Random kid things…

Kids are the most amazing things!  Everyday there is something new – some new discovery – some new event – some new amazing thing from a world that is nothing but fascinating to them!  It is something wonderful to watch (and be a part of!).  And it really makes us “adults” put on our kid goggles and look at the world from the perspective of a child…

Mike is certainly no exception.  Here are three of his more recent items…

First – he has begun to “study” his toys.  He will stare at them silently for long periods of time trying to figure out how they work.  For example, he has a motorized toy that rolls along and drops balls as it goes.  He loves crawling after it and gathering up the balls that it drops.  Recently, he decided to turn it over and see what made it roll.  He spent several minutes studying the wheels – trying to figure out why the back wheels spun on their own while he had to use his fingers to spin the front wheels.  You could see the gears turning in his little head.  A true engineer at heart!  And that makes dady proud!

He has also started to “repair” his toys.  He will pick up a small toy, like a block or some keys, and crawl over to a larger toy, like his exersaucer or his car.  He will then crawl underneath the larger toy and begin banging on it with the smaller toy.  And to top it all off – he will make occasional grunting noises as if he were doing some seriously hard work!

Time to do a little vehicle maintenance…

 

Ahhh – here’s the problem!

This little “whack” should do it!

 

There – that’s MUCH better!

 

Another thing Mike has started to do is playing interactive games.  One of his favorites is one that everyone knows.  Peek-a-boo!  He absolutely loves it.  You do it a couple of times (where’s mommy?) – then he will do it a couple of times (where’s Mike?).  And he is not afraid to let you know that he is a big boy and can cover his own head!

He also has a game that he made up all on his own.  It’s called “share the passy”.  He will yank his passy out of his mouth and hold it out to you.  But he doesn’t want to hand it to you – he wants to plop it into your mouth!  He finds this extremely funny, and after a few giggles, he will grab the passy back and plop it back in his mouth.  Then it starts all over again until he is propelled into a full-out gut-busting belly laugh!

“Here Dad – you take the passy!”

“Give me that passy back! ”

 

“Here Dad – you take the passy!”

 

“Give me that passy back!  Are you hiding another one in there?”

And the last new development with Mike is the discovery of the joy of being naked!  I’m positive that this enjoyment will only grow – especially once he figures out how to disrobe on his own.  And he doesn’t necessarily have to be completely naked to have some “naked fun”.  Apparently, running around with no shirt is nearly as fun!

“If I hurry, I can get away before they get this diaper changed…”

 

“Quick!  Here’s my chance to get away!!!”

A busy fall break!

What do you do when you and your spouse live in two different cities and one of you happens to have a four day weekend?  You plan a road trip of course!

Mike’s mommy was on fall break this past Monday and Tuesday.  So she packed up the mom-mobile and loaded up Mike and the dogs and headed to Cincinnati for a four day weekend!

It was a great time!  Saturday morning was spent relaxing and enjoying each others company.  Something we don’t get to do as often nowadays – and we certainly cherish every second that we get!  Mike was so cute!  With all of his toys spread all over the living room, the thing he kept crawling back to was his books…

“I always enjoy a good book…”

   “Polar Bear, Polar Bear.  What Do You Hear? is one of my favorites!”

 

“I can even read one book while I use the other as a pillow!  Who needs all of these other toys…”

 

Saturday afternoon we went wine tasting.  Who knew that Ohio was the leading producer of wine in the United States until the 1890’s?  Prohibition all but killed the industry – but it is now beginning to make a comeback!  So we tried several varieties – and ended up buying several bottles!  They even let Mike join in the tasting.  He got to try the “100% Concord Grape Juice”.  And while it might not have ranked #1 on his list of drinks – he did indeed drink it!

Sunday was museum day!  We started with the Museum of Natural History and Science.  We weren’t exactly sure how Mike would do.  But all of our worries were over when we entered the museum and the first thing Mike saw was an extremely large stuffed polar bear!  Mike’s eyes got as big as pies!  He pointed at the polar bear, looked at us and said (in his best baby voice) “oooooohhhhh”!  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get a picture (the polar bear was simply too big!) – but we did take several others!

