Ear Infection Number Two

I haven't blogged via BlackBerry since the hospital when I had Jackson. Which is appropriate since today was as hard as the hospital was 11 months ago. Jackson was angry for 90% of the time he was awake. My child is never angry. He wasn't into eating or playing. Just sleeping, crying and a form of whining. I realize teething hurts. But not this bad for him. Something was amiss.

Friday we saw the doc. Clogged tube but no infection. Wait and see if the fever develops. Well it did. As did eye goop. And puking again. So instead of drugs and happiness now, we get to wait until 9 am and see when they can fit us in to tell me what I already know. I'm annoyed. He saw it coming, it was Friday afternoon. Now we've spent a weekend with a pod person and presto now the ear infection is official and officially will mess up tomorrow. Why can't I live next door to a pediatrician?

Intolerable Cruelty

I think Jackson has a corn something. Intolerance or allergy. I don't know. Thursday night he threw up all over himself and his crib, so we held him out of school Friday and I stayed home with him since I had the day off. He drank a little pedialyte, ate a few saltines, a lot of banana, and almost a jar of banana peach oatmeal before crashing for a nap in the morning.

Then at lunch he had formula (not much) and I attempted some of his favorites...melon, shells and cheese, sweet potatoes, hummus (yes he loves hummus) but when we wouldn't eat any of those, I gave him some of the new Jumbo Rice Krispies, which he's been having this week (and loves) and hoped he would do better at snack time.

He didn't. It was a fight to get him to eat his bottle, which he eventually finished 5 of 6 ounces of. He didn't really want melon or any bread. But of course he wanted more of the Rice Krispies and took a bite of corn muffin. I finally got him to eat yogurt before we went to our doctor's appointment to have his ears checked, which came back negative. Then we came home and he drank his bottle, but was too exhausted to have any dinner so he went to bed at 6:30.

At about 10:30 I heard him waking up and being loud, so I went in there to check on him and picked him up to re-settle him in bed and heard his stomach rumble and he started to wretch. So I took him to the sink and he puked up some yellow gunk that looked like...well it looked like corn muffin batter actually...about 1-2 tablespoons worth.

My mom had mentioned to me that I was allergic to citrus, soy and corn when I was little, so I thought about any foods that we had recently introduced. Well, the Jumbo Rice Krispies...which it turns out aren't just rice. They also have corn. And he ate a LOT of them the last couple days. And some corn muffins that I made him because he seemed to like them before and there were no issues and we've been trying to diversify his menu options lately.

This morning, Jason gave him his bottle, which he pounded and promptly threw up all over the place. I guess his tummy was still mad about Jumbo Corn Krispies. But then he was all about saltines and bananas again (he ate like half a banana), and hasn't shown any side effects or threw up since then. The doctor's office opens in about three minutes...I guess I'll call and see what they have to say.

Bye Bye

Jackson waved bye bye. It's one of those things you do all the time to try and get them to do, but they don't do it. Then yesterday, my mom came up to hang out with him. I was supposed to have Friday off as it's CU's spring break, but Jackson threw up all over himself Thursday night so I wasn't about to send him to day care without knowing what the deal was.

So she came up and I spent my day off going and running at the gym, walking through our ghetto mall in Longmont and buying groceries at Target. I did find a darling outfit for him for Easter so that was a plus. I got home, Jackson wasn't feeling much like eating anything (more on that later), so we played and then it was time for grandma to go home.

She went to the door and said bye bye Jackson and waved. And I saw him make a motion like he was going to wave. So we kept saying bye bye and sure enough, he lifted up his sweet little arm and waved bye bye to Grandma. Hooray!

Teething Bites

The photo depicts a happy and fun Jackson. We spent some time with my parents in Lakewood and Jason and I went to the movies last night. Things were great.

This morning, not so great. But overcomeable (that's a new word I just made up). Went to the park, went and ran errands. Then he got up from his afternoon nap and was inconsolable. Front teeth are en route. Jason then tried to make us burgers and the grill was out of gas. So he went and got some. Then the grill still wouldn't work. But Jackson ate a bunch of melon and bread and took a bath and is sound asleep...for now.

Jackson Live

The clapping!

