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Hand, Foot and Mouth

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My little man is SICK. Everything seemed fairly normal this week – Micah had been a bit cranky, but I presumed it was due to the teething. A few times on Wednesday I thought he felt a touch warm, but I figured it was just from the teething, and I did not even check his temperature. He was SOOO cranky on Wednesday night, so I was in a huge hurry to bathe him and put him to bed.

On Thursday, Micah woke up a bit early. He was very cranky again, and hardly ate any breakfast at all. I decided to give him Tylenol – it helps with the teething pain, and often gives him his appetite back. We took my car over to a free car seat inspection/installation event, and Micah had a great time! He wandered around, and I made the mistake of putting him in the driver’s seat – he LOVED it! Unfortunately, we could not convince them to install the car seat in the driver’s seat, so Micah was quite unhappy when we made him return to the rear seat.


After the car seat installation, we took Micah for a visit with his Grammy at work (while Elliot and I went for another ultrasound of Twoey). I was afraid he would be miserable the entire time. I’ll separately post the update about Twoey and our ultrasound appointment, but it turned out Micah actually behaved himself! When we went back to pick him up, I thought he felt a bit warm. We were running late, so we ended up missing our class and going home instead. While Elliot headed downtown to a meeting, I put Micah down for a nap.

Much to my surprise, Micah took a LONG nap. Elliot made it home before Micah woke up from his nap. I knew he was tired, but he slept for nearly 4 hours! When he finally woke up, he was burning up. I took his temperature, and it was 104.3. I immediately gave him some Tylenol. I called the pediatrician, and they said that I did not need to rush him to the emergency room unless he was listless, and I should work on getting his fever down and bring him in to the office in the morning. About 45 minutes later, I checked Micah’s temeprature again…and it was up to 104.8. I was concerned, so I called the after-hours emergency number to reach the pediatrician. While we waited for her to call back. Elliot informed me that we had gotten an email from Micah’s daycare informing us that there was a case of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease reported in his classroom. Immediately, I was fairly certain Micah had caught the virus.

When the doctor called back, we mentioned the outbreak at his daycare and we discussed the fever. She suggested I try to give Micah Motrin, too, and place him in a lukewarm bath if his temperature did not start to drop within an hour or two. She said we should go to the hospital if the fever continued to climb and we could not get it to drop within an hour or two, or if Micah became listless and lethargic. At that point, my mom showed up (to babysit for our normal date night), and we stripped Micah down to his diaper. I checked his temperature one more time, and it was 105.1.

About 45 minutes later…we had gotten Micah’s temperature back down to 103.8. Who would have thought that a temperature of 103.8 would be a relief? Over the next hour, Micah’s crankiness started to dissipate. He started to drink some milk, he ate some graham crackers and some cheese, and he started to run around and play with his toys. He seemed to be in good spirits…so I decided to head out for a few hours and leave Micah with my mom. Instead of our weekly date night, Elliot decided to take a class that interested him, so I made plans to meet my friend Heather. We just went for dinner at a tapas place in Rockville. The weather was beautiful, but unfortunately, those Tea Party people were holding a rally on the square where we were eating. I was really annoyed to have my peaceful dinner being disturbed by that stuff. I believe they have the right to demonstrate…but I also believe I have the right not to listen!

I was definitely laughing when the Tea Party-ers decided to play their “anthem”… Independence Day by the Dixie Chicks. Yes, the Dixie Chicks. I’m guessing that the Dixie Chicks would not be thrilled about this political group co-opting their name or their song, and I think it is ironic that these are likely the same people who blasted the Dixie Chicks for being anti-war (and called them un-American). Ahh…the irony. By the way, can someone please explain to me how people can be pro-war and anti-government and taxation at the same time? Unless I’m mistaken, the war efforts are one of the biggest government expenditures (and a HUGE component of our current federal government). Sorry…got off on a tangent there.

Anyway, I came home after a few hours – apparently, Micah and my mother had a fun night together, and he went to bed easily. He did sleep until 6:00 am on Friday morning, but he woke periodically crying on and off overnight.