  

“Wow!  Look at that!”

 

 

“Are you sure that thing isn’t going to get me?”

 

“Look at the teeth on this wolf!”

 

After the Museum of Natural History and Science, we moved over to the Cincinnati history museum.  It was very interesting to say the least!  Perhaps the most interesting thing was how in the mid to late 1800’s, the Irish were thought of as “immigrants who are coming to our country – legally and illegally – to take our jobs and escape their debt.  They have no interest in learning our culture and stay together in ‘herds’ rather than trying to integrate into the community.  They have absolutely no allegiance to this country”.  It’s almost funny now – we once hated the Irish with a passion and now they are one of our most endeared heritages.  Substitute “Mexican” for “Irish” and “2010” for “1850” and you have a similar story.  It also was the beginning of the resentment towards Catholics (since the Irish were Catholic after all).  People were convinced that the Pope was trying to end U.S. political independence.  People even tried to pass laws to prevent the Irish from becoming citizens (so they couldn’t hold political posts and the Catholic Church couldn’t take over).  Very interesting stuff…

“Irish need not apply” was very common in the mid 1800’s…

Sunday evening, we went to church.  We decided to go to St. Lawrence since it was close to the museum and and a 7pm mass.  What an interesting coincidence to discover that the St. Lawrence Parish was founded in 1868 (see how that figures in to the dates above!).  The cornerstone of the church was laid in 1886!  The entire building – inside and out – was absolutely beautiful!!!  It’s not the oldest church in Cincinnati (that would be “Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church” – and yes, old is indeed part of the name), but it’s traditional gothic design could keep you wandering around the church for hours…

  An photo of St. Lawrence Catholic Church circa 1896.  It still looks the same today!

Monday was “back to work” day for “the dad”.  It was almost like being a a normal family again!  Leave for work, then come back home to find the family waiting for you!  It sure does warm your heart and soul…

“Welcome home from work daddy!”

 

And that was the end of the break.  Tuesday, “the mom” loaded up the car.   Before she could head back to Knoxville, she had to have a tire replaced – there was a screw through the sidewall that couldn’t be patched.  But the day ended up being a good!  “The mom” took a quick detour to see Aunt Diane, Uncle Jessie, and all the cousins!  Mike had a great time playing with Amber, Jessica, and Anthony!  And then it was on to Knoxville and back to the normal routine!

The sippy cup adventure

Ahhh – my little boy has developed quite the personality.  His latest trick?  Pulling our leg.  Let me explain…

It all started when we decided to try moving towards the sippy cup.  As with most things that involve parenting or raising children or childhood development – we were clueless.  So we started by pouring some juice in the sippy cup sitting it on the tray in front of Mike.  And he responded by picking it up, shaking it, turning it upside down, and throwing it on the floor.  Then he looked up at us with his “How did I do?” expression…

We tried several more times over the next few days.  We tried to show him how he could raise the cup to his mouth and some yummy juice (or formula) would come out.  It all met with the same fate.  Some shaking.  Some banging.  Sometimes he would turn it upside down and suck on the bottom (“Is this how you do it”?).  Sometimes he would stick the handle in his mouth and suck on it (“Is this how you do it?”).  Sometimes he would simply take his arm and sweep the sippy cup off his tray and send it crashing to the floor.  We tried drinking from the sippy cup ourselves thinking that Mike might “follow our example”.  We tried a half dozen different styles of sippy cups.  Try, try, try as we might – no matter how many times we showed him how to drink from the sippy cup – he stubbornly refused.

Then comes daycare.  We asked his teacher Mandy for some advice.  She, after all, gives sippy cups to kids all day long!  Her advice?  Bring in the sippy cup and let me give it a try.  So we did (laughing all the way).  Surely she doesn’t know how mighty Mike’s will is!

With great anticipation, we pick Mike up from daycare.  To our flabbergasted surprise – he drank a full 4 ounces from the sippy cup.  AND he ate some puffs, a mum mum biscuit, and a biter biscuit (and we have had very little luck with any solid food!). 

