Just when I think I've got this parenting-thing figured out, one of the kids finds a way to snap me back into reality. Last night it was Sophie, who woke up at just past midnight, sounding like she had aspirated a button or several Legos. She was a little wheezy and her breathing was a bit labored, so I decided to bring her to bed "just in case."

By 3 am she was sounding less like a 2 year old girl and more like my former boss (a 70+ man with a life long smoking habit). When she wasn't gasping for breath she was barking like a seal at the New England Aquarium - symptoms that were familiar, but had never been exhibited in our home before last night.

Fortunately, during this weekend's cleaning spree I had found, and most amazingly, put our copy of Dr. Spock's book "Baby and Child Care" somewhere I could easily find it while stumbling around at 3 am. As I flipped through the pages dealing with asthma and breathing problems I quietly thanked our pediatrician, Dr. Rob, for recommending we have this book. Believe it or not, it is the only book we own related to caring for the kids - we used to own more but over the years they have been tossed or passed on to other parents - and it provided the answer I was looking for within a few page turns.

Sophie was suffering from croup.

Crap.

Steve and I leapt into action. Okay, okay. Steve and I groggily stumbled into action. I brought Sophie into the bathroom for a 20-minute steam bath while Steve assembled a humidifier that hasn't seen the outside of our linen closet since last winter. Side note - as I sat in our very small master bathroom, listening to Sophie and considering future plans for the bathroom, I realized our plans to double the size of the room could make for future problems should we ever need to create an impromptu sauna. Suddenly, our little room was looking nearly perfect.)

At 6 am she was back up, this time with a temperature of 101 degrees, and a more pronounced cough. Another steam bath followed up by a shot of Motrin (another side note - make sure you have extra bottles in the house. I had 1 tsp and found myself hitting up Erin for extra meds rather than pull Sophie outside), and soon she was resting comfortably as her brain slowly oozed out of her brain from 6 consecutive episodes of Dora the Explorer. (We have since moved on to watch the full morning line up on Clubhouse Disney).

Now, I just have to figure out how to juggle the next five days of work with includes 2 client meetings, preparations for 3 meetings, year end budgeting, Christmas cards, finalize Christmas shopping....

I think I need a steam bath and a shot of something (preferably stronger than Motrin).