Sick Boogies

Jackson frequently sneaks into our bed in the middle of the night & the worst we can expect is to have feet in our backs or a hot body smooshed up next to us pushing us gradually closer & closer to the edge. 

Last night however, we woke up to Jackson bolting upright at 1:30am gagging.  Aaron grabbed him in a flash & swung him off the bed as he began to puke all over our bed.  Ick!  I can handle anything...anything, but puke!  I grabbed Jackson & ran to the bathroom just as more came up. 

We missed. 
It was everywhere. 
Jackson was crying. 
I was gagging, on the verge of tears.
Aaron was dumbfounded.
Luckily, Emme was peacefully sleeping in her own bed! 

Poor Jackson- he kept apologizing & saying "I just don't know what has caused this." It was so sad!  I quickly bathed him, threw in a load of laundry & changed our sheets while Aaron cleaned up.  He definitely got the worst end of the deal!

I don't know if Jackson has a bug or it was something he ate or he just got too hot.  He hasn't thrown up since & has no fever but I kept him home just in case.  My poor, sweet Boogies - praying be feels better soon!

Mosquitoes bite!

Emme has always been very allergic to mosquitoes. Her bites swell up big & giant and become warm & hard knots. This lasts a couple of days and then they subside. Saturday morning, we had a garage sale & since the weather was so beautiful, we let the kids spend most of the day out with us. Then Saturday evening, we went to some friends' house to watch the Tech game and the kids played out back most of the time too. Emme was eaten up with mosquito bites. Bad mommy for not putting bug spray on her! Sunday morning, she woke up with a very swollen eye. I kept touching it to make sure it wasn't tender indicating cellulitis. It wasn't so I knew it was just one of those rotten bites! We went to the zoo & it never seemed to bother her. We gave her Benadryl that night, but Monday morning, it was MUCH worse. She could barely open her eye - poor bitty! I gave her some Benadryl again and then when I picked her up from school it was so much better! By Tuesday it was back to normal. My mom said the same thing used to happen to me when I was little. Hopefully, she grows out of it too!

Sick bitty

My bitty baby, Emme is sick again. She doesn't really act like it, but after a day & a half of hearing a very strange cough and then Saturday morning a bit of wheezing, I decided we better go on in to the doctor. I'm so glad we did because she was diagnosed with either Bronchiolitis or RSV. They aren't really sure since her lungs don't sound that bad, but just to err on the side of caution, we did an 8 minute nebulizer treatment in office and her lungs immediately sounded better. So now we are doing breathing treatments at home every 4 hours with an inhaler & an AeroChamber. Emme hated every second of the 8 minute nebulizer treatment and hates the at home breathing treatments too, but the good news is that these treatments last 2-3 minutes. Like I said she isn't showing in other symptoms except the cough & a little bit of a runny nose - no fever, eating well (really well), sleeping well, not overly fussy and she is smiley as usual. She weighed in at 16.09 lbs. Proof that she is eating well. I just pray that this virus runs its course quickly and leaves my baby's body soon!

Emme's Sick

Emme has her first - and second - ear infections and pus on her tonsils. Her school called me on Thursday saying she had 101.5 temperature. So I went to get her and took her to see Dr. P. By the time we got there & back in a room it had been 1 hour since they had called and her temperature was up to 103.3! Now, I can handle anything up to 102, but after that I start freaking! Our doc says not to fight it, in fact he would only worry once it hit 107. What??? That is plain nuts! I am treating the fever anyway, but really only in conjunction with irritability like the Dr said. She definitely doesn't feel good. She just wants to be held and of course, I'm obliging! Sick babies need their mommies!

Oh, and she now weighs 15 lbs 14 oz and is 25.5 inches tall. She's growing after all!

Diversion Tactics

Road trips are torture! Jackson has developed what I believe to be motion or car sickness. It first surfaced when he had a virus, so I first attributed it to that. He threw up about 6 times in the course of 2 weeks, all but once were in the car. Well, it has been over a month since he had the virus and it is STILL occuring. He doesn't actually get sick now, but I can tell that he is nauseous. He starts fussing, pointing to his mouth and swallowing hard. Ugh! I know that feeling and it sucks! I wish there was something I could do to make it go away. As I think more and more about it, I am convinced that we didn't notice this before because he had his pacifier and that kept him from being nauseous. If he has something in his mouth - crackers or a sucker - he is fine. We now carry a blanket (to throw over him - washing his carseat cover is a major pain!), sleeve of crackers, change of clothes (just in case) and sippy of water in the car at all times.