Now it’s official.  The joke is entirely on us!  Mike knows all about drinking from the sippy cup (he probably learned it from his girlfriend Harper).  He has simply been pulling our leg all along…

 

“Do you bang it like this?”

“How come nothing comes out from here?”

With our ego’s a little bruised, we decided that we couldn’t be outdone by a 10 month old boy.  So we tried the sippy cup at home once again.  Although this time we gave it to him with no fanfare and paid no attention to him while he had it (except to occasionally pick it up off the floor).  The result?  When he was convinced we weren’t looking, he raised the sippy cup up and took a drink!  Fortunately, we had the camera ready and he was BUSTED!

“Dang!  They caught me red handed!”

In other news – the weather has been fabulous here!  We decided to spend some time outside in our wonderful backyard.  Of course, we had the camera with us.  And while we may know next to nothing about child rearing, we are bound and determined to capture it all on film!  Here are a few of the pictures we took…

 

Mike looking like a little man!

 

Mike on the deck doing his best “Let me out of jail” pose…

       “Howdy everybody!”

Another ear infection? Are you kidding me????

Yes – this past weekend, those exact words came spilling over my lips.  Mike does indeed have another ear infection.  This time in the right ear.

We made this glorious discovery a mere 6 days after he finished his antibiotic and a paltry 3 days after the pediatrician gave us the “all clear” from the last ear infection.  This makes his fourth ear infection since August 30th.

As we have come to expect – there were no outward signs of an ear infection.  No tugging on the ear, no decrease in appetite.  This time – he didn’t even have a fever.  Instead, he was playing happily on the floor with his new ball (which he quickly mastered rolling back and forth to mommy and daddy).  Suddenly he began crying and couldn’t be consoled.  After a few hours of crying (which is WAY out of the ordinary for Mike), we called the doctor and took him in.  One peak in his ear brought out the “wow – that ear drum is red a bulging”.  Tubes might be in Mike’s future – although the doctor is not keen on them just yet.  Apparently because of Mike’s age, the tubes don’t stay in very long (which would mean a series of tubes over time).  But if the infections keep coming then we might be left with no other alternative. 

The good news?  The next morning after the antibiotic shot and Mike was back to his normal happy playful self!  And if you ever wanted a strange prayer request – we REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want Mike’s Eustachian tubes to start a growth spurt!

Even more good news?  Mike has been practicing his standing!  That’s great news for his clubbed feet.  While we have never been the type of parents to “speed his development along” – this is one thing we really want to see happen.  Once he starts putting weight on this little feet and walking around – we should (hopefully) be able to get rid of the brace!

 I try to pull myself up – but I’m not quite strong enough yet…  

 

…but with a little help, I can stand up like a pro!

The ear update…

Just a short post to update you on the status of Mike’s ear.  We went back to the pediatrician this past Tuesday.  She took a quick peak in his ears and declared them both un-infected!  Or would that be “disinfected”…

Whichever it is – I’m pretty sure that the grammar police don’t read this blog!  If they do – then they’ve been extremely lenient!!!

So hooray for Mike and his lack of infected ears!  Hopefully, we won’t be making any more trips to the doctor in the near future.  However, there is an orthopedic appointment just 5 short weeks away………

Another big weekend…

Last weekend was quite an adventure!  It all started when Mike and his mom were trying to meet dad in Evansville.  We had planned the trip on the spur of the moment – Mike’s dad had decided to ride in a bike ride.  And that makes a perfect excuse for visiting family and friends!

So with happy hearts, Mike and his mom loaded up and headed out.  About 2 hours later, the joy came to an end when the interstate was closed to to an accident.  What is normally a 5 hour drive is already extended to a 6 hour drive with Mike.  And being stuck in traffic on I-40 turned the drive into a wonderful 9 hour epic saga.  Needless to say – once they arrived, everyone (including the 2 dogs) were much relieved!