Friday morning, Micah still had a fever of 104. We made an appointment and took him to the pediatrician. Naturally, when we got there, his fever was only 98.4! Apparently, all the meds were helping. Micah looked fine upon examination, and we mentioned the case of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease (also known as the Coxsackie virus) at his daycare. Micah’s throat was red (and he had a negative strep test), so the doctor presumed that this was likely a Coxsackie viral infection. He warned us Micah’s fever would stay high for another day or two, and that he might develop sores in his mouth and a rash on his hands, feet, and possibly his tush.

We kept him medicated and comfortable all day. We also learned that 4 other children in his daycare class (out of 6) were out sick with this virus. Ah well…I guess in the scheme of things, this really has been fairly minor. Elliot took Micah on a long walk in the afternoon, we watched Sesame Street, and we had a nice afternoon.

Around 7:00, our niece Melissa came over for dinner – she was in town for a conference, and Micah got to spend some quality time with his cousin. We bathed him and put him to bed by 8:30, and the three of us stayed up talking until about 1:00 am. I then drove Melissa back downtown to the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

This morning, Micah woke up with some blisters on his tongue and a slight rash on his feet, tush and hands. Definitely Coxsackie! I have to say, that sounds so much better to me than Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, doesn’t it? I checked with the pediatrician again by telephone…I do not need to keep him isolated while he has the rash – just until 24 hours after his fever breaks. His fever has been below 100 today, so we will hopefully be able to return him to class on Monday.

In the meantime, Micah has been having some fun around the house. Apparently, he pulled this box off of the counter so he could play with it:
In the past few days, Micah has learned to shake his head “no.” Another sign of the terrible twos, I suppose. He says “no” when he doesn’t want food, or if he doesn’t want to go upstairs for a nap, or really for anything else. It is kind of cute, but I have a feeling I’m going to grow to hate that.

For giggles, here is a picture of Micah in “his” chair:


Here are a few other pictures from last week.

Natural History Museum on Tuesday:







Hanging out with Daddy (after stealing his glasses):

Thursday night with Grammy:


Friday Spring Fling:



The Birthday Party That Wasn’t

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Last week was an insanely busy week. We spent a lot of it prepping for Micah’s birthday party – buying supplies and decorations, planning and purchasing food for the menu, making the birthday cake, etc. We were expecting about 15-20 people for Micah’s “playgroup” party, and then another 30-40 people for our Chanukah/birthday party. I purchased tuna fish and egg salad, we had over 20 lbs of potatoes for making potato latkes, and enough cake baked to feed an army! Our plan was to have cupcakes (decorated like Elmo) for the playgroup party. We baked about 3 dozen cupcakes for that. We also had a huge 2 layer cake for the “main event.” My nieces were in town for a few days before the party, so we were a bit crazy all week. We took them to a few music classes and had a great time with them. Anyway, Saturday morning rolled around…and Micah woke up with a 102 degree fever. And a cough. The cough started to get worse as the day went along, so we decided to take him to the hospital. We were actually hoping that he had an ear infection – a couple doses of antibiotics and we thought things would be back on track!

Unfortunately, we learned Micah had a viral case of bronchitis, and would likely be contagious to children. When we came home from the hospital, we sent out a note and canceled the playgroup party. We then sent out a note to all of our other friends and family, letting them know that Micah had a virus and could possibly be contagious. On Sunday, Micah woke up fever-free, but still coughing. We decided to go ahead with the afternoon party, but naturally, nearly everyone declined to come. My parents, my brother, sister-in-law and my two nieces (who had already been around Micah while he was sick), my cousin and her two children, and one of my best friends were the only people in attendance. Despite the poor turnout, we still had a great time!

Here are some pictures and video from the event:
















Micah also got SOOO many wonderful presents. My parents bought him a play gym – it has a slide, a ladder and a basketball hoop. Jen and Jeremy bought him an outfit, a dump truck, and a tool bench toy. My cousin Michelle brought him a mega blocks set, and Heather bought him some clothing, some books, and this adorable singing donkey (it sings “Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch”), and Ken and Erica dropped off a baseball toy, and Ellen gave him a singing Chanukah bear. My parents’ friends Diane & Joey, Sheila & Les, and Suzette & Joel also sent him a wonderful storage bench before his birthday. We were so lucky to have such wonderful presents!