What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping

Jackson has started clapping. In his own special way. We noticed it Thursday night as we were eating dinner. He started smacking one first with one hand and smiling and Jason asked me if it was sign language or he was giving us the bird in his own special way. It took a few minutes...and then we realized that he is clapping! Adorable.

Digger

A milestone we'd all prefer not to experience. Jackson took a digger at school. Was doing his cruising around the cabinets at school and slipped and whacked his head on an edge of the cabinets. Nice little nugget on his head with an abrasion to match. I didn't handle it well. I was super pissed at no one and upset and I was glad that when I arrived there to check on him, he let me hold on to him forever.

Hooray for Health

Hooray hooray! Jackson is healthy. I have now officially jinxed it. He will be sick immediately. He is a whole different guy when he is healthy...its been so long I forgot. He went for his first ride in a swing, his first time in a jumping castle, and today he crawled all over the play area at the mall. He's down to really one solid nap a day and sometimes he'll take a shorty before dinner.

Ear Infection #1

As a child, I was the poster child for ear infections. Apparently, they were a major problem for me from age two months to like age four. My mom now attributes it to a early childhood allergy to citrus and soy, but that doesn't change the fact that I was on antibiotics for the better part of my toddlerhood.

Jackson, as you all know, is sick constantly. Usually it's a cold, which of course we can do nothing about other than Tylenol and time. Which is like the most lame ass thing ever and doesn't make Jason and I feel good about things EVER.

So he got another cold as I wrote in my last entry and day care called to let me know he had a slight fever. Not so much that I had to go get him, but you know, enough to call. I went and got him anyways and we went home. Then I was up all night trying to help him with his fabulous cough, and Wednesday morning was business as usual. Then he took a ridiculous nap and woke up at like 2:45 and his eyes were FOUL. Uh uh. I'm not doing pink eye. So we called the doc, and got in at 3:45. The result: ear infection and antibiotics. You hate for your kid to be sick, but you're glad it has a name and a solution.

Jackson and I took the elevator down to the pharmacy, where I filled the prescription immediately and decided we would go ahead and dose him up right in the BCH lobby. The funniest thing happened. I opened his bottle of pink amoxicillin and it struck me IMMEDIATELY. I know this smell. I remember this. My mom informed me that I hated the pink amoxicillin. I obviously didn't taste his medicine as he needs it all, but I have to say, the instantaneous recollection of the smell of that stuff really was interesting to me. I probably hadn't smelled it in 28 years but man, I remembered that smell. To me, it smells like fake bananas.

10 Months Old

My child is 10 months old. How is this possible? As each monthly milestone passes, I keep thinking back to the days when the boy couldn't do anything. I'm not going to recap it again...but wow.



He can throw! He attempts to play a form of catch with his father. Jackson can't catch because he's not coordinated enough, and Jason can't catch because Jackson's throws are beyond errant. But they try. And it's adorable.

It's been 70 degrees here (!) and we get to take Jackson on walks after work, which is so nice. He is doing well at day care, although I swear we had our first consecutive days without cold symptoms this past weekend and now they are back. And of course even as I type this, his day care calls and he has a slight fever. Ugh.

Slacker Mom

I've been a total slacker lately on the blog due mostly to travel, work and illness in the house. But on this, the eve of my son's 10 month birthday, I feel it's high time for some updates!

He is Mr. Cruise. He has also learned to throw, and plays a baby version of catch where he attempts to throw to his dad, who then rolls it back to him. My perfect eater has become a little finicky from time to time, which is what I deserve given that I am THE pickiest eater on earth. At least I can say, "I don't want that" whereas he can't tell me until I've opened the jar, he's taken a bite, and isn't feeling it. I'm hoping it's a phase.

Jackson is getting good at feeding himself. Today it was carrots and potatoes, and some weird freeze dried yogurt pieces. He did well. He also likes to try to feed me cheerios, and he now tries to fake me out and offer it and then pull it away. I do not know where he learned this game as that's even too evil for me to pull on a 10 month old.

This weekend I had another taste of single parenting as Jason went skiing. I was home basically alone with him from Thursday until this afternoon. Sally O'Malley came up and was a temporary babysitter so I could run to the store quickly instead of deliberately, which was great. But I do wonder how single parents do it. I guess you just do it...you don't have another choice.

He likes to crawl places he shouldn't. Like the kitchen. It's not 100% ready for primetime just yet. It's a work in progress...just like everything else. :)