Project Life: Weeks 29 - 30

July 18 - 31

I'm not sure what happened the week of the 18th, but I didn't take any photos, although I did get one from school.  That Monday they had a little carnival with free snow cones and barrel car rides.



Little did I know, but it was the "calm before the storm." On Saturday, Will was a little fussier than usual and seemed to be coming down with pink eye (again!). Robert and I had plans to go out to dinner with some other couples and had scheduled a babysitter. I called her to let her know what was going on, and she said she was still okay with coming over to watch the kids, so we got Claire and Will ready for bed that evening and headed out. When we got home around 10, she was in Will's room trying to help him go to sleep - very abnormal. I gave him some medicine and got him to sleep, but it was not a good night for any of us - he woke up several times. Plus, I felt like I was coming down with something. That night began our week of doctor visits:

Sunday - I went to the doctor, and although I tested negative for strep, I was prescribed a decongestant and antibiotic.
Monday - Will still didn't seem well, so I took him to the doctor. Diagnosed with respiratory infection that was "RSV like". Given a nebulizer, and I stayed home with him that day.
Tuesday - Will back to the doctor to check his breathing. Given an antibiotic and told he would probably need to stay home for the rest of the week. Robert thinks he is coming down with the same thing, goes to the doctor, and comes home with a Z-pack, steroid, and decongestant. I call Mom for backup! She comes that afternoon.
Wednesday - I go back to the doctor because I'm not feeling any better, and this time I got a steroid. Start feeling better that night.
Thursday - Will doesn't seem any better and his breathing is as raspy as ever, so I take him back to the doctor. This time he gets a steroid, and we're given instructions to count his respiratory rate. It never gets any worse, and we all start to feel better. I took a photo of the family pharmacy-3 antibiotics, 3 steroids, 3 decongestants, pink eye drops, and medicine for the nebulizer.

Friday - Mom is still here, so Robert and I go to an early showing of Harry Potter 7 Part 2 - LOVED IT!

Saturday - Mom leaves to go home. We survived the week! We got to Lupe's, and Claire celebrates with a rainbow pop. We were so thankful that someone she managed to avoid getting sick. Score 1 for the daycare-enabled immune system!

Project Life: Weeks 27 - 28

July 4 - 17


Monday, July 4th



Claire celebrated the 4th by having me paint her toenails pink. I guess that's close to red!

Tuesday, July 5



Poor Will was sick with a sinus infection today, but Claire did a good job cheering him up.

Saturday, July 9



Such a happy boy!

Tuesday, July 11



Will is 8 months old!



Claire always likes to jump in on the chair pictures.

Monday, July 12



I just thought the sickies were over...I have pink eye. Thanks, dear Claire!

Sunday, July 17



"Walking practice is the best!!!"

The week of sickies

On the Tuesday after the 4th, Will woke up kind of grumpy and not acting like himself. I took his temperature, and it was about 103 - time to go to the doctor. We got in that morning and found out he had a sinus infection - poor guy!

Wednesday morning he seemed to be feeling better, and the fever was gone, so we took them to school and I went to work to make up for being out on Tuesday. Mid-morning my cell phone rang, and my heart sank when I saw it was the school. Claire's eyes were really red, and they were going to have to send her home. I called the pediatrician and got her an appointment for as soon as we could be there. Diagnosis: conjunctivitis. No school until it cleared up. In anticipation of this, I'd run by the house to get some toys and other things to entertain her before picking her up, so I took her to work with me. I was actually able to get a few hours of work in while she ate her lunch and played. Shortly before we were going to leave, the school called again - Will's fever was back and he would have to stay home the next day. Ugh.

On Thursday Claire's eyes weren't totally clear, so we kept them both at home. Will was feeling better (the fever broke for good early that morning), so we had fun playing together that morning. Robert came home around lunch so that I could get to work for a meeting that afternoon, and Mom and Dad (who were already planning to come for the weekend) changed their plans so that they were able to arrive earlier than usual so that Robert could go back to work for a few more hours.