But we all made up for it on Saturday.  Much lounging around and a lot of doing nothing.  Mike got to play all day with his nan.  And he really enjoyed the attention that he gets when cousin Lucas and cousin Kiersten come over to play!!!  And later that evening, he got to try some Turoni’s pizza (he spit it out – just like all of the other solid foods except the previously mentioned cheese grits).  But he still enjoyed seeing Sara and Nathan (and mom and dad enjoyed visiting with Matt, Karen, and Mark).

Sunday was the big bike ride – Mike’s dad rode 50 kilometers.  Not too bad for an old guy!  Not as far as previous years, but considering it was only 50 degrees when the ride started and the wind was blowing like crazy – he was more than ready to stop and get in the car and turn the heat on “high” when he was done!  Next year, he’ll be back in shape and will ride the 100K with Mark (especially since the gauntlet has already been thrown down!).  The coolest part about the whole thing was having his picture in the paper!  You can check it out by clicking here.

After the ride, we got to go visit grandpa!  And much to our surprise, Aunt Tracey and cousin Kylie were there!  We played and visited and visited and played.  The best part of the visit was seeing Kylie in her Halloween costume – she was so cute!!!

But like all good things – our visit had to come to an end.  We loaded up the vehicles, and said our goodbyes.  The best part of the trip home?  It only took the usual 6 hours!!!

Link to Mike’s Pictures…

Oops! The link I had to Mike’s pictures in the previous post didn’t work! I have fixed the link now – and you can click here to see to pictures…

The pictures are in!

It’s official!  I hold in my hand – a CD containing all of the pictures from Mikes 9 month “photo shoot”!

Megan Parker was (once again) the photographer responsible for the wonderful pictures.  We can’t thank her enough for sharing her wonderful talents with us!

It’s hard to believe that Mike is already 10 months old.  Eight short weeks from today and we will be singing “happy birthday” to him!  I’m not sure where the time has gone – lost somewhere between the diapers and bottles and diapers and baths and diapers and naps and diapers and bottles and whirled peas and diapers.  Not to mention the clubbed feet and casts and doctor visits and runny noses and casts and crying and corrective braces and crying and surgery (and no more crying!) and more runny noses and ear aches.  Oh – and there was the smiling and the giggles and the da da da and the ma ma ma and more laughs and more jibber jabber and more laughs.

We look at him now and think “he hasn’t changed that much – he’s still that same little boy”.  But tonight, while I was trying to remember where the last 10 months have gone (I’m pretty sure that a large chunk has gone to empting the diaper genie), I thumbed through his 9 month pictures.  Then his 6 month pictures.  Then his 3 month pictures.  Then some newborn snapshots.  And I realize that our little boy has been doing plenty of growing – no matter how much we want to “Peter Pan” him and keep him young forever!

How much has he changed?  Take a look at the pictures below and decide for yourself!  And if you would like to see his 9 month pictures – you can see them here.

 

Here is “Newborn Mike” getting ready for the trip home from the hospital… 

 

Here’s “Three Month Mike” after his first “photo shoot”.  Modeling is exhausting work!

Here’s “Six Month Old Mike” coming to getcha!

    

Here’s “Nine Month Mike” plotting some mischief…

 

 

…and “Nine Month Mike” cheering for the Vols!

The Weekend Update…

First off – several people have asked about Mike’s ear infection.  He seems to be doing a lot better!  His appetite is better than ever.  He is as happy as he has ever been.  And he is not having any trouble laying down or sleeping.  That is all good news!  Of course, his appetite has always been good.  He’s always been happy.  And it has been a rare occasion indeed when he has had trouble sleeping.  But nonetheless – we feel that he is finally on the mend!  But we are still keeping our fingers crossed until after the follow-up visit with the pediatrician…

A while back, we mentioned that we have been trying to introduce Mike to solid foods.  We figured he was about ready.  He’s at the right age, the pediatrician said to “go for it”, and he intently studies us when we put food in our mouths.  So we gave it a shot.

