitude to my friend Erica and all the readers yesterday who suggested the somewhat unusual idea of putting vapo rub on the baby’s feet under socks, as well as using a humidifier.

I did both, and you know what?

The baby slept from about 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. quietly – a huge improvement over the night before.

Coughing did start after 3, but again, it was a huge improvement.

Hopefully this is a trend that will continue!!

Thanks!

I love these wise-mom suggestions, so if any of you have any home remedies you swear by, let me know.

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I’m not sure if I slept last night.

I must have, because I remember dreaming about shopping at one time.

My husband is sick with body chills and aches, he woke me up by moaning in pain around 10 p.m.

I told him not very empathetically that he would have to be quiet or move to the couch.

“I know,” he said in surprisingly good humor.

The coughing started at 10 p.m. and lasted until 3 a.m. Just in time for another sound: my alarm clock.

So I believe I slept from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

And then, the coughing started from my 10-month-old.

I could tell last night before putting her down that she had a bit of a cold.

I ran into her room, and found her asleep – she was coughing in her sleep.

I wish I could do that.

From then on, she coughed nearly every 5 minutes from 10 p.m. to about 3 a.m.

I went in several times, each time she was asleep.

I tried giving her a bottle once to see if that would calm her cough.

It helped for a few minutes, then continued.

I looked over at my husband, envious that he could sleep through the consistent coughing.

Maybe it’s a mother’s connection that won’t let her do that.

Well, just when my daughter seemed to be quieting down, I heard another noise.

Yes, it was the alarm clock.

3:15 a.m. time to get up.

We are in the middle of Nielsen Ratings, so calling-in sick should be the very, Very last thing one does during November.

I was actually okay up until about 10:00 this morning.

Now my vision is getting a little hazy.

Hopefully I’ll make it through the News at Noon!

I spoke with my husband this morning, and my daughter seems to be doing fine, thank goodness.

Miraculously it looks like she was able to get some rest amongst all that disruption.

Maybe I’ll get a nap today.  That would be nice.

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I love Indian food.

And I ate quite a bit of it during pregnancy.

Imagine my thrill when my 10-month-old daughter gazed longingly at my bowl of Kashmir Spinach the other day.

(For non-Indian food lovers, it’s a pureed spinach dish with spices and squares of delectable Indian cottage cheese – not like American cottage cheese.)

Not sure what to expect, I gave her a little spoonful.

And her reaction?

She loved it!

Hallelujah!

In fact, she demanded more and more, and cried when it was all gone.

She even seemed to like the spicy potato and chickpea dish.

I remember reading on different pregnancy websites that the baby may be able to taste what you eat while in utero through the amniotic fluid.

Not sure if that’s true or not, but being the Indian food lovers my husband and I are, we are thrilled our daughter can enjoy it with us.

Have you had any luck introducing new foods to your little ones?

How do you deal with picky eaters?

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Okay, my husband and I relocated within the same city nearly a month ago….

And we’re still unpacking.

Moving can be the chore that keeps on giving.

That’s what you get when you move in the middle of the semester while married to a full-time student, without taking time off from school or work.

My husband has said several times, “Sunny, can you unpack these boxes in the kitchen?”

To which I reply, “Unpack them and put the items where?”

You see, we are living in a much smaller space with no storage.

I mean no storage.

Luckily we have some Lincoln Log-like plastic shelves from my husband’s old home security job, and man, are they attractive.

I feel so bad for my 10-month old daughter who doesn’t have much room in which to crawl.

But slowly, ever so slowly we are making a dent.

I am just going to have to bite the bullet, as they say, and lose more sleep or sacrifice something and use that time to invent places to put things, or make another trip to our storage unit.

Ah, peace and order, I miss you.

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At first it looks like a cold, but whooping cough can be deadly – especially to infants.

States around the nation report drastically-increased numbers of pertussis, or whooping cough cases.

