Prior to our chicken pox, Great Granny came for a visit with Grandpa and Grandma. Here H gets a few words of encouragement as he tries his walking car (he hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet, but Grandpa was helping him try).
6.19.2008
6.18.2008
A Pox in the House of B
One pox, two pox, three pox, four. There's so many, we count them by the score.
Oh yes, the pox. Thankfully, the boys are too young to realize that one of those nasty little shots they got several months ago was supposed to prevent this. Alas, it was a futile effort.
And naturally, it happens on a day that A) Dad is out of town for business; B) Grandma B has pneumonia (we hope she feels very better soon!); C) Grampa and Grandma are a flood covered interstate away. Which left mom to care for two very uncomfortable little boys alone. Two very uncomfortable boys who wanted their mommy at the very same time. I finally got them to sleep by sitting on the floor with one straddling one leg, the other straddling the other leg and then contorting such that both had their heads resting on one of my shoulders. And I somehow managed to even rock them in that position. Thank goodness I'm still a might flexible in my advancing years...
For those keeping score, in the last five months both boys have had:
1) RSV
2) Four ear infections each
3) Far too many upper respiratory illnesses to count
3) One hospitalization for E
4) Hand, Foot and Mouth Virus
5) Chicken pox
What's probably the most troubling is that we're quickly becoming the pariahs of daycare. Already there's been warning signs posted saying "your child may have been exposed to..." and now a second set of signs will be going up tomorrow. Perhaps we should start collecting the signs for their baby books. Never mind the fact that the boys literally only go to daycare and then come home. No restaurants and the occassional jaunt to the grocery store or Target is either in our own stroller or our backpacks. Leaving us absolutely boggled where they're picking this stuff up. But, somehow they are.
I know the first year is the hardest, but really, this is just getting silly.
Oh yes, the pox. Thankfully, the boys are too young to realize that one of those nasty little shots they got several months ago was supposed to prevent this. Alas, it was a futile effort.
And naturally, it happens on a day that A) Dad is out of town for business; B) Grandma B has pneumonia (we hope she feels very better soon!); C) Grampa and Grandma are a flood covered interstate away. Which left mom to care for two very uncomfortable little boys alone. Two very uncomfortable boys who wanted their mommy at the very same time. I finally got them to sleep by sitting on the floor with one straddling one leg, the other straddling the other leg and then contorting such that both had their heads resting on one of my shoulders. And I somehow managed to even rock them in that position. Thank goodness I'm still a might flexible in my advancing years...
For those keeping score, in the last five months both boys have had:
1) RSV
2) Four ear infections each
3) Far too many upper respiratory illnesses to count
3) One hospitalization for E
4) Hand, Foot and Mouth Virus
5) Chicken pox
What's probably the most troubling is that we're quickly becoming the pariahs of daycare. Already there's been warning signs posted saying "your child may have been exposed to..." and now a second set of signs will be going up tomorrow. Perhaps we should start collecting the signs for their baby books. Never mind the fact that the boys literally only go to daycare and then come home. No restaurants and the occassional jaunt to the grocery store or Target is either in our own stroller or our backpacks. Leaving us absolutely boggled where they're picking this stuff up. But, somehow they are.
I know the first year is the hardest, but really, this is just getting silly.
6.15.2008
6.05.2008
Just the beginning
When an incident happens involving your child and another child at a licensed daycare facility, they are legally not allowed to disclose any information related to the other child. For example, when your child bites another, all they can say is "your child was bitten by another."
So today when we arrived to pick up the boys, our provider said, "I'm afraid H was involved in an incident. He was bitten by another child." And there were quite the bite marks on his arm to show for it.
I started thinking to myself, "oh great, there's a biter in the group. No telling where this could lead..." when the teacher continued with, "and I'm afraid E was involved in an incident as well." My mind started racing, who is this little Hannibal Lecter taking chunks out of my children. When she finished "He bit another child in class."
Ahhh.
The incident report read, "H was playing with the piano when he was bit by another child who was also trying to play the piano. He received a bite mark on his left forearm, there are purple-colored teeth indents."
Ironically, on the daily activity sheet that says what each child did that day, E's read, "He enjoyed playing the piano today."
Apparently so.
