The first cold…

How ironic.  I can’t say that we are having “record cold” in Knoxville.  But I can say that our high today (33 degrees) was almost 20 degrees below our average temperature for this time of year (52 degrees).  And it’s true that most of the people we know live at a more northern latitude and they might even be envious of the temperature.  But we moved further south for a reason – and 20 degrees below normal during the winter was NOT it!  And this isn’t some “one time deal” either – it’s been this way for a couple of weeks now.

So it’s only fitting that Mike gets his first cold during this “cold streak”!  Poor little thing – he’s got it all.  Runny nose, cough, sneezing – even watery eyes.  He’s been unusually fussy and didn’t sleep well last night.  All of this AND he got a round of shots two days ago.  The shots didn’t cause the problems, they just came at a bad time.

But like most things – there is a silver lining in this cloud.  He visited his doctor today (and he really likes to visit her!).  They did an RSV test (currently making it’s rounds in Knoxville) and it came back negative.  So, al we’ve go is a little cold (both Mike AND the weather!)

And we even had a “first” with the brace tonight.  It was one of those “Oh my gosh – can you believe this?” moments.  We took the brace off to give Mike a bath.  Mike and mommy played a little while daddy ran the bath water.  Then it was a few minutes at the baby spa followed by a quick bath.  We dried him off, put on his diaper, put on his socks and prepared to put on the brace.

So let’s pause the story for a minute.  Remember that Mike is sick.  He’s been cranky.  He’s had shots, we’ve been squirting saline up his nose (he REALY doesn’t like that!).  Not to mention that we still hold our breaths, cross our fingers, and say a little prayer every time we start putting on the brace – even though he hasn’t had ANY trouble since his surgery.

Now back to the story.  We prepared to put on the brace (breath held?  check.  fingers crossed?  check.  prayer prayed?  check.) and while we were putting on the first shoe, Mike actually fell asleep!  Somewhere between tightening the strap and tying the laces – he actually fell asleep.  We looked at each other – then looked back at Mike – then looked back at each other and both said “I don’t believe it”.  And he continued to sleep while we put on the second shoe.  And continued to sleep while we fastened them to the brace (which is the biggest surprise of all).

So today marks the end of the first week of the brace.  And I think we are getting less and less afraid of it every day!

 

Mike smiles and says “Hi everybody!” while his mom steals some kisses before bath time.