10 & 11 Month Photos and other stories

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Before I get to the important stuff (the PICTURES), I thought I’d tell you how we finally came to have Micah’s 10 and 11 month photos. Elliot took Micah for the 10 month photos last month, but due to our crazy schedule that day, he was not able to stick around and choose the photos and pick up the order. They were supposed to email us a link to the photos online, and I planned to order them and pick them up weeks ago. Naturally, the store has been having a glitch with their online system, so we never were able to access the photos online.
Yesterday, my day began at 3:oo am when Micah woke up shrieking. Yeah – teething sucks. Poor little guy is just miserable. I never really fell back to sleep after that, and we had to get up and out early because I had a 9:00 appointment and a packed day. We had an 11:00 appointment with the pediatrician for Micah to have his ears re-checked (all-clear!) and we also needed to ask the doctor a few other questions. Because of our tight schedule, we decided to bring Micah to my appointment because we knew he would want to nap at 10, and at home he only would have had a 15-20 minute nap before we needed to leave for the pediatrician. As predicted, Micah started to get sleepy around 10:00 (my appointment was wrapping up), so Elliot took him out to the car where he fell fast asleep. Because we put him down for his nap in the car, he was asleep for about 45 minutes. I think Micah absolutely would have slept another hour or so if his mommy and daddy did not torture him by waking him up to be poked by the doctor!
We asked the doctor about the ridge running down his head – specifically, I’m concerned that some of the bones in his skull may have fused too soon. The doctor did not think it was a huge problem because his head was not misshapen, but I’m still a bit concerned. I’m going to bring it up again with the other doctor at our one year appointment in a few weeks. (On a side note, I spoke to my friend whose daughter had this problem, and she is putting me in touch with her doctor to discuss my concerns and figure out what, if anything, we should do). The doctor also said that Micah has 4 teeth trying to break through on top!! I can’t believe he is going to go from a toothless wonder to a baby with 6 teeth so fast! I hope the teething goes easier this time, but I’m not hopeful. We almost gave him the h1n1 vaccination today, but the last time he was vaccinated, he ran a pretty high fever, and we did not want him sick over Thanksgiving, so we decided to wait a bit longer. Hopefully, we aren’t making a mistake. He hasn’t been well enough to get the shot since the doctors got it in October.
After his doctor’s appointment, we bundled him back to the car and headed off to Emily and Juliet’s first birthday party!! The kids all played together in the basement playroom, the birthday girls made a huge mess out of cake, and a wonderful time was had by all! Unfortunately, Micah was a bit grumpy during the birthday party because he hadn’t had much of a morning nap.
We left the birthday party at 2:15, and Micah fell asleep in the car on our way home. I dropped Elliot off at home around 2:30 so he could do some work, and I ran inside to go to the bathroom and grab my phone. I decided to head down to Tysons a bit early and let Micah nap in the car until our 4:00 pm photo appointment. We actually arrived at the mall around 3:00 pm. Micah was asleep in his car seat, so I just sat in the car with him for an hour while he slept. He was so exhausted that I am glad he was able to take a nice long nap. The pictures came out great, and I also picked up the 10 month photos we had done last month. I have to say, I had a particularly difficult time choosing. After the first pass at the photos, there were 20 photos I loved. I finally narrowed it down to 12, and ultimately only ordered 6, but I keep thinking about those other 6 I didn’t order, and the other 8 I ruled out after the first pass. I think there were some amazing shots in there, but I just couldn’t order them all. There were some of him climbing these stairs, and some GORGEOUS closeups of his face. The photographer printed some amazing photos (some in black and white and sepia) and showcased them in frames, and I really wanted to buy everything. I swear, I could have dropped thousands of dollars on those photos! Naturally, the entire process took a LONG time. We arrived for the photos at 4, but we did not get out of there until 6. Poor Micah – he was getting so cranky and hungry and restless after the first hour. I gave him a bottle and a snack and after that, he was kind of annoyed he was stuck in the stroller and out of food.
I was less than 10 miles from the house, and it took more than one hour to get home because the traffic was so awful. Micah was hungry and tired, and pretty much shrieked the entire way home. No real shock there. I knew that I was chancing things the way I had scheduled our day, but I just did not realize it would be that awful.

