Update from the land of Pox

I might be willing to post a picture soon--haven't exactly been feeling photogenic and a couple websites I've read say the pox can be transmitted to inantimate objects and the germs remain there for a 'long while'. I don't know how long that would be, but long enuf to need to clean. Still no sign of them in Eddie, but the nurse from the peds office is expecting them around the 11th. Odd how she just kind of picked that date based on my outbreak--like we have a countdown for something we don't want.

Went to the doctor today--worried about a reaction to the meds as my throat is sore and feels swollen, she thought I was fine, but gave me some good anti-itch meds bc I was up most/half? the night last night either itching or applying clamine loation (and reapplying). This, on top of oatmeal baths in lukewarm water--which sucks--I can't wait to have a hot shower/bath again! I've also been on a benedryl drug too--to no avail.

I have these things everywhere--my mouth, my ears (so far not my eyes, cross your fingers), my face was just red from all the pox, but that is starting to subside. Dennis and I worry how we'll keep Eddie from scratching, we don't want his adorable face to become a pox-scared field.
My fever seems to be decreasing, thankfully--was up in the 101 range. I can't remember the last time I was that sick, maybe all the way back to when I was a kid?

Well, off to bed, happily the extra strength perscription anti-itch meds make me drowsy--not a problem!! And I'll post a picture soon--altho' it used to be cool to look in the mirror and see them all, not it's just disgusting, so we'll have to see how they turn out--I of course have to document them...

Coughs, Colds, and Chicken Pox

Boy do I have a story to tell...

Eddie came down with a cold Sun/Mon. and by Monday night he had a pretty good cough (this was his first cold--sorry Uncle Kev but the sniffles when he was 3 weeks old that you thought you gave him don't count here). So after being up over an hour in the middle of the night coughing, I called the peds office to find out how we could make him more comfortable.

Was told that if he woke himself from coughing, to bring him in. So I made an appointment. I had been feeling really drained the last couple days, I thought from a single night of bad sleep, and then the hyperchondriac that I am, I noticed two clear pimples--one on my arm and the other on my abdomen on Tue. Well, Wed. morning, as I got ready to take Eddie to the Doctor, my chest was covered in what I thought was a rash.

Long story short, Eddie had an 11:30 apt and I had a noon apt. We waited for Eddie's apt and I eventually had to go to mine while Den handled Eddie's. The nurse practioner took one look and thought Chickenpox. She went to get a doctor to confirm. I called Den's cell, but got no answer. Then I called the peds office and told them to tell the doctor he was with. Den then cheerfully calls me back to tell me Eddie was just fine and they were coming up. I then gave him my potential diagnosis, telling him to go back to the office.

Den said he created quite a stir when he told them at the front desk that I was upstairs getting this diagnosis, and should he talk with the Doctor about it. Said he got whisked back to the exam room pretty quickly and was told to make sure I stayed away. Doctor pops in and says, 'mom's got chickenpox, huh?'.

Basically Peds office is sure Eddie is going to get it--imagine my guilt, esp. given there is a vacine I could have gotten (altho' it is only 70-90% effective), but still. UGH.

It gets even better, I call a friend of mine who stops over fairly regularly to say hi. Thinking her 14 month old has been vaccinated, I presume she's fine. Turns out she hasn't been. So neighbor calls the same peds office and speaks to the same nurse I spoke with last week when Eddie fell off the hotel bed, the same nurse I spoke with that morning about Eddie's cough, and the same nurse I spoke with regarding breast-feeding Eddie while I have the pox. This woman knew exactly who I was when my neighbor called. They wanted her daughter there in 20 min. to get the vacine. Neighbor said I had caused quite a stir.

So here I sit, red marks all over my upper body, working their way out my limbs, praying that Eddie is part of that 10% who doesn't get this--at least not at his age. Afterall, I was exposed multiple times and never got it.

Been slowly trying to get the word out to people, hopefully no one gets this from us. Basically our entire October is shot, from a social perspective. Peds office predicts Eddie will break out around the 11th of October and basically could take as long as the end of the month before he could break out. I keep telling myself that by Halloween, we'll know if he's going to get it, and by shortly after that, he'll be over it.

So needless to say, FLA pictures/posts will have to wait, wish us luck--more for Eddie than me, I'm enuf of a hyperchondraic that I'll worry about each symptom...poor Eddie...and anyone we've/I've infected.

MONTHLY--Eddie at 7 months

Eddie spent his 7th month birthday in Orlando, Florida. Aside from falling off the bed when mom wasn't looking (I am tramatized for life, Eddie is fine), he had a pretty good birthday. He had a dinner of carrots at the House of Blues with Huntsville Mike (see picture).

