Respiratory Something Virus

That's what husband and I called it for a few days before we finally looked-up the pronuciation guide online.  Resiratory SIN-SI-SHUL (Syncytial) Virus put my sweet boy threw the ringer. After a week and a half in daycare, Liam got sick. I was prepared for runny noses, but I was NOT prepared for this.

 It started with a small cough on Tuesday morning.  When he got home from daycare, the cough had turned wet (that's the only way I can think to describe it).  When I was burping him that night, and I heard/felt a vibration in his chest.  Knowing better than to mess with the lungs (especially when those longs are 13 weeks old), we decided to take L to the pediatrician the next morning (by we, I mean Husband was on daddy duty that day).  That night he coughed and snotted, coughed and snotted.

Following directions, Husband turned-off his phone while he was with the pediatrician (most of us would have turned our phone to vibrate, I'm just saying). After an hour and a half at the Peds, and after getting a million panicked phone calls and texts from me, Husband finally calls me with the news.  RSV.  To which I said, "Whaaa?" 

The Peds sent us home with a nebulizer and instructions of what to watch-out for.  The next couple days of my life consisted of watching Liam breathe, listening to him breathe, and trying to watch him breathe through our video monitor (which is really hard, by the way).  More often than not, he was wheezing when he breathed.  If we weren't using the nebulizer (which was every four hours when he was awake), we were sucking snot out of his nose.  Liam was remarkably cooperative with the nebulizer.  Each treatment took about 11 minutes.  By minute 9, his attention span would wane and one of us would dangle a toy in front of him or dance around like an idiot to keep him from melting down.  A couple of times, he had a meltdown anyway.  It broke my heart to see him so upset, but I figured he was taking-in extra medicine with all the wailing. Worse than the nebulizer was the snot by day three.  He was SO snotty.  Half the time he couldn't breathe out of his nose unless we used the bulb (my super technical term for it).  After a few days, his nose was so raw that he'd scream when we used it.  It was awful.  If we didn't use it, he couldn't breathe.  If we did use it, he screamed. 



Grammy trying to distract him.

After two nebulizer treatments on Saturday, he was still wheezing (the treatments usually made the wheezing go away).  It also looked like he was working breathe. We called the on-call nurse, who had the on-call doctor call us.  After five minutes of conversation, the doctor said, "I hate to do this to you, but I think you should go to the emergency room."  My heart has never hurt so badly in my life.  We got ourselves pulled-together, and headed to St. Mary's.  I guess they don't mess-around with babies because we didn't have to wait (as in, we never even had a chance to sit down).  After three hours in Peds (they really did call it Peds. I felt like I was inside Grey's Anatomy.  Minus all the sex and drama), lots of smiling and talking to the nurses and doctors, lots of crying because he was super tired by couldn't call asleep, and lots of refusing to eat because he was too tired, Liam was discharged.  We were now doing the nebulizer every two to four hours AROUND THE CLOCK. 


FINALLY fell alseep

I don't know if you've ever heard a nebulizer, but it's loud.  The Peds doc said we could do the night treatments while he was sleeping (just hold it over him face).  Right.  We'd turn-on the machine and Liam would immediately startle awake.  Who needs sleep anyway.
RSV is very contagious, so we obviously had to keep him out of daycare.  I worked from home some, Husband stayed home some, and Liam's Grammy (my mom) watched him some.  Between the three of us, we were able to keep him out of daycare through to Christmas.  And Husband was off the entire week after Christmas. 

By the Thursday before Christmas we were finally noticing some positive changes.  By Sunday we were cutting back the nebulizer treatments.  By the next Thursday his appetite returned (and we actually think he was in a growth spurt - 7 to 8 ounce bottles every time he ate), we didn't need to use the bulb, we weren't using the nebulizer, and we got our amiable kid back.