We’ve tried a wild conglomeration of things.  Puffs.  Mum-mum’s.  Biter biscuits.  Mashed potatoes.  We even tried mashed sweet potatoes since sweet potatoes are his favorite.  Applesauce with chunks of apples.  And the list goes on (and on and on and on…).

Every food met the same fate.  If it was finger food, we wouldn’t put it in his mouth – even after watching us do it.  I find this ironic since he crawls around to every corner of the room looking for specs of dirt to put in his mouth.  And if we put it in there for him (or put it on a spoon for him) he quickly spit it back out and looked at us like we were trying to poison him.  And the score on who has eaten the most puffs?  Mom – 675.  Dad – 523.  Mike – 0.

Mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes met the same fate.  A little dab on the spoon was met with a “what are you doing to me” quickly followed by a long, juicy, blowing raspberry (which I have recently discovered is more properly called an “unvoiced linguolabial trill”!). 

We knew that we only had to find the right food and Mike would be happy.  And it has turned in to quite an adventure – Mike now gets a small bite of nearly everything on our plate (all met with the same results).

Until this past weekend…

We were sitting at our Puleo’s Grill (for all of you folks in Knoxville – if you haven’t been then shame on you!) enjoying our Sunday afternoon lunch.  We decided to splurge a little and ordered an appetizer of fried green tomatoes.  Did he like the tomatoes?  Of course not…

But the tomatoes also come with something extra.  Stone ground cheese grits with Tasso gravy.  Yep – that’s gravy made with Cajun Tasso ham.  And yep – it’s a little on the spicy side.

So we loaded up a chunk of grits and gravy on a spoon and held it up to Mike.  He looked at it.  Then looked at us.  Then opened his mouth.  And we stuck it in!

He chewed a little (already a positive sign since it wasn’t an immediate spit-out).  Then he chewed a little more.  Then we swallowed!  Then he opened his mouth for more!!!

Incredible.  Of all of the food we’ve tried – it turns out that the first “solid” food that Mike eats willing is from our neighbor’s restaurant.  And it’s grits.  With a Cajun gravy.

Our son really is from the south!

And what did our neighbors think of this?  Well – lets just say that I’m pretty sure that Mike will get free grits and Tasso gravy whenever he wants it…

Hey mom – how come you never gave me these grits before?  Dontcha know I’m a southern boy?

The ear infection update…

Mike had a follow-up visit at the pediatrician today.  She wanted to check on his ear infection.  In case you need a quick update – here it goes…

Back 3 1/2 weeks ago, we discovered that Mike had an ear infection in both ears (which is a story all by itself – you can read all about it here).  As of today, we have completed two round of different antibiotics and made the trip to the pediatrician to see how his ears were doing.

So we had the usual battery of questions. 

Have you noticed any discharge from the ear? 

Nope. 

Any Fever? 

Nope. 

More fussy than usual? 

Maybe a little, but not really. 

Reduced appetite? 

He did have, but his appetite certainly returned yesterday – he ate and ate and ate! 

Has he been tugging or pulling on his ear?

Yep – he pulls on the right ear a lot.  Particularly when he is sleepy.

Ok.  The doctor will be in shortly!

And sure enough, a few minutes later the doctor whisked in the door and jokingly said, “Didn’t I just see you the other day”?

She flipped through the notes on the laptop and said, “Hmmm – Mike’s lost a little weight (1.5 oz to be exact).  And it says here that he is pulling on his right ear a little.  Let’s take a look at that…”.  And she whips out her otoscope and snapped on a new speculum (oh how I love using the medical lingo!) and takes a peek in Mike’s right ear.  “Well – that looks all clear!”

One down, one to go.  She rolls Mike over, takes a peek in his left ear and says  “Eeeewwww!”.  And anytime you hear a doctor say that, you can be fairly sure that the diagnosis is not going to be what you wanted to hear.

And sure enough, she told us that Mike still has a decent case of acute otitis media (more of that lingo!).  She prescribed a third antibiotic that we started this evening. 

Here’s hoping that in 10 more days it will all be clear.

