Friday, February 26, 2010

Over the river, but now going through the woods...

So, I thought that we had kicked the ear infection. Turns out not to be the case. Noah's ear started draining again on Tuesday and by that night had a pinkish tinge to it and was way goopy. The drainage from his nose started up again too. So on Wednesday I called the pediatrician's office and schedule an appointment for the next day (which was as soon as they had available) and instructed to start up the nose drops again. This time around, I figured out a way to keep him from fighting me when I do it, so that has gone much smoother. At the appointment, of course, he didn't have any obvious drainage, but it must have looked bad enough because the doctor prescribed some ear drops as well as a new antibiotic. The antibiotic was (lucky me) on back-order. I was worried that we'd have to do antibiotic injections instead - the doctor had warned that we may have to do this if the pharmacies still were having a problem getting the oral meds. I did find a pharmacy that had it in stock - brand name, of course, so I had to pay the big bucks. I figured it was six in one hand and half a dozen in the other. So, I haven't seen any ear drainage since Wednesday and Noah is doing well taking his meds, so  we'll just keep on and see how everything goes. He has a recheck appointment when he finishes up his antibiotics.

Noah is, of course, getting into everything. He figured out crawling one day before he turned 7 months old. It is so cute to watch and so sad at the same time. He's growing up so fast (I think every mom says that). In addition, I have to keep an even closer eye on him than before. I thought I couldn't get stuff done around the house before and now, I can't leave him for a minute because he'll be into something. The same day he figured out crawling, he started pulling himself up onto things. He has helped himself stand using a computer tower and his bouncy chair, among other things. He even pulled himself up onto our bed out of his co-sleeper one day. I had to put up the lowered side so it is harder for him. Taran and I will be picking up the crib from my brother this weekend and hopefully that will keep him from climbing out of his bed at least for another few months.

Otherwise, life is pretty normal. Taran is home and we've been spending the days reading or playing games. I feel like I have so much stuff to do and it just keeps getting pushed back, such is life though, right?

Monday, February 15, 2010

Just call me Betty Crocker...

Today has been quite a busy day. But, before I get into that, a brief summary of this week...

I believe when we last met, I discussed Noah's first illness. Over the past week he has continued to improve. His cough is practically gone by this point. He takes his antibiotics really well which makes my life much easier. The thing he does not tolerate well would be the saline nose drops followed by the aspirator sucking out the gunk. I've spend over ten years restraining dogs and cats, but can't seem to wrangle a kid. There are arms everywhere and he thrashes his head around. I finally figured out a way to get the process to work, kinda.He has had a decline in drainage from his sinuses, and I'll admit, I skipped the nose drops and aspirator a couple times. His ear still seems bad, still draining. I haven't heard from the pediatrician as far as what they found on the culture which probably means that the antibiotic he is on will kill whatever grew, but I'd still like to know. I'll probably call tomorrow.

I spent a considerable amount of time dedicated to my Purina project. What seemed like endless printing finally ended and I finished up all of the dividers and took it in to get tabbed and bound. It looked great when it was all done and I finally got it sent off. I'm so glad to have that complete! I must say, they really could have made the print function of that program a lot better. Setting up and printing every page individually (because that is how they have it set up) and then turning each page over to print the back took so long. I could only set up a certain number of pages to print at a time so I lined up the fronts and backs correctly.

I was surprisingly on top of my game when it came to house work. I actually vacuumed the house twice and the bedroom and living room three times - in a single week! This is especially impressive since I tend to wait until I see hairballs on the tile or find myself lint rolling the baby. I also kept up with laundry, but for some reason, I still feel like I am behind. If there was one major thing I forgot, it was to take the trash out, about three times in a row. I'm glad we have an extra bin. I'll have to make a point to put it out on Monday night.

So, then comes today. Even though Sunday is the beginning of the week, I still mentally think of it as the end of the week. This is further emphasized by the fact that Taran flies out and returns on Mondays so I tend to think of that as the beginning. Taran returns tomorrow which is really exciting.

Today was Heart Day, commonly referred to as Valentine's Day, more accurately, it is St. Valentine's Day and at church they referred to it as World Marriage Day. I don't know where that came from. In any case, I typically hate this holiday. I generally have my whole mantra about why I dislike it but in a nutshell I don't like the pressure that people put on the holiday for over the top gifts. It becomes more about the forced routine of gift giving than it is about spending time with loved ones and celebrating the gift of love. Of course, there is also my insistence that the person who decided pink and red are the holiday colors should be fired. Seriously? Pink and red majorly clash, and I have no fashion sense whatsoever.

In any case, despite my disdain for what this holiday has become, I did do a little something for Taran. I spent the day baking. I made cookies and brownies and put together a little basket for him with some of his favorite goodies. (At this point I'm wondering if I should really be putting this info in my blog, but I'm betting he doesn't read it since I tell him everything that goes on, so maybe he won't read about it before he receives it...)

