baby’s 1st ear infection

While we were out and about Ollie spiked a fever, so we headed home and I took his temp, 101.3.

Off to Urgent Care. $25 later, he’s got an ear infection. RX and Tylenol dosages in my hand now.

He’s had that runny nose forever, and the last few days he’s had a cough, just like Landon, only running about a week behind him.

Vote for Ollie

I want to enter Ollie in this contest.

Which picture would you vote for on a website?

Picture A Feb 2010

Picture B Feb 2010

Picture C Feb 2010

Picture D Feb 2010

Expect a follow on with a link to go vote for him!

the ear infection saga of Landon Feb 2010

So Sunday night (2/21) Landon was happy and playing. He’d had a cold, and still had the cough, but seemed mostly over it and fine. He’d had a little diarrhea, but nothing horrid as well. He didn’t want to go to bed, instead he happily played in his bed in his room all tucked in for an hour or so before dozing off.
At around 9:45pm, he woke for the first time, and gave no reason, I just tucked him back into bed and wasn’t worried. But he woke up every 30 to 90 minutes all night. Bobby got up with him, I got up with him, and he would tell us that he was “scared” or wanted his music turned on, or that hurt his foot, or something else odd. It wasn’t till about 3AM when he told me his ear hurt that the light bulb turned on in my head that he might have an ear infection. Mind you, 3AM was the first time he even mentioned his ear! He wasn’t fevered until that morning (Monday 2/22). Things got worse in the morning after he got up, he spiked the fever, and finally started to reliably say his ear hurt. I’d called and made an appointment for the afternoon (so that Bobby could watch Ollie while I went) as soon as I got up, but then Landon started vomiting. He threw up his soy, which was all he had put in his tummy so far. It was really weird because it looked like when he was a baby and would vomit up, or like Ollie’s soy formula vomit. Also, it really smelled strongly of Vanilla. So it looked like yogurt and smelled like vanilla. Very odd. Anyway, vomiting really upset him and had him bawling. I stripped his clothes and comforted him and got him comfortable on the other couch, in his underwear, under blankets, watching Team Umizoomi.
About a half hour after vomiting he started begging me for more soy. I told him no, and he begged, “I’m thirsty, I’m hungry! Please mama?” So I let him have a couple of sips of water, and told him if he held that down, we’d talk about getting him more. I walked out of the room to care for Ollie for a minute, and was informed upon my return that “The couch is wet! I just want to lie on the floor.” Upon further inspection, the couch was wet because Landon had been unable to keep water down for more than 5 minutes. Bobby said he’d take Ollie, and shouldn’t I take Landon to Urgent Care right now? I called the doctor’s office first to cancel our later appointment, and they said they had an opening in 30 minutes. So I tossed clothes on my sick little boy and we went to the doctor.
Bobby loaned me his iPod touch to entertain Landon with at the doctor, he’s got a couple of games on it that Landon likes to play (drawing, bug squash, pocket god, and Elmo’s monster maker) which kept my grumpy boy willing to sit in the doctors office. he weighs in around 38lbs! Landon has a double ear infection, so bad on one side that it perforated his ear and was dripping out. We got antibiotics and anti-nausea meds. The doc said give him the anti-nausea med first, then wait 20 minutes and give him the antibiotics. Doc also said that there is a pretty icky virus going around and that he suspected that’s what Landon had (which is what gave him the ear infection). He says it lasts 2 weeks or more with a cough, but that it peaks at its worst around day 4 or 5.
So we left the doctor and went to Walgreens, who told us 20 minutes. We shopped the whole store. Landon was grumpy and curled up in the cart, and the snowbirds kept trying to make him smile or laugh. I kept telling them he was usually happy, but had a double ear infection so leave him alone! After 30 minutes I went back and asked what was going on. They said 5 more minutes. I decided to check out and go to the car. We drove through the McDonalds while Landon watched TV in the back, and I ate my lunch in the car. Then we went through the drive thru pharmacy and asked again, as it had been almost 15 minutes. They said it was “almost ready” and then went to go finish filling the script.
We got home and Landon took the first RX fine, then the amoxicillin, and then drank some pedialyte. He then took a 4 hour nap. I woke him up around 4pm, and he was burning up, so I gave him some Motrin. Once that kicked in he was fine, and he’s been acting fine ever since. Slept all night last night with no issues.
We kept him home today, but he’ll be at school tomorrow for sure.
Ollie has developed a cough to go with his stuffy nose, I’m hoping it doesn’t get worse. He is still fine, no fever, eating like a champ.
Bobby is feeling better after his vasectomy on Thursday too, so hopefully everything will be back to normal in the house soon.
We are getting the house painted this week, it needed it!! So far it looks great!

Valentines Day

Landon letter 3.6

Dear Landon-

I may never get this written if you don’t wake up fully from your nap and stop crying. I know in your last letter I said you pretty much gave up naps, and you did, I swear! But every once in a while, you do take a nap. Especially on days where you have a very exciting morning or a busy day the day before. Such as spending the night ay Grandma’s which you did recently, and also having your allergy blood draw, which happened on Friday (2/12/09). Results of said blood draw will be in next months letter, I am sure.

