THE LOVE BUG

This is Reanna. She is three and a half months old.


(Look how much I've grown!)


Lorenzo and I call Reanna our "little ladybug". She is the latest addition to our garden of love in Modesto, CA, joining our two bumblebees, Lance and Troy.

Unfortunately, another sort of bug is stalking our household. A tiny, infinitesimal speck of malice called a virus. Lance was the first to fall victim, throwing up his pizza after swimming in our backyard last Saturday. We thought it was because he swallowed too much water. We were mistaken in our diagnosis. The next day, it was Troy's turn to be under the weather.

For the past few days, my boys were a tag team in sickness and in health, trading places in the quarantine area (their bedroom). They couldn't have chosen a worse time to be sick: Lorenzo flew to New Hampshire on business early this week. I had to deal with this health crisis, ALONE. I couldn't wait for Wednesday, Lorenzo's scheduled return. All this misery was wasted on one.

Finally, Wednesday dawned. The boys woke up in good spirits. Could it be the worst was over? Lance was actually excited to go back to school. I knew then that he was out of the woods, and breathed a sigh of relief. Rest at last!

Of course, I ended up jumping the gun. My sense of well-being didn't even last until noon. By midday, the short-lived languor at the Sereno residence was broken by a piercing wail from my precious baby. I rushed to pick her up and found her to be feverish.

By the time we got to the doctor's office, spots had erupted all over her torso. My poor little ladybug had a full-blown virus courtesy of her loving kuyas, who loved to plant kisses on her chubby cheeks when Mommy wasn't looking.

And so Reanna gets sick for the very first time. And she sailed through the ordeal with a minimum of fuss and tears. Her sunny demeanor still shone through, as evidenced in the above photo. I'm just happy she could still smile, despite her discomfort.

Now if only Mommy could get some sleep...