What comes around…

We’ve all heard it before.  What comes around goes around.  And it has certainly been going around at our household this week!

It started with Mike’s dad this past Monday afternoon.  Low grade fever.  Chills.  Ache all over.  Queasy stomach.  And incredibly weak.  Went to bed Monday night thinking that work was certainly out of the question.

Then came the good news!  He woke up Tuesday morning feeling remarkably better – about 90%!  By lunch time, he had forgotten he had been sick at all.  Less than 24 hours from start to finish!

Then came the bad news.  Mike’s mom started in Tuesday evening.  Same symptoms but with a little “extra” on the queasy stomach.  She woke up Wednesday morning feeling like a truck had hit her.

Then came the good news!  By Wednesday afternoon she was feeling remarkably better!  By Wednesday evening, she had forgotten she had been sick at all.  Less than 24 hours from start to finish!

Then came the bad news.  Late Wednesday night, Mike started feeling bad.  He was up all night, had a low grade fever and that little whimper “I don’t feel good” cry.  Since he hasn’t mastered the English language yet (and his parents haven’t mastered baby babble yet) – they can only assume that the rest of the symptoms are there too.

They took Mike to the doctor today – and she added an extra symptom.  He has a moderate inner ear infection (yipee!).  Since he just stopped his medicine a mere 9 days ago from the last ear infection, we can only assume that the last one didn’t completely clear up.

He’s been cranky most of the day, but is now sleeping peacefully in his bed.  Here’s hoping that it’s going to be less than 24 hours from start to finish for him too.  Except for that ear infection, of course…

Mike’s new discoveries

There have been some new discoveries by Mister Mike at our house!  The first one (it will come as no surprise to most) is that he has become even more mobile.  Not quite a crawl yet – but more of an “army man slither”.  It’s certainly exciting watching your child grow and learn – but this one comes with some “nervous apprehension”. 

Why? 

I call it the “remember when” syndrome.  In just a few short weeks (perhaps even days), we will say to each other, “Remember when we used to put him down in one place and he would stay?  We could go to another room and come back 15 minutes later and he would be happily playing in the same spot.”

We are now on the verge of having to childproof our house “for real” (aka “not for fake”).  Outlet covers.  Cabinet locks.  Child gates (our very own gated community!).

Sure – we could put on our rose tinted “new parent” glasses and say “but OUR Mikey wouldn’t do those things”!

Yea – right!  Today he squirmed over to one of the dog’s water bowls (he LOVES water!) and started splashing around.  It certainly was adorable!  But only a “sneak preview” of things to come!

And speaking of adorable – we had the nine month pictures taken this weekend!  Again, Megan did a fantastic job!  The pictures have been ordered – and we will certainly share them with you all as soon as we get them.  But until then – here’s one of the proofs!

 

Who – me?  Play in the dog’s water?  You must have the wrong guy!

Just look at that adorable baby!  Beautiful, blue eyes, pretty little pig toes, little tuft of hair on his head – and that little pink tongue giving you a raspberry! 

That’s my boy!

Labor Day – Goodbye to the “dog days” of summer…

Labor Day.  The unofficial end of summer.  Good bye sweltering heat.  Good bye to triple digit temperatures (and even higher heat indexes).  Hello to cool breezes…

And this year, Mother Nature was right on cue.  She packed away the heat (at least for the weekend) and let the sun shine on us in a more gentle fashion.  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for getting together with family and celebrating another summer behind us.  Or perhaps we were celebrating the beginning of another season of college football!

Mike’s new trick for the weekend was the “Go VOLS!” pose.  We got the idea from the quad squad.  When we saw them do it, we thought it was absolutely adorable!  All you have to do is say “Go VOLS!” and Mike raises his hands in the air in the “touchdown” pose.  He has added his own twist by waving with one hand while he does it – almost as if waving goodbye to the other team. 

Of course, the lady’s at daycare (who are big Vol fans) can’t get enough of it.  Mikey – he’s turning into such a lady’s man!