Throughout this whole ordeal, Liam remained remarkably happy.  It was amazing. Through all the snot, he'd still smile.  After a coughing fit he would immediately start talking.  He'd COUGH, COUGH, COUUUUGH, and go "UUUURGH!!!" in the cutest little 14-week old voice.  I'm so proud of how he handled it.  And I'm proud of how Husband and I handled it.  We leaned on each other, and we survived. 

Let me leave you with this:  Being a parent is NO JOKE.  You start worrying the second you find-out you're pregnant, and it only gets worse after they're born.  But there is nothing like it. 

So glad to have this kid back to normal!

Wait, It's 2011?!?!

Wasn't the world supposed to end 11 years ago?  Boy am I glad it didn't.

There are a lot of New Years resolution posts circulating the blog world.  In the past, I've never been much of a resolution person. When I was in high school I'd make a resolution (or ten) for something impossibly attainable for no reason other than to make a resolution because everyone else was.  It's been years since I've made one. 

There's something about being a mom that changes you.  Not in a "I gave birth to a baby, and my new name is Mom" kind of a way.  We're talking alters you to the core kind of a change.  I want to BE better.  I want to LIVE better.  I have a big reason to do everything better.  Well, two.  Which added together equal one family. 

In the spirit of being better, I've (we've) decided to make a few resolutions this year.  And I use "resolutions" loosely.  These are more like goals.  I won't hate myself if I haven't achieved them in 365.  These are aspirations of being BETTER. For him, him, and Him.  Oh, and for me.

Family goal:

No fast food for a year.  We eat fast food about once a month, so this shouldn't be too hard.  The point of this for us is to make ourselves choose healthy, more real options, even when we're in a hurry.  I want fast food to be a MAJOR treat for Liam, not something we grab every Saturday when we're out running errands.

Personal goals:

Make taking care of myself a priority.  I haven't been exercising.  I have been eating all that well.  I haven't been taking time to just see and be, read a book, just tune out.  I haven't gone shopping for clothes that fit me and make me feel good. As much as I want to spend every waking second in my son's presence, I HAVE to do things for myself.  For both of our sakes.  Also, I miss running.  But I miss RUNNING.  Not this Couch to 5K crap I have to do right now.  But to get back to the running I love, I have to get through the first weeks of getting back into shape.  I also need to get a REALLY good sports bra.  I'm thinking the Ta Ta Tamer. 

Take more pictures of our life and make sure that I'm in them.  I'm one of those people who loves to take pictures when we're home, but I forget to take pictures when we're with family or out doing something fun.  Since I'm always taking pictures, I'm rarely in them.  I don't want to look-back in 18 years and realize that I was in five pictures a year.

Find a church home.  We want to find our "fit." Somewhere look forward to going every weekend.  Part of this goal is to also get in the church habit.  I want my son to grow-up going to church, participating in Sunday school, and kids choir.  Those are some of my fondest memories from my childhood. 

Make new friends.  Making new friends is hard for me.  I'm a naturally shy person.  But we don't know many people with kids, and we want play dates and sleep overs (not for us, Silly, for Liam). 

Blog more.  I miss my blog.  Just saying that makes me feel sad.  It has been a source of such joy for me since it's inception  (good movie, by the way).  But it's hard to make time for it when you have a household to run, a family to feed, a job, and two great guys to spend time with.  This goal will be hardest over the next three and a half months (during busy season), but hopefully I can do it.  Even if I just do a picture dump.  Or bullet points about our week.

Husband's goal:

Take more pictures.  For Husband, life gets in the way of taking pictures every day.  It's his passion, so this year he decided to make it a priority. 

Do you think the Big Guy would be willing to add a few extra hours to every day?  I'll let you know what he says.

3 Months Old

Nicknames: LiYUM, Booger, Booger Butt, Little Man, Handsome Man, Bubba, Boogs, Mister Man

Things I Could Do Without: Daddy and I can't figure-out anything we could do without.  Daddy just said, "Month three was a good month."  I agree!