Speaking of food, over the last month, we have expanded Eddie's palette to include peas and zuchini. He is now eating 3 squares a day, in the hopes of sleeping longer at night. On the development front, he is creeping quite a bit and sticking his butt up in the air--possibly in preparation for crawling? He rolls equally well front to back and back to front and moves himself quite adeptly on his back--like an inchworm, arching his head and back at the same time.

His vocalization is really strong now--to the point that dinners out are increasingly difficult, except in already noisy places. He is putting himself to sleep for his naps and goes down easily most nights. Still not staying down, but we're working on it. Oh and those chubby thighs measure 11.5 inches in circumfrence. I figure they are about at their peak, for once he starts really moving, they'll thin down.

I'll post more pictures (including those from FLA) by the end of the week.

Pictures Please

Nothing much exciting to report--if you don't count having sewer gas in your home. Fortunately it's concentrated in the bathroom off of our bedroom. Ugh! The City is supposed to drop a smoke bomb in the sewer line to see if they can't diagnose the problem. A couple of our neighbors are also having the problem. It has evicted us to our guest room until the problem is resolved. All the experts I've talked with (and I've talked with a lot) have assured me the house won't blow up and that the quantities of sewer gas aren't going to kill us--might give us an extra finger--which makes me feel really good when it comes to Eddie's development...

Anyway, see the pix, I had a hard time choosing. The one in the hammock where you can't see his face demonstrates Eddie's method of mobility: He arches his back and then shoves off with his feet. Gets him all over--so much for the bald spot growing back. He really arches his back and throws his weight around, can get squirrelly when trying to hold him.

Update for Dad (means a lil' mundane for the rest of you)

This week finds dad in Huntsville, AL--well, actually for just one night, but all the same, here's a post to keep him from missing Eddie any more than he already does. By the way, I've added a bunch of posts that I pre-dated for earlier this week.

After we got back from our quick dinner at the airport, Eddie ate a late (7pm) dinner, and then his mom, in all her wisdom decided to play with him to keep him upright instead of letting him play quietly--Eddie was up til at least 8:30 (usualy bedtime around 7:30ish). Ugh. The night went okay--slept til 2am, then woke 2 more times before getting up at 6:30. And can you believe, Eddie had the nerve to start getting tired at around 7:30--well let me tell you, it certianly wasn't my idea to get up at 6:30.

So he was fussy all morning and didn't want to eat much--hope the carrots didn't throw him too much of a loop yesterday. You can see from the above picture how interested he is in eating--but at least the bib is on--and this is my second try at getting him to eat oatmeal (which so far he seems to like best out of oatmeal, rice, and carrots). I think the 3rd feeding is starting to help him sleep longer at night. And if you've read even 1 or 2 posts, you know that sleep weighs heavy on my mind. Should I rename this the sleep blog?

Anyway, Eddie is sleeping as I type (which is why I can type) and I'm going to get some stuff done. 14 hours to go of single-parent-hood.

Guess what I had for dinner?

Den and I have decided to venture beyond the bland (in color and taste) and expand Eddie's palette. The answer to the above is: Carrots (I think this is spelled wrong, but then I couldn't spell 'success' on an earlier post). And yes, Virginia, when it gets spit up, it's Orange. Guess that's how outfits get ruined. He had the funniest expression on his face when we fed him these. I captured it best on the video camera--but Eddie just wasn't sure what to make of it, but he gamely kept opening his mouth for more.

My new trick

So Eddie basically learns at least one new trick/day. One of the most recent is to take his bibs off himself. I don't know if he doesn't like the bib, or just finds it another thing he can do, but he just tugs and twists until it pops off. I finally gave up and decided to feed him sans bib. Bit messy, but boy did he ham it up for the camera--which is another trick. I think he finally smiles specifically for the camera--boy is that fun!

G'ma and G'pa Ohio visit

G'ma and G'pa Ohio popped over for a quick visit this past weekend. Consisted of the usual--date night for us, shopping spree for Eddie/G'ma Ohio. Eddie didn't go on this shopping spree, but we thought of him as we debated what toys would be appropriate. Here are a couple pictures from the weekend. G'pa Ohio had Eddie laughing so much, I don't know about dad/Den, but I took notes. [actually I don't think dad needs to take notes, as he seems to vibe with Eddie about what makes him laugh].

SUCESS!!!

Many of you (I'm surprised how many of *you* there are), have comiserated with our efforts to get Eddie to sleep unassisted. I understand it will be many years before we finally get a decent night's sleep with any regularity--and by then I suspect we'll be old enough that we'll just be waking up in the middle of the night with issues of late middle age.

