Suck it Stefan!

My poor baby is sick, and I don't mean Stefan. Too bad if he is sick. We're parents now. There is no sick in  parents. (cough)

Let's go back to last weekend when people were coming over and Marni called to say she'd like to come with baby Penny Ruth, but that they both had a small cold...just a cough...and wanted to make sure it was ok.

"Sure it's ok!"

To myself I thought, "Katy Belle isn't going to catch anything. I don't catch Stefan's cold when he has one. Not everybody catches colds when around colds. Besides, Katy Belle hasn't ever been sick and so she must be a superhero and I am pretty sure that whole 'babies are super contagious AND susceptible to colds' warning is just hype."


Two days later she is sick. She has a runny nose that has developed into a cough. No fever and she stays generally happy, but still there is a nonstop flow of snot and a general sick that no one likes for her.

Like a good Mama, I bulbed her.

What is bulbing? It's where you take this rubber suction thing, aka "a nasal aspirator" and suck out the snot. Think a mini turkey baster. Katy Belle hates it. She cries and pushes it away with her hands and feet, and I am trying to distract her by counting or singing or tightly, yelling "It's ok baby girl! I love you!" Then I started to worry that she was going to associate my love, or worse, numbers, with this horrible process.

"Ok class, let's all count together. 1..2..3.."

(Katy Belle starts screaming, hands over her nose, and runs from the classroom, never to date until college.)

So here she is 4 days in, with a very red and sore nose that is still pouring snot and making it generally hard to sleep or eat or do anything. Let me just say that a snotty baby who spends a lot of time on the floor leaves a similar trail to that of a slug. ewwwwwwww


So, as I said, here we are, Saturday morning and I am going to find a solution. To the internet!

What do I find? Something called the "Snotsucker" by NoseFrida.  It had 174 5 star reviews on Amazon and it is a Swedish product so I checked it out.

Here is a description from BabyTalk (whatever that is, yikes):

That's right. You use a tube to suck out the snot.

I woke Stefan up right away.

They were sold in Park Slope so off we went to the pharmacy that sold this sucker.

We brought it home. I handed it to Stefan, who likes this sort of thing, and he sucked.

Let me just say to all parents, everywhere. IT IS THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER!

No tears and a ton of snot came out. It was disgusting and awesome all at the same time! She actually thinks it's hilarious!

And so without further ado, I give you phase 1 and 2 of EPIC SUCKING.


Untitled from Epic Family on Vimeo.



Untitled from Epic Family on Vimeo.