Item/Toy We Love The Most: Your plug (pacifier). It saves us on a daily basis.  When you're hungry, we can buy a few more minutes of time.  When you're sleepy, it knocks you out quickly.  Your daddy, plug, and I make a good team!

Item/Toy You Love The Most: Your hands. You really discovered your hands this month.  One will catch your gaze, and you just stare at it.  And then your eyes follow it as you bring it to your mouth, making your eyes cross. If you drop your plug, your fingers/hand is a worthy stand-in.  Sometimes you'll make me think you're hungry, tired, or want your plug when really you just want to suck on your hands.

Thing I’m Loving Most Right Now: I love how snuggly you are when you just wake-up.  You rest your head on my chest and are so content.  And you let-out the sweetest, sleepiest coos.  I could live in those moments for a lifetime.  Also, I love the smile you give me when I come to get your after a nap.  I lean over the railing of your crib and say, "Hey, Handsome."  You flash the most swoon-worthy smile.  My heart melts into a big puddle at my feet.

General:

Mommy went back to work this month, and you went to daycare. You love Mrs. Lois and Mrs. Jackie.  You didn't sleep much at daycare the first week, and you would fall asleep super early at home. Dropping you off in the morning is hardest thing Mommy does all day.

This month you started sleeping through the night!  Well, most of the time. The week before I went back to work you started to extend your night time rest.  The first time you slept 6+ hours I panicked, jumped up, and made sure you were still breathing.  You were.  In fact, you were snoring!

Droll, oh the drool.  You are a drooling fool!

You love to have your picture taken.  When a camera is in your face, you calmly stare into the lens. You are fascinated.

You love any toy that makes noise. Whether it squeaks, rattles, or talks, you LOVE it.

When you take a bottle, you regularly suck-down 5 ounces (which is the size of the bottles we have).  It may be time to get bigger bottles!

This month you really started to nice the Henrik and Fiona (the dogs).  You watch them as they walk by and you'll stare at them if they're sitting near you.  They love you so much!  Especially Henrik.  He's quietly protective, always wanting to be where you are.

You LOVE to lay and stretch-out.  When we put you on the floor you start kicking and talking. 

We moved your pack n' play out of our bedroom.  Your swing, however, remains.


For comparison:

What I've Learned

Being a parent has taught me MANY things. Some sweet. Some funny. Some gross. All awesome.

1. This Halloween I noticed just how slutty 80% of the costumes are.

2. I'm more germ conscious, especially in public places. Gross!
          a. On a similar note, instant hand sanitizer WILL dry out your cuticles.

3. My hunger and need to pee can wait, as long as it needs to.

4. You'd be amazed how quickly you can adjust to far less sleep.

5. When you give you son a kiss and he opens his mouth and deposits a mouth-full of saliva in your mouth, it's okay.  You got a KISS. Come ON.  Open mouth kisses from babies are the BEST.

6. RELAX.

7. I am stronger than I've ever given myself credit for.

8. I would do anything, ANYTHING for my son.  Unspeakable ferocity.

9. Poo on your finger? Meh. Wipe it on your pajama pants in a pinch.

10. Poly-Vi-Sol STAINS EVERYTHING.

11. Who our real friends are.

12. Nothing cures a bad day like a laughing, smiling baby.

13. Waking-up a few times a night isn't hard when you have such a good reason for doing so.

14. Where I used to say never, I could TOTALLY be a SAHM.

15. Daycare is painful. 

16. Breastfed poo DOES stink. 
17. There's nothing like it!


And yes, I'm aware that I've ended a few of these in prepositions. Refer to #6.