It was 7:00 pm before we finally got home and sat Micah down for dinner, and he was pretty cranky, extremely hungry, and in no mood to eat ANYTHING we put in front of him. He mostly mushed his food on his clothing and fed it to the dog. We eventually stumbled on some food he was willing to eat – kidney beans. Yes, that is right, kidney beans. Those are his FAVORITE beans. I think he could eat them every day. He likes them straight from the can, or picked out of minestrone soup. It doesn’t really matter to him – he just likes his beans. We offered up black beans tonight – which met with the dreaded “ick” face, accompanied by the cringe and the tongue flipping out the food onto his chest (his “blech” move). I really hate that new little trick. He looks as if he will eat something…in it goes…chew…chew…blech…out it comes again! Once he decided the black beans were a no-go, he wouldn’t try ANYTHING else on his tray. We had to empty it off and start all over again. We tried cottage cheese – no luck. I then grabbed a spoon and gave him some fruit sauce (I think it was a banana/strawberry mix). After the fruit, we tried kidney beans. VICTORY!! Micah did his happy dance and said “Mmmm” as he chewed his beans.

I have to say, I’m amazed Micah ended the evening absolutely adorable. He was running (well, crawling) 900 miles an hour in circles around the house, shrieking with laughter, chasing the dog, and just simply being a happy baby. He and the dog fought over toys, and Micah climbed into his toy basket to play. I swear I did not think he was ever going to run out of energy! He was intermittently coming over to me for a hug and kisses, to rest his head and suck his thumb, and then back off and running again. He is also standing more and more without holding on to anything, and yesterday he stood himself up from the floor (not holding on to any toys).
So, one last cute little story before I post the pictures – Micah was crying out around 5:00 am this morning (he woke up at 3:30 making noise, started screaming and needed comfort for 10 minutes at 4, and made a lot of noise for the next 2 hours). After this particular shriek, I heard him flip over and then I heard this clapping sound. Naturally, I turned on the video monitor to spy on him. He had moved to the other end of the crib, wrapped his left arm around his little doggy blanket with his thumb in his mouth. He had his other hand reaching out and patting his tush – that is right, he was trying to pat his own tush to put himself back to sleep! I need to hook the monitor up to a recording device to capture some of these moments.
Now, without any further adieu, here are Micah’s 10 month photos:




And his 11 month photos:





Horrible Night

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I have to say, I shouldn’t complain when we have a horrible night, because it really does happen so rarely. Micah has been a great sleeper from the beginning. However, the past few weeks have been rough – sick, teething, ear infections – let’s just say it has absolutely disrupted Micah’s sleep. Once again, Micah started fussing and crying in his sleep shortly after we put him to bed. Around 1:00 am, he started crying out loudly and standing up in his crib. We had to go in and get him, and he was just inconsolable. He cried, and he seemed to be having pain. We gave him some bottle and motrin, and then we put on Sesame Street. After about 1 hour, we finally coaxed him back to sleep. He cried on and off the rest of the night, and finally was wide awake again at 7:00 am. I wish I knew what to do for the poor little guy! I don’t know how my parents did this in a time when they couldn’t tape Sesame Street and play it when necessary!

Near miss with a pig and teething

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We got that dreaded call today from Micah’s daycare…”your son is running a high fever and you need to come get him.” There are kids with swine flu all over the place in that daycare – the most recent was a kid in his classroom last week. I thought we were beyond the incubation period, but naturally the first thing I thought was “great, swine flu, and I’ll be getting sick, too.”

So, I picked Micah up from daycare, and went up to the pediatrician. I kept thinking “just our luck!” since our pediatrician got in the thimerosal free (and squalene free) h1n1 vaccine and we had an appointment set up for Micah to get vaccinated on Saturday. A small part of me, I must admit, did think “well, that will settle my agony – no need for a needle once I get the flu!”

We made it up to the appointment, and Micah’s temperature was at 101.8. The doctor checked him out, and did a nasal swab to test for flu. He checked Micah’s ears (currently all clear) and I asked if this could be a sinus infection because I had been wondering if he had one again since his last cold had been lingering for several weeks. The doctor said it was possible, and he would also send out a nasal swab to check for a sinus infection. While we waited for the results of the flu swab, I mentioned to the doctor (the one who always laughs at me for thinking Micah is teething) that I was convinced Micah was teething again. He smiled at me, and I said “Look, one of these times I have to be right, don’t I?” He laughed at me, checked Micah’s gums, looked at me very somberly, and said “well, I have to say…he is definitely teething! I can see two teeth getting ready to break through on the bottom.” Finally!! My toothless wonder may not be toothless much longer. I also mentioned Micah’s horrible diaper rash that cropped up this week while I was out of town. After a quick check, he confirmed that Micah has a yeast infection, so we have to apply lotrimin 2x/day until it is gone.

