I took a nap yesterday afternoon and lay in bed a while after I woke up. Listening to the fireworks of a handful of early revelers, I considered that Olof and I haven’t ever been out or had any sort of major plans on New Year’s, and as I thought about that I realized that I have been either pregnant or nursing a baby on every one of the five New Year’s Eves that I’ve lived in Sweden. Assuming Petra carries on as long as Tage did, I will still be nursing a year from now, and not long after that it will be time to start thinking about a possible fourth baby. Looks like it might be a while before I’m ringing in the New Year with anything stronger than the Sprite and Cheez Balls we had last night. Motherhood … it’s a lifestyle choice.

After being sick for nearly a week, I’m finally feeling mostly better, but the cloud inside that silver lining is that Petra seems to have caught whatever I had. She was restless all last night with a cough and a fever, and she’s been listless most of the day. She’s smiled only a handful of times and been coaxed to laughter only once or twice, which must mean that she’s feeling really poorly. This is the first time she’s had more than a sniffle, though, so I suppose we should count ourselves lucky. We’ve dosed her up a couple of times with baby acetaminophen and that seems to be helping some. That’s more than we can do for Tage, who’s also got a nasty cough and a bit of a fever but positively refuses to come anywhere near the medicine dropper.

Olof has the day off tomorrow since the holiday fell on Sunday (this isn’t the norm in Sweden, so we have his employer to thank for that little bonus), and I’ve got big plans for him to help me clear out all the remains of the holiday celebrations. The extra table and chairs that we brought in for Christmas dinner are still crowding up our kitchen, and the entire second floor of the house is littered with ribbons and boxes and wrapping paper. The mess has been making me feel almost claustrophobic for nearly a week now, and I can’t take it another day.