So today when we arrived to pick up the boys, our provider said, "I'm afraid H was involved in an incident. He was bitten by another child." And there were quite the bite marks on his arm to show for it.
I started thinking to myself, "oh great, there's a biter in the group. No telling where this could lead..." when the teacher continued with, "and I'm afraid E was involved in an incident as well." My mind started racing, who is this little Hannibal Lecter taking chunks out of my children. When she finished "He bit another child in class."
Ahhh.
The incident report read, "H was playing with the piano when he was bit by another child who was also trying to play the piano. He received a bite mark on his left forearm, there are purple-colored teeth indents."
Ironically, on the daily activity sheet that says what each child did that day, E's read, "He enjoyed playing the piano today."
Apparently so.
A moment to savor
Tonight as we went about our evening routine of dishes and lunch packing, there came a voice across the baby monitor. Instead of the typical cries that summon us to their bedside, there was H saying, "Da da da da." Not just a babble mind you, but a very deliberate call to get our attention. When we didn't respond right away, mostly because we were dumbfounded, asking ourselves, "Is he really saying what we think?" He tried again, slightly louder this time. "Da da da." I went upstairs to find something had startled him awake and picked him up to soothe him. It was hard to put his little sleeping self back down knowing it won't be long before he's no longer my little baby.
5.18.2008
Ice cream really can solve all problems
So, Friday started out just fine and then daycare calls and says, "E's lips and fingernails have turned purple, his breathing is rapid and shallow and he's really sleepy. We may call 911 if he turns worse before you get here." Well, I'm sure I broke some laws in how fast I got there. We took him to the ER and after running some tests, they figured it was just his body's reaction to a severe double ear infection. We had been treating him for the ear infections, and just that morning he was chipper, chatty and close to his old self. We thought he was on the mend. We dropped him at daycare and an hour later is when it all happened. The docs decided to keep him over night for observation because of how severely he reacted, and to make sure it didn't get worse, so we stayed at the children's hospital. He definitely wasn't feeling well, even into the next day. But armed with serious antibiotics we headed home on our way to recovery.
Or so we thought...
Saturday night was a really rough night with H. He was super fussy and didn't sleep. We thought perhaps his ear infections that we had also been treating weren't responding to the antiobiotics. So, we planned to call the after-hours clinic first thing Sunday morning.
First thing Sunday morning arrives and even in our sleepless state, we notice that E is covered in a rash. It's literally head to toe. Our first thought was that he was having a reaction to the new antibiotic. So, we loaded E and H up and headed back into Madison. Once at the doctor, she took one look at E and said, "that's hand, foot and mouth." Come again?
It wasn't a reaction to the medicine (good news), bad news, it was a highly communicable illness that causes blister-like things all over the inside of the mouth, down the throat, all over the bottom and hands. Supposedly they don't itch but are very uncomfortable.
And the same was true for H, although his progression was a few hours behind his brother's. That's why he was so fussy, because his ears were actually on the mend.
So now, with two very uncomfortable little guys finally in bed and two very large sundaes in front of us, we try to figure out how to juggle the necessary days off this week (daycare apparently isn't fond of having children with communicable disesases hanging about and mouthing toys). But it's nothing a little hot fudge can't solve.
Or so we thought...
Saturday night was a really rough night with H. He was super fussy and didn't sleep. We thought perhaps his ear infections that we had also been treating weren't responding to the antiobiotics. So, we planned to call the after-hours clinic first thing Sunday morning.
First thing Sunday morning arrives and even in our sleepless state, we notice that E is covered in a rash. It's literally head to toe. Our first thought was that he was having a reaction to the new antibiotic. So, we loaded E and H up and headed back into Madison. Once at the doctor, she took one look at E and said, "that's hand, foot and mouth." Come again?
It wasn't a reaction to the medicine (good news), bad news, it was a highly communicable illness that causes blister-like things all over the inside of the mouth, down the throat, all over the bottom and hands. Supposedly they don't itch but are very uncomfortable.
And the same was true for H, although his progression was a few hours behind his brother's. That's why he was so fussy, because his ears were actually on the mend.
So now, with two very uncomfortable little guys finally in bed and two very large sundaes in front of us, we try to figure out how to juggle the necessary days off this week (daycare apparently isn't fond of having children with communicable disesases hanging about and mouthing toys). But it's nothing a little hot fudge can't solve.
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