Your (our) daily dose:

Daycare, Week 1

Sunday night, I was prepared for a sleepless night. I just KNEW my mind would be racing counterclockwise around an oval track (SHOO-WEE!). Much to my surprise, sleep came easily. I suppose I have a three month-old to thank for that. Liam slept for 8 hours straight that night, but woke-up at 4:00 am. My alarm was set for 5:30 am. The whole “wake, change, nurse, back to sleep” process takes roughly an hour, so I was up for the day. First thought, gross. Can’t I just crawl back into bed? No, Betsy, you can’t. Instead, I went about my get ready routine that had been on the shelf for 12 weeks. Shower, make-up, hair. Here’s where it deviates… You have to get dressed last because you’re bound to get baby goo on you. So it went: Pack pump bag. Pack bottles for Liam, fill-out daycare report card. Wake-up baby. Change baby. Dress baby. Kiss, snuggle, love, hug, laugh with, and talk to baby. Feed baby. Dress myself. And get us out the door.
Luckily, I have an amazing husband who will take all my bags out to the car and start it (it’s been COLD here) before he leaves for work (which is about 10 minutes before Liam and I leave). Love him.

Overall, the morning of daycare 1 was uneventful. Husband did the drop-off with me. We moral supported each other. I started to get upset when we were walking to the nursery, but I checked my emotions at the door as best I could. After we said goodbye to him, one of the sweet daycare ladies, Miss Jackie (the ladies who work in the nursery are in the 70s, we’d guess), snatched him up, took him to a glider, and snuggled him to pieces. She knew all we wanted to see was him being loved. She’d obviously done the “first time drop-off” a few times.

My day at work passed rather quickly. I spent my time catching-up on emails and work, and catching-up with people. Much like the end of pregnancy, I was asked the same three questions over and over. This time, though, I didn’t mind. I could talk about that kid ALL DAY LONG. I called daycare twice. Each time settled my anxiety and quieted my racing mind.

Let me tell you – I have NEVER been so excited to go home in my entire life. I was trying to think of a way to describe it. ‘Tis the season, I kept coming back to this: Going home to your baby after being apart all day is like the feeling a five year-old experiences on Christmas Eve night… knowing something magical is about to happen. The anticipation mounts, and I start clock watching. About 30 minutes before I leave, I catch myself smiling every time I think about being home. When I walk to my car, I’m smiling. I’m smiling as I drive. I rush out of my car (smiling, duh!), drop my stuff (literally), and bound up the stairs. When I see that big head my world screeches to a stop (Husband is usually cuddling Liam in the glider, which faces away from the bedroom door). When I drop my face to his level, and say, “Heeeey, buddy,” I was rewarded with the BIGGEST smile. My heart melts, my breath catches in my chest, and my world resets on its axis. It was like I had just crept down the stairs and seen the pile of presents Santa had left for me under our glowing Christmas tree. It was magical. MAGICAL.

Daycare Day 2 and 3 passed much like Day 1, except they were harder. For Day 1, I had just spent all of Sunday with him so we hadn’t really been apart. By Day 3, I was sad. I was lonely. I missed him so much it felt like little pieces of my heart were crumbling. But again, each time I arrived home I was rewarded with a smile that reset me to “happy.”

Each morning, Liam has woken-up happy as can be and TALK-A-TIVE. He’s so tired when he gets home from daycare (he’s adjusting to sleeping through all the commotion – and by adjusting I mean not sleeping much at all) that he usually nurses and then falls asleep in our arms. He’ll wake-up anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours later, MAYBE stay up for a little while, nurse, and the he’s down for the night. Since we don’t get to catch-up at night, in the morning he wants to tell me ALL about his day. Here I am trying to nurse him, and he keeps rolling onto his back and talking my ear off. It would be completely frustrating if it wasn’t SO FLIPPING CUTE. So we just talk. He tells me about his day, the cute girl who shares his birthday, Miss Jackie and Miss Lois. I tell him how much I love him, how much I’ve missed him, and that I’m proud of how well he’s doing. I live for those moments. I used to get them all day every day. Now that I don’t, I savor them. I roll them around slowly inside my heart, each one leaving a permanent mark so I can reach down and munch on it when I’m missing him the most.