By Friday, everyone was well, but we kept Will at home with Mom and Dad and sent Claire to school while I went to the office to catch up. It was a crazy week!

And as a postscript to the story...I got pink eye this past Monday that has lasted most of the week.



Thanks, Sweetie! As Robert's aunt Marilyn said, "Well, all mothers spend enormous time teaching their children to share!" :)

Will and Penelope

Will started getting goopy eyes on Monday morning, and it didn't take long for us to suspect the culprit - pink eye. It rapidly got worse, so I took Will to the hospital's pediatric clinic where they confirmed my mommy diagnosis.

Since it is pretty contagious, Will had to stay home from school until he'd been on medication for at least 24 hours. I really needed to be at work Tuesday morning for a meeting, so I was thrilled when Penelope said she could babysit Will for the morning. They had a great time together, and Penelope wrote a blog post about their time together here - enjoy!

Thanks again, Penny!

Will's First Sick Visit

Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Will was a little fussier than usual, but didn't have a fever, so we took him to school that morning so I could get a few things done around the house. His teacher called a couple of hours later and told us that she thought he had an ear infection - that he was fine when someone was holding him, but would cry when they laid him down (like something hurt). I ran up to school to get him and got an appointment with the pediatrician.

Sure enough, his teacher was correct - first ear infection. Fortunately it was caught early, and he is already feeling better after starting the antibiotic and taking Tylenol. I'm so glad she knew the signs, and that he wasn't in pain for too long! Hopefully this is not the first of many...

On the other hand, he has been sleeping great! He has slept from about 8 or 8:30 until 6:30-ish 3 out of the last 5 nights - go Will! He's been sleeping until around 5 for a couple of weeks now, then eating and going back to sleep, but this is a welcome development!!!

Also, he weighed 15 pounds, 14 ounces at the pediatrician - my adorable chunky monkey. I don't think he'll be in his 3-6 month size clothes for much longer, and I just bought the size 2-3 Swaddler diapers since I think he would be out of size 2 before he finished another big box. It's crazy how different his growth is from Claire's. Mama needs to work on those biceps!

Update to "Sick"

Just wanted to let you know that Claire is doing much better. We took her to our regular pediatrician on Monday, and her lungs still sounded great - and she's back to her old self. I got an extra workout chasing her around at home yesterday, and other than some coughing, she seems to be totally fine. We also found out that her friend from school was released from the hospital yesterday morning and is on the road to recovery. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts!

Sick :(

Claire hadn't been feeling great for a few days (waking up, coughing, just not totally herself), and by Saturday afternoon we thought she needed to get checked out. We took her to the after-hours pediatric clinic near our house, and it was fuller than we'd ever seen it. After we'd been there about 30 minutes, a couple of EMTs came in wheeling a stretcher, and a few minutes later wheeled out a mom holding a little girl who wearing a nebulizer mask. We were really surprised and concerned to recognize the girl as someone from Claire's class at daycare, then a little worried to wonder if Claire had been exposed to something.

When we finally got back, we told the nurse and the doctor about the connection, since while they obviously couldn't tell us what had happened, they would know if Claire needed to be checked for something. They ended up running an RSV test on Claire that came back positive. RSV can be really bad, but Claire appears to have a fairly mild case. She hasn't had a fever or any issues breathing, fortunately. The doctor told us that based on when her symptoms started, today or tomorrow would probably be the worst. Claire actually seemed better today after getting the best night of sleep she's had in awhile (about 13 hours straight!). So, we're going to try to see her regular doctor tomorrow to confirm the diagnosis, but she seems to be on the road to recovery.

Yesterday she was still feeling pretty icky after waking up from her nap, and she just wanted to snuggle with me on the couch. This is pretty rare since she usually wants to be up and running around, so we knew she wasn't feeling very good. I was glad we could be there to comfort her and just let her relax and start healing. Hopefully she's back to herself before Christmas!

A couple of pictures from our cuddly time:

An almost smile