After waiting 15 minutes, much to my surprise and amazement – Micah’s flu swab came back negative! Instead of writing a prescription for Tamiflu, he sent us home and told us to try and keep his fever down. If his fever is not gone by Friday, we should bring him back in to re-check his ears and his throat. We should also have the results of the nasal culture back by Friday, too, so he may require antibiotics at that time. Unfortunately, if he is not better by Friday, we’ll have to cancel his vaccination appointment – he has to be fever free for at least 24 hours before they will vaccinate him. So, hopefully we can keep us all swine flu free.

Poor little guy

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Micah woke up at 5:00 am coughing and crying. We took his temperature (100.5), brought him into bed and gave him a bottle. By 7:00 am, he was up for the day. I brought him downstairs, gave him breakfast and played with him for a bit. I called the doctor’s office and made an appointment for him for the afternoon. Elliot put him down for a nap at 9:30, but he decided to wake back up again at 10:15.

We went to synagogue as planned, but Micah was pretty miserable. We took him to the doctor at 2:00 pm, and we learned that he has a massive ear infection and a sinus infection. I was a bit frustrated, especially since they told us on Thursday and Friday that his ears were clear and it was NOT an ear infection. Anyway, they prescribed antibiotics for Micah, so hopefully he’ll be getting better soon.

Oh – and picking up the antibiotics was a nightmare! The pharmacist was sitting doing nothing, and when he finally got off his ass to fill my prescription, he decided the dosage was wrong. After taking 1/2 hour on the phone and talking to the doctor – he ended up dispensing the medicine as prescribed. What a mess!

Break fast was nice – we had a quiet dinner at home with my parents. Bagels, lox, cream cheese, blintzes, tuna fish and egg salad were on the menu! It was a good evening.

Oh, oh, oh, I’m on fire!

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I don’t even know where to begin with this post. Micah has been sick and running a high fever, so all kinds of songs with heat/fire in the title were running through my head as I tried to title this post. As you can see, I finally settled on one. I keep thinking I should treat this post like one of my power point presentations at a conference – pick a theme and use the metaphor throughout the post…but I think that would be inappropriate with Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics. Perhaps I should have picked a different title – although the other two songs I considered tend to use a sexual meaning for fire as well. (Fire – Pointer Sisters: “Cause when we kiss….ooh, ooh, fire.”; Hot, Hot, Hot – Buster Poindexter: “Party people all around me feeling hot hot hot.”)

Oh well…perhaps I’ll have to skip the song metaphor approach. Maybe I’ll just take a dictionary approach instead? I went to dictionary.com and looked up some key definitions for “fire.” I think this could work as a theme, so….

Fire away (verb phrase): to begin to talk and continue without slackening.

Another insane week for me. I woke up on Tuesday pretty early with Micah, gave him his bottle, and played with him. I finally bundled him off to his nap while I did my best to pack in a hurry and straighten the house up so the cleaning lady could clean. When Micah woke up, I took him to his class (which he loved) and then ran him over to Laura’s house. I hated to leave him like that, but he seemed perfectly content to stay and play. I ran home, grabbed my bags and headed to the airport.

I arrived at the airport in plenty of time, made my plane with no problems, and then landed in Orlando on time. My friend Tammy, who lives in Miami, drove up to meet me, and she picked me up at the airport.

Fire (noun): burning passion; excitement or enthusiasm; ardor

We checked into the hotel, and headed out to a wonderful dinner. At dinner, we had some good discussions – we talked a lot about work, and it made me remember how we were back in college – full of enthusiasm (fire in our bellies) and ready to embrace life and work and what was ahead. I think my enthusiasm and ardor has ebbed over the years – or perhaps it has been redirected. I love what I do for a living, and I love how I help people, but it is no longer my first priority. For more than ten years, my job was my first priority. I cannot imagine living that way ever again. Tammy is still at a point in her life when her job is her top priority. In some ways, I envy that – I did not have that kind of passion to stay on that career path I was on ten years ago, and sometimes I wonder what my life would look like today if I had stayed on that path.