Someone at work asked me “how it was.” I assumed he meant how it was going being apart from Liam. When I began to tell him, he said, “No. How is it being a parent?” All I could do was smile. He said, “There aren’t words, are there? It’s magical. And you can’t grasp it until you feel it yourself.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

And I officially live for the weekends now.


So you (we) can get your fix:

Two Month Check-Up (a month late)

I'm back at work now (SAD FACE). That means two (of many) things: (1) I don't get to spend all day with the cutest blessing in the world and (2) I have a lunch hour, which means time to blog. Posts have been sparse of as late. When Liam was awake, I'd much rather be hanging out with him (sorry, Followers!). And when he was sleeping there was laundry, cleaning, cooking, and like to tackle. So here's a snipet about his two month appointment, a little late :)

Liam had his two month appointment on November 18th. Driving to the appointment, I remember thinking, "TWO MONTHS?!?! Where has time gone?" And look at me now - 12 weeks, and I'm huddled in my cubicle at work.

I went solo on this trip. When I'm alone, I really appreciate how much easier it is to have a wingman. Mainly to help carry stuff. At two months, his head control doesn't allow me to carry him with one arm, so I took the carseat. And a diaper bag. And myself. Getting in wasn't the problem - everything was nicely packed away. It was getting around once in and leaving that was a bear. Liam's sweet Pediatrican carried the carseat twice for me. Note to self: don't wear calf height Uggs when your kid has to get shots, you'll sweat your feet off.

First up was nakkey Liam and the scale. 14 pounds, 8 ounces. Hello chunker! Liam got a few cat calls from other mothers as we walked to the scale. Cutest moobies (that's man boobies for those of you who aren't down with the lingo) EVER. After the scale, he was measured. 24 1/2 inches. He was 97th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height.

The pediatrician poked and proded, and Liam just watched him intently. I feel so blessed to have such a happy baby. For once, he didn't poop when his temperature was taken. Woop! And no blow out and related funny story. Thanks, Bud!

And then came the shots. Five of them. FIVE. Three in one leg and two in the other. It was awful. The nurse was done in less than a minute, but Liam SCREAMED. My mommy heart burst into a million pieces. I quickly mended it with Elmer's and soothed and shooshed until he calmed down. Thankfully, he fell asleep on the car ride home (that is after he screamed himself silly and sleepy). When we got home, however, he woke-up and started SCREAMING again. He was crying and screaming so hard at one point that he wasn't making any noise. Poor guy was in some serious pain. The pediatrician said I could give him Children's Tylenol. I had Little Fevers. I'm no doctor, so I wanted to make sure they were the same thing. Two calls to my mom. THREE calls to the pediatrician's office, the phone was BUSY EACH TIME. Frantic searching for my SIL's work number (she's a pharmcist), not easy to find online. I finally get her number, call, and find out they are the same thing. All of this is happening while Liam is either in my arms or laying on the bed screaming. He was on the bed because I couldn't hear anything on the phone or I was about to burst into tears and needed to walk away. When I talked to SIL, my voice was quivering and wavering like a leaf in the fall in 25 mph winds. After the medicine, he calmed down, ate, and SLEPT. He got medicine every four to six hours until the next afternoon. After the intial meltdown, he was great. TROOPER!

To compare:

Here's a tasty dose of L Bean for your viewing pleasure:

2 Months Old

Nicknames: Li, LiYUM, Booger, Booger Butt, Little Man, Handsome Man, Bubba, Boogs, Mister Man

Things I Could Do Without: Sometimes you sleep 4 hours at a time, but most of the time you sleep 2 1/2 to 3 hours at a time at night.  I am REALLY hoping you extend your nighttime snoozes by the time I go back to work.  If we don't catch you (and put you down) before you get overly tired, you FIGHT sleep.  Sometimes it takes HOURS to get you to fall asleep. 

