Nan has another double ear infection, and the doctor thinks she's hit upon the reason for Natalie's persistent cough. She thinks it's asthma. We've got to start twice-daily inhaler treatments. They gave us a nifty new inhaler-- it's got a mask that looks like a duck, and she's very impressed by that. I explained that the duck is her new friend, and she needs to give him a BIG kiss twice a day. We practiced without the medicine, and I think she's going to be okay. This is the good part. On Monday, I've got to take her for a chest x-ray and full blood workup. This is the bad part. She hasn't had blood drawn since she was born. I get teary thinking about the needle approaching my baby. Hopefully, we'll get these relatively minor issues resolved, and the coughing will stop. The doctor noted that Natalie's had five ear infections since October-- if she gets another one in the next month or so, she'll be referred to the ENT. Do tubes loom in the future? One more worry in my busy brain. At any rate, I'm hoping the inhaler will help the coughing, which will curtail the midnight visits to mommy. Nothing more disconcerting than to be groping your way back to bed after a night-time bathroom visit only to hear, "HI, MOMMY!" coming from the vicinity of your bedroom door. Scared me to death. The next night, I was a little more prepared for my nocturnal guest, and managed to head her off at the door. She was burning up, so I gave her more tylenol and sent her back to bed. Let's hope she sleeps through the night tonight-- I'm very, very tired.