We ate far too much, but it was so nice to relax and catch up with a friend. After dinner, we wandered around Downtown Disney. I dragged her over to my favorite candy shop there, and we each bought a chocolate caramel apple. I LOVE these apples – mine was a green apple, dipped in caramel, chocolate on top of that, rolled in oreo cookie. A little slice of heaven! Did I mention that Tammy is my diet buddy? Yeah, we were NOT such good influences on each other this trip.

Fire (noun): strength, as of an alcoholic beverage.

I called Elliot after dinner to check on my two boys. Unfortunately, the news was not so good – Micah would not go to sleep and he was waking up every 10 minutes and crying. I tried giving Elliot a few tips, and I felt a little guilty that his first night as a “single dad” was so rough. Elliot was trying everything, but nothing seemed to have enough fire to make Micah feel better. He gave him some Tylenol, tried some Mylanta, and lots of good old fashioned cuddling. When I finally said good night to Elliot for the last time at 2:00 am, Micah had just gone back to sleep.

Fire (noun): fever or inflammation.

My biggest fear this trip was that Elliot would fall asleep and not hear Micah cry out during the night. I was very proud of him, though, because he really did manage to tune in (which now just irritates me that he doesn’t do that at other times, but I digress). Micah woke up one more time during the night Tuesday, but then he slept until almost 9:00 am. When Micah finally woke up Wednesday morning, Elliot realized he was running a fever. This is when I started to worry – Elliot had planned to have Micah in daycare, and fever meant no daycare. He called the doctor, and the doctor thought it was likely just a reaction to the flu shot he had on Monday. He was told to monitor the temp, give him Tylenol, and bring him in if the fever was not gone in 24 hours.

Fire (verb): to inspire.

Meanwhile, back in Orlando, I had a busy conference day trying to arrange everything. I was in touch with my parents and coordinating help for Elliot with Micah. I attended conference sessions, and visited the exhibit hall, and met with all the different exhibitors. It was actually a productive conference for me – I found a bunch of resources for my client, made some good contacts, and flagged a few issues for my client we had not previously considered. I was kind of excited about the prospects for our project, and all fired up with ideas for my client.

I made it back to the room around 5:30 and checked in with Elliot. Unfortunately, Micah was not doing any better. Despite my worries about my little guy at home, Tammy and I went out for dinner. Dinner was inspiring – we had an INCREDIBLE meal at Portobello in Downtown Disney. I was surprised to have such a delicious dinner there. The meal started off with roasted garlic and bread. We ordered fried risotto croquettes filled with mozzarella cheese to share, and we each had a glass of wine. I ordered a red Italian “drinking” wine – it was subtle and matched my meal perfectly. My main course was a delicious ravioli with perhaps the best marinara sauce I’ve ever had – rich flavors, tangy, light, not sweetened, and laced with garlic. I ate the entire dish because I wanted more sauce! We topped off our decadent extravaganza with a piece chocolate cake that we shared. From start to finish, dinner was divine!

Fire (noun): A state, process or instance of combustion in which fuel or other material is ignited and combined with oxygen, giving off light, heat, and flame.

We spent the remainder of the evening wandering around the shops, picking up presents for family members, and having a pleasant evening – although I think my credit card was on fire from my purchases. We talked about staying for Disney’s nightly fireworks/New Year’s celebration on Pleasure Island, but we decided to call it a night earlier. When we got back to the hotel, I had a bit more work to finish before bedtime.

The next morning, Micah’s fever was over 102 degrees. Elliot called the doctor and arranged to take him in for an appointment. As I suspected, the doctors had no idea what was wrong, told us to give him Tylenol and come back on Friday or Saturday if he did not improve. In Orlando, I did a bit of work sorting through my contacts from the conference, headed to one last meeting for the trip, and then enjoyed some fun time with Tammy before my flight home. We grabbed breakfast at IHOP, got a manicure/pedicure, then stopped off at the outlets. I had no intention of shopping, but I couldn’t resist. I bought a cute sweater from Ann Taylor Loft and I ended up buying two outfits from Michael Kors – a dress and a skirt. I was actually surprised because I usually don’t buy labels like that. The clothes were well-made, reasonably priced, and fit well. I really needed the clothes – I am now planning to wear the outfits for Yom Kippur and my upcoming business trips, so I do think it was money well spent. I also bought everything on sale at insanely reasonable prices!