A week ago, some of my neighbors brought over a plate full of brownies. My mom did teach me to return things in the condition in which I received them, so I figured the plate had to be returned with baked goods. I couldn't very well do brownies, because then they may think that I just didn't eat the ones they gave me. In any case, I made up and arranged some sugar cookies (in heart and sign language "I love you" shapes) for them. I added some to Taran's basket. They weren't home when I went to deliver them, so I'll have to return their plate another day. As mentioned, I did make up some brownies, mostly because I ate most of the ones that the neighbors brought over and I wanted Taran to get some brownies too.

The most difficult task was the chocolate chip cookies. These are Taran's favorite and try as I may, I will never be able to repeat his mom's cookies. I've tried, really, I have, but he always says they taste different. They aren't bad, he says, just not the same. He still does like them though. In any case, I wanted to do heart shaped chocolate chip cookies which is difficult. The cookie dough is much stickier than sugar cookies so after discussing it with my mom, we both agreed that the easiest thing to do was to bake a pan cookie and cut the shapes after it was baked. This worked quite well, though the texture ended up a little spongy. I hope they cool and become more cookie like.

In any case, it is late and past my bed time. I just gotta finish feeding the baby and head to bed. It will be a great place to be.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Surviving Baby Noah's First Illness

A long time ago (one week that is), in a galaxy far, far away (because mentally I'm way in outer space at times) Baby Noah got sick. =(

So, Noah is beginning the upwards climb to normalcy after suffering for a week and having a mom that was clueless and unarmed for the past week.

Tuesday seemed like a normal day for the most part, but Noah had started coughing a bit. I mostly attributed it to the excess drainage he had from teething. His cough seemed slightly worse than it had been when I had heard him forget to breathe and swallow at separate times, but I didn't think much of it.

Wednesday, while preparing for our Smart Mommy Group, the breastfeeding support group that I go to, Noah fell asleep in his bouncer. This was odd, because we had just gotten up, but his sleep schedule can be off at times and he has been falling asleep around the same time on other days that I'm at yoga. He was still coughing some but otherwise he was acting normal. He fell asleep again bouncing on my knee at the mommy group, which I have to admit was kinda cute. He slept on the way home and proceeded to take a nice nap which doesn't happen often, so I was excited. When he awakened, he ate and seemed pretty cranky and warmed up as the day went on. I took his temp in the evening and it was mildly elevated. He slept most of the afternoon and evening.

Thursday, we skipped yoga because I wanted to see how Noah felt and his temp in the morning was normal, but he wasn't acting like he usually does. He was cranky and clingy. He wanted to cuddle and sleep, which he did. All day. If I tried to put him down, he'd scream. He wanted to be held. Later that afternoon, his temperature went up again to about 99.9. My mother-in-law suggested that if he had a fever again on Friday that I should call the pediatrician's office and see what they recommend.

Friday, was a repeat of Thursday. Cuddle and sleep. Temp normal in the morning and elevated in the afternoon. I called the pediatrician's office around lunch time which is when his temp was up over 100 and was told that the nurse was at lunch and that I could leave a message or call back. I left a message and decided that if she didn't call me back, I'd call her again. The nurse called me after two and told me to get some saline nose drops and a cool mist humidifier and if he had a fever the next day to bring him in. My mom and Taran's mom both suggested giving him a bath. So that evening, I gave him some Tylenol and gave him a bath and by the end of his bath, he was feeling so well, he didn't want to go to bed. After all, he had slept all day long. I ended up going to bed early, nursing him to sleep so he would finally go down. I was hoping we were out of the woods.

Saturday morning his temp was normal. He let me put him down so I could feed the dog and cat and he played with his toys without too much argument. He didn't cruise all around the room like he normally does, but he seemed content. He was still cuddly and wanted to nap not long after that, but he had a normal temp, so I let him be and figured he was just recuperating. Come 11:20, he felt warm to me so I checked his temp again, over 100. I called the pediatrician's office and they had already closed. I was kinda worried at this point because I didn't really know what to do if I couldn't take him in. I gave him some more Tylenol to help drop his fever which worked like a charm and he again slept a bunch. He seemed like he was feeling better because during the time he was up, he'd play with toys. His temp remained normal for the rest of the day. He had a bath and went down just like normal that night. I figured this time, he was better, finally, but I'd have to watch him for the next day just to be sure. We'd be back to our normal routine for sure by Monday.

Sunday morning, was very much like Saturday. Normal temp, he played some even though he wasn't as active as normal, and he did want to cuddle and sleep. No fever though, so I was thinking we'd be in the clear. Around 2:30 in the afternoon, his temperature spiked again. The pediatrician's office was closed, of course. That would be my luck. I gave him another dose of Tylenol and after his fever went down, he acted almost normal. He was playing and scooting around, though not with his normal speed. He had no fever for the rest of the day. Come evening time, he seemed cranky again even though his temperature was still normal. And that is when I noticed it. He had drainage from his left ear. Oh, jeez. I guess we were going to the pediatrician's office on Monday. At least the bath and going down to bed went relatively normally.

