What do a seal and my son have in common?

*Cough cough*. Or should I say *bark bark*. 'Tis the season for croup again! My baby boy is struck down with croup like clock work. Every Halloween season, every Christmas season. Just at those perfect season changing times here in Arizona when scorching hot goes to awesome walking weather, and again when walking cool weather goes to, Brr where's my jacket time.

Since my beautiful boy was born premature at 28 weeks, he gets hit with croup pretty hard every year. What that means to our house is 3 or 4 late night cool mist treatments, bundling up to sit outside in the cool air, and rocking that big boy until he can sleep comfortably again. I always cross my fingers and hope that this year will be the year he's out grown it. The croup has other plans though.

I'm very thankful he's gotten older and mature enough to understand he's sick. Come get mama at night. Hold the nebulizer it'll make you feel better. Take your medicine even if it tastes like our dog's breath smells. And most importantly, mama snuggles will will help make him feel better even faster.

"I always cross my fingers and hope that this year will be the year he's out grown it."

Croup is very contagious, so it's a good idea to know what to look for and what to do to help your babies feel better. Hop over to KidsHealth.org to learn more about signs, symptoms, and typical treatments.

It's day one with croup, so I know I have about 4 or 5 more days of late nights sprinkled with early mornings. What I'm really saying is, where's my postpartum doula?! I'd like to put my order in for my doula to tuck us in at night, bring us some water when we need it. Pat our backs to help us sleep. Tidy up the mess I couldn't get to. Maybe even treat us to some waffles in the morning. Because waffles fix all!