Fire (verb): to hurl, throw.

I got to the airport in plenty of time…unfortunately, my flight was delayed by an hour. I was inflamed – I cannot stand that the flights are always delayed! All I wanted to do was hurl something at the airline attendants, but I figured that would only get me banned from the flight (and possibly placed on the do not fly list), so I buried the urge. Why does that always happen when I’m so anxious to get home? As I sat and steamed at the airport, my mom was spending time with Micah. My plane took off quite late, and I finally landed a little after 7. Try as they might, they just couldn’t keep my little man awake. He had another rough night, so I did get to go in around 12 and cuddle him back to sleep. I missed my little man terribly! I brought back a great surprise for Elliot, too – his very own chocolate/caramel/peanut butter cup apple, a chocolate peanut butter pretzel, and a chocolate caramel pretzel! He was kind enough to share, and it was delicious.

On Friday, Micah’s fever climbed to 102.5, so we decided to take him back to the doctor. They did a nasal swab, checked his ears and chest, and everything came back negative. By Friday evening, his fever hit 103.5. I called the doctor again, and she suggested I give him motrin in addition to the Tylenol. She said to wait an hour, but if it didn’t go down, I should take him to the emergency room. One hour later…his temperature dropped! He finally stopped crying and we were able to put him to sleep. He woke up again at 4:00 am, we gave him more medicine and brought him into bed with us and he slept until 8:00 am.

Fire (noun): severe trial or trouble; ordeal.

Today was a particularly rough day (under fire). Elliot had to work, so he was gone all day. Micah wouldn’t eat much, but the motrin and Tylenol kept his fever lower. He had several crying sessions during the day, and he was very clingy/needy. I called the doctor, and she said I could bring him in for a chest xray and blood work. Since he isn’t coughing, I decided not to bring him in for the chest xray. She said blood work wouldn’t tell her much either, so I decided to hold off on that as well.

Micah did not nap well in the morning, he barely ate anything for lunch, and when he finally fell asleep for his afternoon nap, he woke up one hour later crying. I brought him downstairs and he curled up on my chest and fell back asleep – for three more hours! He woke up crying around 5:00, and I quickly gave him his medicine and a bottle. He finally started to feel better, and he had a few hours happy and smiling before bed time. It is now 11:40, and he has woken up and cried a few times, but he has quickly fallen back to sleep each time. Here is hoping he actually sleeps through the night tonight!

Fire (verb): to dismiss from a job.

I have so much work to do in the upcoming weeks – I have a few conference calls this week to debrief about my last two trips. I have promised people information, and I have work proposals to write. I need to get myself in gear because I’d hate to risk any of my clients.

So – I made the theme work? It was a rough fit, but it was a challenge!

Sinus Infection

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Friday, I called the doctor for the results of the nasal culture the took from Micah on Wednesday. Naturally, they told me that I would have to wait until next week sometime. After I explained that I really wanted to get an answer because Micah’s cough was getting worse, the woman finally agreed to check into it and get back to me. Saturday morning, she called back and said the culture confirmed that Micah has a sinus infection. Additionally, they told me that with the type of infection he has, we do not “have” to treat it with antibiotics. I indicated that I would prefer to treat the infection (as he has already been sick for 2 months and it seems to be getting worse, not better). She consulted with the doctor on call, who wanted me to wait until Tuesday. She finally agreed to call in the prescription, so Micah is now on antibiotics. I hope I made the right decision! I certainly don’t want to over-medicate him, but I do not want him to end up with bronchitis, or a nasty ear infection, or even a chronic sinus infection that requires months of antibiotics instead of one week. Apparently, the doctor on call thought I should “just be patient.” I’m going to have to trust my instincts on this one.

Call the authorities!

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I think that if Micah could talk, today he would have been telling you to call the authorities on me. Apparently, I have been practicing the worst kind of torture and abuse on my little man. He shrieked and screamed bloody murder today to try and get someone to notice and put an end to my torture, but to no avail. Let me put this in context for you . . . .

