December 2006

Well this explains why Liam has been so cranky and ornery lately.? Though it doesn’t explain the slapping.? At any rate: Liam is sick.? I noticed yesterday he was coughing some, but nothing truly alarming.? Last night, however (why is it always at night?? When the pediatrician’s office is closed?) I noticed he was coughing more and even wheezing with each breath.? And that, my friends, couldn’t be good.? It was a somewhat rough night.? Could have been worse.? I just felt so bad for the poor guy.? He’d wake up coughing and that would make him cry.? And his cry is this high pitched thing, probably because of the congestion and wheezing.? Nearly broke my heart, it did.

Naturally, this morning I was called the pediatrician first thing.? They didn’t sound too concerned until I mentioned the wheezing.? She wanted me to bring him in and I made an appointment for early afternoon.? I figured we’d get a prescription for some sort of robitussin or somesuch and that would be that.? Apparently… not.

Bronchiolitis.? That’s what Liam has.? And, get this, it’s caused by RSV.? We’ve all heard of that one, I’m sure.? I then started to feel really glad that I wanted to call the doctor.? I mentioned going out of town for the holiday.? The doctor started asking what route we were driving, where we would be.? He was visibly relieved when I said we were taking 80 (a major interstate, fyi) and were going to San Jose, a major city.? Plenty of hospitals, you know, just in case.

…

Being someone who has gone through crippling infertility and devastating loss for many years before finally getting the baby of her dreams, I think I kept my cool during the appointment rather well.? I do feel a quiet panic whenever I read the handout I was given, where it says things like “trouble breathing”, “hospital” and “respirator” and stuff like that.? I’ve kept it together pretty well.? Right now, I’m chilling out at home, holding my poor, sick baby and waiting for the medical supply company to deliver our nebulizer.? Yeah, that’s another thing, the doctor was happy to hear we had an outlet in our van we could plug the nebulizer into during our trip.? That’s encouraging, don’t you think?? Soon as Kile gets home from work (early) he’ll run to get the nebulizer medicine.? I’m thinking this might impact how my housecleaning I get done, don’t you?

Poor little guy.

So lately Liam has been on somewhat of a tear.? And I know it’s because he’s getting older.? And what worked for him as a newborn isn’t working so much now for him as he moves towards mobility and all that.? However, I’m afraid he’s gotten used to a few things too.? One such thing is naps in my arms during the day.? The child is a sucker for a nap in mom’s arms.? But in case you hadn’t noticed, this is the week before Christmas and I have CRAP TO DO.? There are presents to wrap, a house to clean, design work to catch up on, blog posts to write… Most of which doesn’t work that well with a baby sleeping in your arms.? However, getting moved over onto a schedule and out of my arms has proved… difficult.

But we’re getting there.? I’ve noticed a lot of the time Liam is happy to fall asleep in his car seat when we go to drop Harry off at school in the morning.? And he’ll often sleep there for about an hour to an hour and a half.? He did this morning, and I was able to get some presents wrapped. So that’s nice.? It’s just dealing with him from 10:30 to 1pm that’s difficult.? That’s when he wants to sleep in my arms around 11:30.? However, at 12 is when I need to eat lunch and pump.? Two things I can’t really do with a sleeping baby.? So right now, while I pump (multi-tasking!), Liam is crying and it’s KILLING me.? Thankfully I’m almost done.

At 1pm, I’m going to do what I did yesterday (and which worked out awfully well), and that is lay him down in our bed upstairs.? That’s where we all sleep at night and I’ve been correct in assuming it’d work for naps too.? I’ll take a shower and then by the time I’m out of the shower, he’ll be asleep.? This is when I’ll try to tackle the whole cleaning thing.? Yesterday I got quite a bit accomplished with the loft during that time.? Today, I’m hoping to do something with Harry’s room which frankly frightens the bejeezus out of me.? Fingers crossed that this will work.

Then its touch and go from 3pm to bedtime.? We go to pick up Harry about 3:15.? Liam often wants another nap around 5 or and he insists in on being in my arms for that.? Of course.? Last night was the first time we tried laying Liam down upstairs in our bed at bedtime, around 8pm.? And it worked so well that we have high hopes for the rest of the week and next week as well.? Up until now, he’s been sleeping in our arms while we watch TV each night.? Which will NOT work next week at my parent’s house.? So I’m hoping last night was not a fluke and was actually the start of something beautiful.? He even slept well all night long.