Anyway, I have now gotten Eddie to put himself to sleep for 2 morning naps. I'm so proud I could burst. And then, tonight, I got him to go to sleep on his own, without much crying--it was more a low-grade wimper. Course the night is young, so we'll see how many times we wakes, but by golly if he isn't asleep. I put him down with his eyes open and went up when he started getting fussy only to put my hand on his back. I must say I'm even more proud of this nocturnal accomplishment than the daytime naps.

Yippee!! Can you sense my excitement? Woohoo! Yahoo!!!
Hopefully I won't be too bleary eyed tomorrow from multiple wake ups...

Bubbly Beach Baby

As promised here are some beach pictures. The little girl is Eddie's buddy who along with her parents, went to the beach with us. And yes, we left the beach as pasty white as our first day (or almost so).

6 month shots...worse for mom than baby

So we're at the pediatrican's today and they tell us that he doesn't have to get shots at his nine month appointment, which thrills me to no end. Then I get home and am reading the literature provided during this visit and it says that they check the iron level at 9 months. I don't know about you, but am guessing that will involve a needle. Ugh.

Here is how it works out: Nurse comes in with four, count em, FOUR needles for poor, unsuspecting, smiling Eddie. Mom goes down the hall to make the next appointment, comes back and nurse pokes the first needle while dad tries to distract Eddie (much like he does for mom when she gets needles). The second needle goes in and that's when he screams. Then the 3rd and 4th.

The first time this happened, he screamed all the way home. The second time--at the 2 month appointment, he just screamed till we got him to the car, the 4th month, he was calming down as we were leaving the office. This time, dad is trying a usually fool-proof technique of tossing Eddie in the air. He can't help but smile. Even the nurse is impressed. Eddie has basically stopped crying before we leave the exam room. Heck, I'm impressed, I just would have hugged him and cried myself.

This is why dad comes to all the appointments :)

So here's the info the grandparents want: he growing--a lot. Everyone usually comments on 2 things with Eddie, his eyes and his thighs. Well, even the Doctor was impressed with the size of Eddie's thighs--and this is a man who sees who knows how many kids/day. Anyhoo, the stats are:

Height: 27 inches, Doctor comments that this is on the tall side--at 75th %, says we won't likely be at that percentage many more times with our heights.

Weight: a whopping 19.6 pounds--which would be in the 80th % until I remind the doctor we are 2.5 weeks into his 6th month, so the doctor corrects it to 75%. "A well proportioned baby", he comments.

His head is 17 inches, a steady 50th%.

He is meeting all the milestones they want. Doctor asks if he is grabbing stuff, just as he starts grabbing. All around good visit (except for those pesky, but necessary shots).

The picture is of Eddie with the doctor who delivered him--Dr. Rothman. Dr. Sullivan is the peidatrican--and young enuf that he ought to be able to see Eddie and his siblings grow up.

Labor Day Weekend

After our last hurrah of a trip, we enjoyed doing basically nothing the whole Labor Day weekend. The weather was beautiful, and Eddie, as usual, was smiling.

The picture of Den and Eddie is with Eli (one of Eddie's buddies) and his mom, Alex at a Labor Day picnic. Dennis started the 'grabbing' you see here, by putting Eddie's arm around Eli, and then they kept batting at each other. Eli is 2 months older than Eddie.

Thoughts

I just can't stop thinking about the hurricane and what these people must be going through. To lose everything. In talking with a girlfriend I think I finally identified a part of why I'm so upset--I feel guilty coming home from a trip to a perfectly intact house. Everything as we left it. We have so much and these people have nothing. One thing the Hurricane has made me do is work on getting my own little disaster prepardness kit together--hopefully we'll never need it, but should something befall us, we'll have everything at our fingertips.

After trying to pack for a couple trips now--seeing that it takes me basically a full day to assemble and pack everything, I thought it might make sense to have the bear necessities ready.

Wisconsin and Chicagoland Exploits

Well, I really thought I'd make a post while we were away, but I was too busy enjoying our trip and obsessing over the hurricane to even do much on the computer. However, I have back posted for the week we were gone some pictures. For those of you wondering, we did find out that Eddie definitely looks like Dennis when he was a kid. G'ma Wisconsin wanted us to take the pictures back with us, but we were full up. Look this fall when I'll post a picture of Dennis as a child and Eddie--the similarity is uncanny. But he definitely has mom's eyes. This picture is in front of G'ma and G'pa Wisconsin's house as we prepared to leave.

All Eddie, All Wisconsin