crazy sick, part two

To be fair, our crazy sick girl was literally crazy sick all night. I even resorted to the stand-outside-in-the-freezing-air-to-open-the-windpipes trick. (Which is almost magic, the way it works.) By the way, I didn't know how visible the stars were from my backyard. Quite beautiful really, to have such perfect quiet everywhere while my baby's breaths become less shallow and thick by the second.

During our second round of outdoor air, in true form, Lou started babbling. She peeked out of her blanket, looked into the parking lot that's behind our house and said, with a silly face and a whisper, "I see a fox." "Oh, a fox, really?" "Yeah, da fox is hun-gee. Is coming!"

After drinking too much water too fast, she of course threw up (during a barky fit of coughs), and as she finished, she said, "I oh-kay. I oh-kay," and smiled up at me through watery, sick eyes. And she patiently waited for me to disrobe her and clean up the throw up, then calmly snuggled up on my chest again, an intermittent bark here and there.

I think it's fairly extraordinary, the way she's able to keep her spirit of joy about her, even when she hurts and is plainly quite ill. It makes the crazy worth it. Because for all the crazy we put up with, she dishes out an equal amount of joy and love. And it is oh so worth it.

I took these photos this morning. As you can see, she can't help the happy.