Item/Toy We Love The Most: The swing is still our savior.  You love to look at the stars that light-up and swirl around the room.  If we put you in the swing and don't turn-on the stars, you stare at the globe in anticipation.  So cute. Not only does the swing help you fall asleep when you're fighting it, but it helps you to stay asleep longer.  THANK YOU for that, Swing.  

Item/Toy You Love The Most:  You still love your play mat.  But recently, you've really fallen in love with your animal-themed bouncy seat.  It has three plastic animals that dangle over your head, one of which plays music when you pull the attached string.  You LOVE the music.  We are so ready for you to be able to pull the string yourself so we don't have to pull it every 20 seconds.  Much like the stars on your swing, you look at the animals in anticipation when the music stops.

Things I’m Loving Most Right Now: Your smile.  Oh my gosh.  Your smile melts my heart. You are such a smiley little baby.  When I lean-down to pick you up from your crib (which is really a pack n play that's in our room) and say, "Hey, handsome," you smile so big at me.  When you take a long nap during the day, I find myself missing you and wishing you would just wake-up already! 

General:

You've started to rub your eyes when you get tired.  It is absolutely adorable.  It's been so fun to see you gain more control over your arms/hands.  I feel like I trim your nails constantly; if I don't, you'll maul your face.  Or Daddy's - you scratched him GOOD on his neck.

A week ago your Grammy was trying to get you to fall asleep by swinging you in her arms.  Twice you closed your eyes and fell asleep and then WHAM, you opened your eyes.  Your poor Grammy kept saying, "Why does he do that?! He was ASLEEP!" 

You only accept your pacifier if (1) you're sleepy and trying to fall  asleep or (2) you're hungry.  We didn't even offer you a pacifer until you were about three weeks old.  When we did finally offer it to you, we did so with trepidation.  First of all, we really wanted breastfeeding to go well so we wanted to prevent nipple confusion.  Second, we didn't want you to end-up one of those 18-month olds running around the house with a pacifier in your mouth at all times. So it has worked-out perfectly that you only want it under certain circumstances.

At your Daddy's soccer game this past weekend, you were sitting on my lap trying to poop (have I mentioned how funny you are when you try to poop?  We laugh and say you get greedy with your poops because you'll be sitting there grunting away when you've already recently pooped).  And poop you did!  I went to change you in your stroller, and I noticed poop on the FRONT of your onesie.  That's the thing about pooping when you're sitting - it all comes FORWARD.  You ended-up getting poop in your belly button.  Very impressive, Little Man.

You got your first cold last week (and you still have it).  Even though you clearly don't feel 100%, you are still as smiley as ever. 

We're still waiting for that first baby laugh.  We can't wait!

I'm convinced that you'll be left-handed.  We'll see if my theory pans-out.

We love to prop you up on our legs and sing pat-a-cake with you.  We clap your hands, and you LOVE it.  You smile so big, and I can tell you want to let out a big laugh.  I don't know what it is about that song, but it's the only one you react to so happily.

Sometimes when you're nursing you'll disconnect, look-up at me, and smile so big.  It's a sheepish little grin.  Love it.

Your eyes are still blue.  So blue. When I was pregnant with you, your Daddy and I always wondered what color your eyes would be.  I have dark brown eyes, so we thought for sure the brown would beat-out the blue.  Secretly, we wanted you to have big blue eyes.  As the weeks passed, your eyes got more and more blue. You're going to be a heart breaker!

You grew-out of your newborn sized clothes by two weeks. At two months, you're wearing three month clothes, but some of them are getting small, especially in the arms.  A few onesies are like three quarter sleeves!  We think you'll be in six-month clothes by three months old.  You're going to be TALL, just like your Mommy and Daddy.

Your head control is AWESOME!  Each day, you spend time in your Bumbo seat and sitting up in our laps.  You're able to keep your head up with little help, and you can turn your head to follow objects without much support.

For comparison:

The easiest way to see the difference is compare the size of the month sticker. Wowzer!