I feel so new at all this again.? Like I’ve lost my “edge”.? I don’t remember some things and I feel I’ve missed the boat on a lot of opportunities already.? I feel like I’m not doing what I’m “supposed” to do with Liam and that freaks me out.? Lucky for everyone, this is Christmas week and I don’t have time to worry about it.? Get back to me after New Years.

Did you know… that it’s only ONE WEEK until actual Christmas Day? Thankfully, I feel prepared present-wise. At least mostly. I don’t think Santa has a present for Liam, but I’m not going to worry about that (too much). We have everything else we need for now. It was an interesting weekend. We got a bit of a winter storm on Saturday night, complete with bitter cold temperatures and flurries of snow. Now, we weren’t getting accumulations over about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch. BUT, there were those pesky 20-degree temperatures. So that 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of snow was actually sticking pretty good and making for some pretty icy conditions.

Our plan had BEEN to drive around and look at Christmas lights that night. We were going to grab some fast food for dinner and maybe look for a couple Christmas gifts at Walmart while we were out. Well, it didn’t take us too long to realize that maybe that idea wasn’t the best. It was right about the time we were trying to get on the on-ramp to the interstate and were sliding around like we were on ice skates. In our VAN.  So, we shortened it. We went to Blockbuster to return some movies and get some new ones in return. Then we got some fast food and did a little grocery shopping before heading back home to drink hot cocoa and eat popcorn. Sounds good to me!

While we were out, we witnessed many poor souls struggling with the road conditions. And I came to the conclusion that if you feel you MUST purchase a rear-wheel-drive Ford Mustang or similar vehicle, that perhaps you should leave it at home when it snows. Just a thought. I saw THREE Mustangs abandoned by the side of the interstate and chuckled at one poor Mustang that was simply trying to drive through an intersection. They weren’t really getting it done, however. I was real glad for our front-wheel-drive. It comes in mighty handy in the snow.

Anyhow. I hope everyone has their shopping done and is trying to enjoy this last week before Christmas. I, for one, will be cleaning since we are returning from San Jose next week with company and I’m sure they’d appreciate a clean house. Or rather, a clean-er house. I’m a little scared.

I wanted to also highlight last years Christmas song posts. The same holds true this year, if not more-so (especially in the case of “Christmas Shoes” and “Wonderful Christmastime”, which tend to drive me into a homicidal rage). Now if that doesn’t get you in the mood for the holiday, I don’t know what will.

Is there something about the five month mark that turns sweet, mild-mannered newborns into mean babies?? Because, I don’t know and I don’t remember when Harry was five months old (that was seven years ago for Pete’s sake!).? And also, because Liam has morphed into Mean Baby and I was wondering if this is a normal thing.? Or if maybe I should be concerned and place a call with a exorcist.

Oh, he’s still cute as a bug’s ear (cuter!) and has a really good sense of humor (he giggles at everything, it seems, especially my pain and torment).? But… he hurts me.? His nails aren’t quite long enough to clip but yet he’s perfected the art of digging them into my soft flesh.? Of course, its not like he’s soley targeted me.? He’s scratched himself up pretty good a few times.? I suspect he’s the one to blame for the mystery gouge on his right leg.? He also screams.? A lot.? At me.? And lately he’s taken to throwing a holy hissy fit every time I dare to set him down somewhere.? I lay him down on the blanket on the floor with a couple toys where he was perfectly happy last week?? He acts like I’m trying to kill him.? I put him in the bouncer seat with a goodly amount of those plastic links that are like baby-crack?? He acts like I’m trying to kill him.? If he’s anywhere but in my arms (or Kile’s arms, he an equal opportunity Mean Baby), he acts like I’m trying to kill him.

This has not done wonderful things for my productivity this week.? The good news is the Christmas Party we were going to have this Friday is canceled so at least I don’t have to worry about cleaning up for that. ? Of course, my sister and her family are coming after Christmas so I do have to clean eventually.

Nuts.