And we got to see a lot of family this Labor Day weekend.  It’s funny how when your closest family is 200 miles away (and many of them are more than 300 miles away) – you really cherish every moment you get to spend with them.  This weekend, we were able to see so many more family members than we are usually able to squeeze in.  Of course there was “nan” and “grandpa Lee” – we would be drawn and quartered if we didn’t visit them while we were in town!  But we also got to visit with Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim, Aunt Joann and Uncle Kenny, Aunt Jenny and Derrick and cousins Lucas & Kiersten, Aunt Tracey and Uncle Chuck, and Aunt Andrea and Uncle Larry!  It was such a special treat. 

So – goodbye summer.  You may try to make us sweat it out with some more warm days, but we all know that your days are numbered.  Week 2 of college football starts this weekend (Tennessee and Oregon – a big challenge, but you know that Mike will be saying “go vols” all weekend!) – and the NFL begins regular season play this weekend.  It won’t be long now and we’ll be planning Mikes first birthday party!

 

Mike says “GO VOLS!”

 

Mike and Nan playing away!

Mike and Lucas playing “Joe Cool”…

Mike and Grandpa Lee

Mike and grandpa wait for the food…

It’s a rare treat to have this clan all in one place!

“It sure was fun visiting with everyone”

“I had such a great time”

     

“But all of that traveling and visiting sure makes me sleepy!”

Mike’s 9 month checkup – with a surprise (or “it can happen to anyone”)!

Today was Mike’s nine month checkup.  It was typical as far as baby check-ups go.  Measure, weigh, poke, prod, etc, etc.

The highlights are that Mike is now pushing 20 pounds (believe me – I feel every ounce!) and his doctor is especially pleased with his eating.  He certainly has his favorites (like pears), but he will eat anything that we give him and has not turned away anything that we’ve tried.  It is to the point now where we are searching the baby food isles for any sort of food that he hasn’t already tried!

The only ting we’ve had trouble with (in recent memory) is solid food.  It is very much a “texture” thing.  He likes the flavor and will put it on his tongue – but he doesn’t like the texture and he spits it back out.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.  It’s almost cute (and a little funny) to watch him do it.  His doctor told us (and we already knew) that it’s nothing to worry about – he’ll munch down on it when he’s ready.  And I’m sure that it will be on his terms!

And his doctor checked his ears.  There is still a little infection in them, but they are on their way to healing.  It wasn’t an “outer” ear infection, so it wasn’t caused by us getting bathwater in his ear.  She confirmed our suspicion that it was a “middle” ear infection caused by his congestion.  She gave us some much welcome news – it’s now ok to give Mike some children’s Zyrtec to help with his congestion!  Words can’t describe how excited we are by this!  For the last 6 months, Mike has spent more days with a snotty nose than without.  We are hoping that the Zyrtec will provide more relief (or at least more relief than the “saline and snot sucker” method).

But the big surprise of the visit is that Mike’s doctor is officially “up the duff”, “up the spout”, “has a bun in the oven”, “preggers”, “prego”!  That’s right – Mike’s pediatrician is pregnant!

It’s certainly not a surprise that a pediatrician would want children – and Mike’s doctor is no exception.  What makes it a surprise is that she already has children, and has previously told us that she is happy now that her youngest was starting school.  So we were a little surprised that she and her husband decided to start over with another.

That was when she admitted that it was one of those “wait a minute – how did that happen?” moments.  I had to chuckle a little at that – because I’m pretty sure that she wouldn’t have made it through medical school without knowing “how that happens” (did I mention that she is a Cornell graduate?).  Oh – and her husband is an orthopedic surgeon – so I’m pretty sure that he knows “how it happens” too!

So remember – if an “oops” can happen to two doctors, it can happen to you!  As for “how it happens”, I’m no doctor – but I’m pretty sure it’s caused by kissing…

Last weekend. The good, the bad, and the ugly…

What a whirlwind weekend this past weekend was!  As incredible as it may seem, it was the first weekend with just the three of us together at our house in Knoxville since July 16th!  We were certainly looking forward to spending some quality time together as a family unit.