Monday morning we get up and are dressed and ready to go and I called the pediatrician's office as soon as they opened to get him set up. The earliest time his doctor was available was their last appointment slot of the day before they closed at five. I had the option of seeing another doctor about an hour before that. I figured if I had to wait until the afternoon, I may as well wait for his doctor. The appointment was scheduled and we went about our business. Noah was in pretty good spirits. His cough still continued, as it had since last week and the fluid continued to drain from his ear, but his attitude was much better. His temperature remained normal throughout the day and I was happy that his fever seemed to not be returning. When the time came for his appointment, we went in and the doctor took a sample of the drainage for culture, prescribed antibiotics, and told me to continue with the saline nose drops and humidifier. In 4-5 days the culture results should be back. Apparently, his right ear was red and inflamed and the doctor couldn't tell about the left because of the goo, but both ears were affected. So, we went to the pharmacy and got his meds and started them as soon as we returned home.

Today, Noah has been much more active. I called the pediatrician's office and asked if I needed to be worried about Noah being around other kids with his cough and I was told that he should be fine as long as he didn't have a fever, so yay, we can return to our normally scheduled activities. I'm glad the baby is feeling better despite the cough and ear drainage. We'll see in a few days what the culture grows and we have to return for an appointment in 10-14 days to recheck his ears.

Since Noah is feeling better, I'd consider this illness mostly conquered and I'd say that Noah and I have managed to survive. Yay!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A New Look

JJ helped me to add a pretty background to my blog. There were so many choices! But I picked one that I liked and wasn't too edgy. I just hope I picked colors that make it easy enough to read.

So today was an interesting day. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. It started out as planned and then went down hill from there. I awakened early and realized I had set the wrong alarm and it went off an hour earlier than planned, so I had to reset it. When it went off at the correct time, it was really hard to drag myself out of bed for a couple of reasons, one because I had been up late working on my Purina project and two because Noah wanted to stretch out breakfast time. In any case, I managed to get going and made it to yoga on time which to my surprise was not as jam packed as it was last Tuesday.

When I returned home, I fed the baby and then we played some. I tried to snap some pictures, but he didn't want to cooperate. He kept wiggling around and wanting to play with the camera. I figured I'd just do it another time. I then decided it was time to shower since Noah, it appeared was not going to take a nap. He's usually cranky and ready for a nap around 11:30. That doesn't always mean he'll actually go to sleep. I figured that I can run some errands I needed to run after my shower and maybe the baby will sleep in the car. Before my shower was up, he got really cranky. I went ahead and fed him after which he passed out. And he slept for a couple of hours, which is great. I also took a cat nap.

I started some laundry and Noah, Niobi, and I took a walk. The weather was not bad, it was overcast and cool, so it wasn't too bad for a walk. Noah actually took a second nap later in the afternoon, but a short one but that is ok.

This evening, Noah played a little more, I worked on laundry, and actually managed to squeeze some vacuuming in as Noah fell asleep in his sling mid-way through. After he went to bed, I spend a few hours on my Purina project which I'm making serious headway on, so yay!

Tomorrow I have my breastfeeding support group. My neighbor across the street is supposed to come as well, so that is exciting. I had invited her when I brought the diaper cake to her. She was unable to join us on Saturday because Zachary (her baby) was off of his schedule the night before, so her hubby Greg came over and let me know she wouldn't be coming but that Wednesday hopefully would work out. I sure hope so. I'd like to get to know her better, there may be local friend potential there rather than just being neighbors; and, it would be great if Zachary and Noah could play together as they grow up. I don't want to look too far into it though since I have failed at building other local friendships. Only time will tell.

Monday, February 1, 2010

No, I promise I didn't do it on purpose

So, today after a slow morning and a nice long nap on Noah's part (yay) we finally get moving around. I dressed the baby and then got dressed myself because we had errands to run (Yeah, that's right, if I don't have to go anywhere, it is pajamas all day long for me!). As I'm going to put on my shoes, I notice it... I had dressed Noah in an olive green long sleeved onsie and jeans and I was wearing a camo colored top with jeans. We matched. I couldn't believe I had done that! I considered changing the baby, but I figured it'd take too much time. Taran would seriously think I had done something like that intentionally, but it was an accident, I promise!

Noah and I ran some errands and then came home and had a relaxing evening. He did well playing and scooting around on the floor this evening which he normally does not like to do at night, but I credit it to the long nap around lunch time. It was about 2 hours long!

Aside from that, I got a few other things taken care of today, mostly household chores. I did some laundry and took out the trash. I also spent a ton of time working on my Purina project. I'm hoping I can get it done by the end of this week, that is my goal. We'll see...