California is calling this year the largest epidemic since 1950, with more than 6,257 cases, and sadly the disease has killed 10 people – all infants under the age of three months.

The highly-contagious disease often claims victims - infants - who are too young to be fully-immunized.

The Iowa Department of Public Health says it has seen a 33 percent increase of pertussis this year, compared to the previous five-year average.

Breaking down the numbers in Iowa: 423 cases this year compared to 200 this time last year.

All babies who died in California were too young to be fully immunized, so doctors are urging teens and adults to get a pertussis booster, to create a “cocoon of immunity” around vulnerable children.

By the time a person reaches his or her teens, especially in adulthood, the immunization usually wears off.

So doctors encourage people to get  the relatively new ”TdaP vaccine,” standing for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

The puzzling thing about this disease is teens and adults may have an ongoing cough or runny nose, think it’s the common cold, but it might not be.  It might be pertussis.

In children and adults, whooping Cough causes a high-pitched “whoop” sound during a coughing fit, but in infants it often simply depletes them of oxygen and energy, and ultimately, life.

Recently we at KWWL ran a heartbreaking story of a mother who inadvertently gave her newborn baby pertussis and he died.

She had a runny nose, with no idea it was really pertussis.

Here is the story of a young mother of four boys, one now “living in heaven” as she writes, who lost her infant son in January to pertussis.  (Scroll to the early January postings.) 

The weather played no part in his illness – they live in Hawaii. Warning, you will need a tissue.

He was too young to receive the vaccine.

Please think about getting the TdaP booster the next time you call the doctor’s office.

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Almost everyone agrees with the idea that children benefit from a stay-at-home mom or dad.

But some psychologists say that preteens and teens may need a parent more than a young child does.

Preteens and teens may need you even more than you thought.

President of the National Research Center for Women and Families Dr. Diana Zuckerman says preteens and teens often don’t “want” their parents at home during this time of life, but that’s when they might need them the most, just click here and scroll down to “related video” for the clip on Parenting Weekly’s website.

Because of increased pressures from peers and school, and temptations like drugs, alcohol, ”sexting” and porn, this may be the exact age parents want to be available.

I remember going to a friend’s party in 6th grade and seeing my peers drinking beer, as well as taking comfort in the fact my mom was at home (most of the time) as an 8th grader.  She taught violin and piano in the home.

What are your feelings about moms (or dads) at home?

Do you agree some 11 or 14-year-olds may need a parent home at this time more than in their younger years?

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As I voted yesterday, I was impressed by the fact that nearly all the poll-workers were in their “golden years”.

It caused me to pause and wonder if people my age have any idea what it took for women to have the right to vote.

As election results continue to pour in, I can’t help but think it wasn’t even 100 years ago that women received the right to vote in America.

Let's not take the right for granted. Some women spent their whole lives fighting for it.

Thanks to some extremely determined women, who pressed male politicians for decades, who marched, demonstrated, got arrested, endured torture, beatings, false charges, hunger strikes, solitary confinement and more, American women finally received the right to vote.

From the women before Susan B. Anthony, to Alice Paul, to the Tennessee legislature voting in favor of the 19th amendment, women finally received the right to vote on August 18, 1920.

In recent years, the award-winning movie “Iron-Jawed Angels” illustrated this monumental struggle.

The term “Iron-Jawed” comes from Alice Paul leading her fellow suffragettes, who were wrongly imprisoned, on a hunger strike.  In a power-struggle, the warden began to force-feed them.

Later, a secret note to a senator from his imprisoned wife and Alice Paul helped shed light on the women’s inhumane treatment.

Public support then followed the women – now the “Iron-Jawed Angels”.

Having been born to a mother who regularly attended political meetings and caucuses, that I am ashamed to admit I found extremely boring as a child, I have a deep gratitude for our electoral system and the right to vote.

For all those who did vote, good on you, and for those of you who didn’t, make sure you turn out next election! 

Some women lived their whole lives fighting for this right.

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