You are three and a half. That means you are now closer to your 4th birthday than your third, which hurts my head a little. You have grown up so much! Having your little brother around reminds me of how small you used to be, and then to see you now! Such a big little boy! Not a baby, or a toddler, but a BOY!
I worry sometimes about your diet. You like to eat such few items, and do not like to try new things. You love to play outside, but you also like to sit around and watch TV. Your favorite shows are currently Team Umizoomi, Super Why, Krypto, Wubbzy, and Max and Ruby. You like to watch the movie Horton Hears a Who on the TV in Dada’s car, and you can now work the DVD player so you can watch your favorite bits over and over again.
You are sort of becoming a Dada’s boy. With Ollie in the picture, I have to devote more time to the baby, and that does mean less time for you. Dada has been great though about spending extra time with you, and as a result, you want to spend even more time with him!
This month has been a little bit about adventures in going potty. You are completely potty trained and have not had an accident in a long time. That said, this month you tried peeing in a bucket in your room, peeing in the shower, and peeing outside, along with an attempt to poop outside, which I interupted. I’m hoping that this next month we are back to putting our excriminte in the potty only again.
School is going very well for you. You are still having the occasional day of getting in trouble, but overall you seem to enjoy it. You know most of your letters on sight and understand colors, shapes, and numbers. You seem pretty on track for your age, so that is good! We also had you start a Swim class last week. I’m hoping by the time it’s warm enough to swim, you will be able to dog paddle without any floaties. Dada took you and said you had a very good session, although you would not put your head underwater!
This letter, of course, is being published on Valentines day, so I wanted to talk for a minute about the person most likely to be your valentine, Emily. Em is your best friend in the whole world. The two of you love to play together, and you also love to get in trouble together! You have been affectionally dubbed “our little Bonnie and Clyde” because of some of the adventures you have had. We’ve shown up to pick you up from school to find everyone happily playing except you and Em. You will be standing in one corner, Em in the other. In the past few years the two of you have locked yourselves in the bathroom together, peed in buckets when no one was looking, trashed your bedrooms, spent birthdays together, shared food, toys, and love. You both talk about the other when apart. The other day I asked you if you wanted to go to school tomorrow and see your teachers. You told me, “I don’t like the teachers, I just like Emily.” Emily, on the other hand, told her dad that you “Can’t drink milk because it would make my Landon sick.” The two of you are so close, it’s so much fun to watch you grow and play togther. You are so lucky to have such a good friend!
Love Always,
Mama

I love his eyes in the picture above!

Landon upon returning home from his annual milk allergy blood draw 02/12/2010

And some pictures from a birthday party Landon attended for Aurora @ The Little Gym 2/6/10

Aurora’s Birthday party @ The Little Gym 2/6/10

Aurora’s Birthday party @ The Little Gym 2/6/10

Aurora’s Birthday party @ The Little Gym 2/6/10

Aurora’s Birthday party @ The Little Gym 2/6/10

Aurora’s Birthday party @ The Little Gym 2/6/10

Aurora’s Birthday party @ The Little Gym 2/6/10

Ollie letter 0.3

Dear Ollie-
You are now three months old. I can’t believe it, but I’m so happy. You’re starting to hold your head up a lot, and you prefer to sit up as opposed to lay on your back. You can’t sit up unassisted, and so far you aren’t a fan of your Bumbo. However! You love your bouncer! We’ve only just started using it. But it seems to be the place to be. You can roll onto your side, but not actually flip. You reach for your toys and enjoy yourself even on the playmat. Overall, you are good natured and happy, if slightly stoic and a bit grumpy an hour before bedtime.
We had an appointment with your neurologist this month, he thinks you are doing well, and he has us weaning you very slowly off the Phenobarbital. So far, that seems to be going well. Also, the doctor talked to Dr. Letizia, your pediatrician talked, and decided you could have the Dtap shot, so we went and got that yesterday. You didn’t seem to react at all to that shot, which was nice, since last time you got vaccinated, you totally freaked out all day!
You still aren’t on a firm schedule, but one has been developing. You now sleep most of the night! This is as of the last week or so. You basically go to be around 7ish and sleep until around 4AM. I feed you are 4AM, and then you go back to sleep. Well, you don’t want to go back to sleep, but I put you in your swing and you complain a little before dozing off. Then you eat again around 7:30, and every 3 hours all day. You’ve had nothing but fresh pumped breast milk this month. However, I am backing off on pumping, so I expect us to be switching to frozen breast milk soon.
You do seem to have a bit of cold recently though, where you are a little stuffy in the nose, but overall you’ve been happy and healthy. You really changed from a pretty passive newborn to an active little baby in the past week or so, and it’s been so great to be a part of it. Your dada has discovered if he makes a Ppphhhbbbtt noise/face at you, that you totally freak out and cry. He is just trying to play with you, but it’s a bit amusing to watch.
You make us happy, and we Love you!
Happy Three months!
Love
Mama

Video of Ollie playing and laughing, roughly 35 seconds:

If video does not appear or will not play, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jadesymb/4329296428/

Landon playing with Ollie Feb 2010

Ollie likes his bouncer Feb 2010

he’s in love with that parrot Feb 2010

smiles! Feb 2010

Still watching the parrot Feb 2010

Holding his head up high Feb 4, 2010, Happy three month birthday!

Happy and smiling Feb 4, 2010, Happy three month birthday!

Excuse me sire, but if I might interject…. Feb 4, 2010, Happy three month birthday!

Ollie’s three month letter

Ollie’s three month letter, a really cute video, and more pictures were added to the boys website today.
http://landonandollie.wordpress.com