This weekend we went to San Antonio for sweet Hailey's first birthday party. Jackson fell asleep in the car until about Universal City, but then cried the whole rest of the way to Tiffany & JC's. Of course, Emerson was crying too because she was hungry. Luckily, Jackson did not get physically sick, but the poor little guy was miserable! The party was great - we had so much fun! Tiff made adorable ladybug cupcakes and Hailey had a classic 1 year old reaction to her cupcake. So cute! Jackson "helped" Hailey open all of her gifts (sorry Tiff!) and then pushed her doll stroller around and around and around, at times telling Tiffany's Memaw to "Go!" I quickly apologized & told her that he can't say excuse me yet, so when he says "Go!" he means it with the utmost respect! She was a really good sport, as usual, though. We had so much fun with the Williams family - I wish we lived closer! We also got to meet Uncle Brennan for lunch. What a treat! Jackson adores B! On the way home yesterday, Jackson again fell asleep until about Columbus, so we had to figure out some way to distract him from feeling nauseous. I started launching his toy tractor from the console/arm rest thingy back towards him, trying to jump the gap between the console and his car seat. He was laughing so hard and it was so cute that I had to get it on video. The camera slid off the dash at the beginning, but that was also comic relief as you can tell from the precious giggles. We are in LOVE with his laugh! It is contagious!

O-R-E-O

We still haven't kicked this stinkin' virus! So rather than take Jackson to school yesterday only for them to call and say he needs to go home on the first day of school, I decided just to keep him home and let him stay with my Nana. He did perfectly fine all day - didn't act sick at all, but you can look in his eyes and see he is not his normal self! When I got home, we ate a snack and Jackson dunked his first Oreo! He was very timid about dunking it, which is strange since he plunges his whole fist into ranch dressing or ketchup!

Sick eyes - Happy mouth

Sunday we went to Hempstead to the farmer's market with my parents to get some fresh fruits & veggies. Jackson had a ball playing in the driver's seat while Pops & Daddy moved the car seat into Pops' truck. Emerson was her pleasant self in the car and did very well at the market. Jackson wanted every fruit & vegetable in sight, but oddly wouldn't eat much of anything at dinner. His appetite has been all wonky with this virus! I want it to GO AWAY!

Silly girl!

Update on the 12 month shots

So not only was the 12 month visit traumatic with the blood draw & shots, but the fun continues.... Apparently, it is not uncommon for a child to run a high fever after getting the MMR immunization. This is exactly what happened to Wacko! Thursday night he spent the evening with my parents so that Aaron & I could go to his office Christmas party. My parents said Jackson was not acting like himself - not playing as much as he normally does, but of course ate normally. He started running a fever that night & when we woke up in the morning, he was burning up. I called in a sub & stayed home with him (twist my arm, right!?). He was relatively fever free all day, but then that evening his started getting worse. At 6:30 I gave him some Motrin, but at 7:30pm we took his temp and it was 103.5. OMG! He had never run a fever that high and of course we were freaking out. I called the on call Dr. and she said to give him lots of cool liquids to drink, give him a bath and then at 10:30 give him Tylenol. This is what we did, but we didn't sleep much that night. I was worried sick. She said to take him to the ER if he acts listless even when the fever was down, if he's so sleepy he can't be awakened, or if he is inconsolably crying. Luckily, none of these things occurred and he woke up in the morning sans a fever. When he woke up, it was clear his fever had broken sometime in the night because this is what he looked like:

This was short lived. He began running a 102 fever yesterday afternoon and refused to nap. He did lay on my chest on the couch just watching TV with me for like 2 hours. That is so unlike him to be still for that long. Again came the worry. Finally, about 5pm the fever seemed to subside and he has been fever free since. We did give preventative Tylenol/Motrin throughout the night just in case, but he hasn't been warm today yet and this is what he is currently doing:

Rough Weekend

Well, this one was a doozie!
1. When Aaron & I got home on Friday night we noticed that there was a small trickle of water coming down one of the posts in our living room. Aaron then noticed that the ceiling in the kitchen was wet and immediately knew it was the toilet in the master bath. He turned off the water valve & then went to Home Depot to get some supplies. He spent all day Saturday fixing the dang thing & I think we had made 7 trips to Home Depot before it was all said & done.