And we started out doing just that!  Beginning Friday evening, we were all in the living room, smiling at each other, and marveling at just how “right” it all felt and how it was good to be “back to normal”. 

Saturday morning was just as nice.  Doing more of those “normal” things.  Mowing the lawn.  Cleaning the house.  All of the things that most people would not enjoy at all, we were relishing – soaking up every wonderful minute just for its shear normalcy.  With as crazy, topsy-turvey, upside down, crazy, spinning out of control as things have been lately, it as absolutely marvelous to be so “normal”. 

And “the good” continued as the “quad mom” agreed to watch Mike for us while “mommy and daddy” got to go out on a date and celebrate their anniversary!  It was a great night with great food and great wine.  Thank you Jim and Allison for watching Mike for us!!!  Someday (after a lot more practice) we’ll be qualified to watch the quads and we’ll be able to return the favor!!!

As the date drew to a close, so did “the good”.  We went to pick up Mike it just seemed like he was a little whiney.  Not anything that anyone would ever notice – except that Mike is NEVER whiney.  He whimpered most of the way home and his congestion, which had been sounding better just a couple of days before, was now back in full force.  We got home, put on his brace (hopefully we’ll be able to eliminate that from the bedtime routine in another 3 or 4 months!), and put him to bed.  He wasn’t asleep for long before we heard him crying in the monitor.  That’s REALLY uncharacteristic!  Mom trekked up the stairs and calmed him back down.  An hour or so later, he was crying again.  Again, mom trekked up the stairs and calmed him back down and he fell back asleep.  just a few minutes later, he was crying again.  This time, daddy made the trek to Mike’s room.  Three times in one night – something is certainly not right.  Mike doesn’t wake up crying in the night three times in a month!  Three times in a night?  Hmmm – something isn’t right.  And then, like turning on a switch, out pops a fever!

So we start the Tylenol regimen.  That get’s him through the night, but by mid morning on Sunday, it wasn’t keeping the fever down.  We decided to call the “nurse line” since the pediatrician wasn’t open on Sundays (because kids NEVER get sick on Sunday’s!).  The nurse asked all of the routine questions and then asked to hear Mike’s breathing over the phone.  That’s when things started slipping from “the bad” in to “the ugly”…

When the nurse heard Mike’s breathing coming in a raspy pant (and since the pediatrician's office was closed), she felt that we shouldn’t wait until Monday to see a doctor.  Of course, that means a trip to the ER at Children’s Hospital!  We were concerned that the nurse might be over reacting a little – but what kind of parents would we be if we didn’t follow the advice (especially if it turned out to be bronchitis or pneumonia or H1N1 or………).  It’s certainly better to be safe than sorry.  So, off we go.

We get to the hospital and waltz in through the ER doors.  We are whisked from room to room and see several different nurses (who all assure us that it was better to come in than to wait for the doctor’s office to open).  After much poking and proding and taking his temperature a half dozen different times (we assured Mike that when he gets older, there is a better way to take his temperature) we saw the doctor.  He listened to his lungs (“hmmm – they sound a little congested”) and then looked in his ears (“Oh!  That one’s infected.  And looky there – it looks like we’ve got a double!”).  They took some x-rays of his lungs just to make sure nothing serious was going on there (especially since mommy has asthma).  The x-rays looked good – at least there was one little piece of good news!

Now it’s been 24 hours and Mike has had three doses of his antibiotic.  He already seems like his normal little playful self.  And looking back on it all (hindsight is 20-20) – it really wasn’t over reacting.  He ears were bothering him enough that it hurt when he swallowed which is why he hadn’t been much interested in eating.  Every time he coughed, it would bring out this long moaning cry.  And Tylenol had stopped controlling his fever.  I’m sure that by Monday, he would have been beyond miserable.  It’s too bad he didn’t have some of the “classic” ear infection symptoms that everyone has told us to look for – like red ears that he tugs on all the time!

And why is it that pediatrician offices are closed on Sunday’s?  Maybe we just haven’t told Mike that Sunday’s are off limits for sick days…