Micah came down with his first cold when he was about 5 weeks old. As we were instructed, we sprayed some saline up his nose and used the blue squeegy thing from the hospital to suction out the mucous. I can’t say Micah enjoyed this, but he was usually fairly calm for the first few attempts to clear his nose. After 4 or 5 times, he would cry, and I would set it aside for another time.

A bit later (I think he was 3 months old?), Micah came down with another cold. This time, he was older, smarter, and stronger. He very quickly learned to recognize the blue squeegy . . . and hate it. He would begin to scream at the first glimpse of the squeegy, and if I brought it near his nose, he would hit and kick and shriek and turn his head away. I must say, he had gotten quite strong. I quickly realized that all the hysteria resulted in more mucous, and I made the decision that it was not worthwhile to even attempt to squeegy his nose. I did try using a squeegy that was not blue . . . but Micah was smart enough to quickly recognize that as well. I then began to just wipe his nose with a cloth. It is far less effective, but it seemed to create very little upset, and it was “good enough.”

Unfortunately, this cold did not seem to disappear. It persisted . . . and persisted . . . and persisted. Micah has been stuffy for over 2 months now. At his 4 month appointment, I discussed it with the doctor, and he did not seem concerned. I have been working very hard to not be concerned about it, either. Since I am tired of being that crazy mom who brings her son to the doctor for everything, I’ve just let it be. Until today.

Yesterday, Micah started to cough. His congestion intensified, and he just did not seem to be feeling well. Today, he woke up coughing, and the mucous had turned green. I called the doctor, and we went in for a sick appointment. I made sure all the nurses heard him coughing and sneezing (just in case he miraculously got better as the doctor walked in the room). All this time, I have been wiping his nose with a cloth, with very little upset. That is, until the past few weeks. Lately, each and every time, Micah shrieks bloody murder. Yes, ladies and gentleman, to hear it from Micah, I have been practicing the worst kind of abuse . . . nose wiping.

Micah gets mad when he even sees the cloth. I have to sneak attack him, and he kicks and hits and arches his back and turns his face away. He then sobs these loud uncontrollable pained sobs indicating how tortured he is. He makes sure to do this in very public places so that everyone can tell what a horrible mother I am. So, on behalf of my son, you may need to call the authorities and inform them that, indeed, I have been nose wiping him. Daily. Multiple times. And if I had it my way, I’d be using the squeegy, too.

In case you were wondering . . . they think he might have a sinus infection. They took a nose culture to find out (you should have seen what he did to that nurse who tried to stick a swab up his nose!) and we should have the results back either Friday or Monday. They confirmed he was running a low grade fever, his throat was red (probably from post-nasal drip) and he does not have strep throat. If he has a sinus infection, they’ll give us antibiotics. I did not get a very good answer about what they will do if it is not a sinus infection. Remember – they insist that babies do not get allergies. So, because colds do not persist this long, and babies do not have allergies, if it is not a sinus infection, we are SOL.

I did also ask a few other questions today . . . he told us we can use sunscreen on Micah now, that some water is fine when he gets hot, that I can be giving him up to about 3 tbs of cereal 2-3 times per day now and I SHOULD also start him on fruits/veggies (also 3-4 tbs 2-3 times per day). We tried oatmeal for the first time yesterday (and he seems to like it). Since that is a “new” food for him, we can start something else new later this week or next week. On our list to try is: green beans, squash, peas, carrots, apples, pears, peaches, avocados, and sweet potatoes. There will be more to follow!

Could it be teething?

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My little guy is out of sorts – has been for over one week now. He had those bad weeks when we got back from California, and now this. I could be wrong, but perhaps he is teething? It could just be the reflux, I suppose, but he hasn’t been feeling 100%. He has had a pretty drippy nose, but I don’t think it is a cold (it is just clear). It could be allergies. He has been wanting to gnaw on everything, though, and he has been pretty drooly, too. He seems to be in pain/discomfort, especially at night, and tylenol seems to help. His tummy has been bothering him on and off – so who knows! I’m going to ask the doctor again on Monday when we go in for his 4 month checkup. Poor guy – I hope he starts feeling better soon! I don’t know what I’m going to do if he actually pops a tooth through!