2. Aaron & I woke up at 2:00 in the morning on Friday night/Saturday morning to Jackson coughing...we waited thinking he'd cry or go back to sleep, but he just kept coughing. So I went to check on him and realized he was NOT coughing, but throwing up. It was all over him & his bed. I called for Aaron's help and we both went to work -- I bathed Jackson and Aaron focused on his bedding. We both were gagging the whole time and Jackson was screaming from being rudely shoved into a bath. It was crazy! Then I got him out and tried to get him to drink water to get rid of his puke breath & the terrible taste he had to have had, but he refused, so Aaron gave him a bottle. (This is where all the seasoned parents start to laugh at us.) We all crawled in our bed and gave Wacko his bottle. He only drank about half an ounce and then about 20 minutes later he gave it back to us all over our comforter. Ugh! So Aaron & I went back to work - same song & dance as the last time. So...on the coldest night we've had all year, the 3 of us lay huddled under the sheet & a small throw blanket. Luckily, that was the last of Jackson getting sick. He does, however, have an insanely runny nose and a cough. I think both are due to teething -- he has both of his top center teeth coming in and one has already broke through the gum.

3. THEN, on Sunday morning I woke up & felt horrible! I threw up ALL day long, couldn't do anything. I didn't eat anything & barely drank anything. Water even made me sick. My mom brought over some saltines since I had thrown up the animal crackers we had. By 5pm, I had had enough and I finally called my Dr. He said he'd call me in some Phenergan since a GI bug was going around. There was drama with that too...the pharmacy I first gave them was closed so I had to call the answering service back and wait for the nurse to call me again to give them a different 24 hour pharmacy. That pharmacy happened to be hella-far, but Aaron was a champ and trecked over to get it for me. He was so good to me all day -- waiting on me, taking care of Jackson (feeding, diapering, wrangling, & playing), all while trying to prepare the house for Jackson's birthday party this coming Saturday! He even went & got me Japanese Clear Soup, gingerale & gatorade. He is the best husband & daddy ever! Thanks hunny, I really appreciate all you do for us!

Jackson - What a fungi!

Yesterday morning when Jackson woke up I noticed his lips & tongue were coated in white. I tried to wipe it off thinking it was dried milk & when it didn't wipe off, I immediately knew it was thrush. For those of you not familiar with thrush, it is just a yeast infection that occurs in the mouth. Having worked in a pediatric clinic, I had seen thrush a lot so I was quite confident in my diagnosis. I called his Dr.'s office to see if we could get in and luckily Dr. Pielop was actually the Dr. in the office this weekend. We went & sure enough, it was thrush. Oh but wait....that's not all....Dr. Pielop also found an ear infection in his right ear. Ugh! This is the 2nd one and both have been in that ear. So now Jackson is taking Amoxil 2 times a day for his ear, Nystatin suspension to swish around in his mouth 4 TIMES A DAY, and Motrin prn for pain. We are new to this illness thing -- this was the first true "sick visit" we'd had. The first ear infection was diagnosed at his 9 month well check and the only other non-routine appointment we have had was for diaper rash. Hopefully, this ear infection thing won't be a recurring trend!

I'm a little behind...

Visiting Uncle Brennan in San Antonio. He took a much needed break from his law reading. Oh, and congrats to Brennan as he is the new 1st Year Student Bar Association senator at St. Mary's University. He faced many competitors, but brought his "A game" and won! Congrats, B! Mom still wants to make you buttons. Maybe for your next campaign.

While we were in San Antonio for Tiff's shower Jackson got sick. His first real illness. ;( He was running fever and must have had some sort of virus. This is very poor timing (as if there is ever good timing to be sick), the shower we were at for Tiff was a couples shower hosted by Aaron & I and Wendi (Tiff's sister) and her husband. Poor baby! He acted totally normal except that I could tell in his eyes that he didn't feel good AND as an added bonus -- ever time he spiked a fever he would also break out into hives. The Dr. said that most likely he would do that every time he ran a high fever. Terrific! If you click on the pics below, you can see the hives & that he doesn't feel well. The one of his leg is very blurry, but you can see the hives right at/above the ankle area.

I stayed home with Jackson on Monday, Sept 8th and Aaron stayed home with him on the 9th. I am very lucky to have a husband who will do that! A lot of dads believe sick children are the mom's responsibility, but not my hubby! However, you could still tell that Aaron is an amateur at dressing Jackson -- when I got home from work I could tell immediately that Jackson's shorts were on backwards. Too funny! Aaron swears he thought that those were back pockets....