Almost Crawling!

Hi all,

Sorry it has been a while since my last post but life is busy here in Texas. I will give you a quick run down of Max's new tricks.

Max has started his Parent's-Day-Out program on Tuesday and Thursday this last week. Tuesday was rough and they called me to pick him up a little early. He wouldn't nap and had cried a good portion of the day. He was just sobbing when I got there and he hugged me so tight that I almost cried too. I was worried that he wouldn't be able to stay with this program, and I need it in a couple of week when field trips start up at the wetlands. However, Thursday was better with some crying in the morning but his "teachers" said he was happy in the afternoon. This gives me hope that he will eventually accept this new arrangement and will be happy during the whole day.

Max is still not quite crawling, but he can get himself around a little. He likes to scooch towards the dog, cats, toys, etc. He has also pulled up a couple of times which was unexpected for us. He did it one time in his crib and the rail was only about halfway up his body. Yikes! Needless to say, we lowered the mattress to the bottom the next day. Not that it matters... he isn't sleeping in the crib anyway! He is going through a phase right now where he screams when we lay/put him down, and it's not just the crib! The floor, car seat, highchair, changing table what-have-you is cause for a melt down. I'm not sure if this is the separation anxiety most babies go through, but it is kinda miserable! At this point he won't sleep in his crib at all so Curtis and I have no time to ourselves in the evening. I hope this is just a phase!

Max has three new teeth coming in that I know of, possibly others. The top two incisors are FINALLY breaking through! They have been sitting under the gums for a couple of months and I thought they would come through way before now. No matter, they are coming in now, and I see another bottom tooth under the gums as well. Another reason for excessive fussiness? Possibly!

Max does continue to be the bright spot in our lives despite the crankiness! He is still overall a happy baby and we compliments on his calm demeanor all the time from friends and strangers. He laughs and smiles at all the perfect times and we realize that all the unhappiness is only temporary. He is still our sweet boy who loves to give big hugs and snuggle when he's sleepy. We are very blessed!!

More beach photos

Professional Beach Photos

I finally got the disk from my sis while I was home and will post more later. For some reason I can only post 5 pictures at a time. I guess it is the template I'm using because I have seen other people's blogs using blogspot and they are able to post as many as they want. Enjoy.

Siiiiiick!

We have all been sick! Most everyone probably knows this already, but I still want to record it for posterity. It was, after all, Max's first serious illness.

I started feeling achy and flu like last Tuesday evening right as we were getting into bed. I was worried about how I would feel the next morning and how I would be able to care for Max all day if I really was sick. I felt OK in the morning, but I was pretty tired all day. About 2:00 I laid down with Max, gave him a bottle and settled into nap after he fell asleep next to me. At about 2:30 he woke up vomiting all over me and proceeded to vomit about 12 more time throughout the afternoon and evening. We called our pediatricians office and they recommended trying to get some Pedialyte in him before bed. Well that all came right back up as well. He went to be with an empty tummy and woke up about 2:00 am hungry. Stupidly we gave him some formula (only 3 oz, but still...) and that all came back up shortly after it went down. After changing the sheet on our bed, again, we slept some more until about 7 am when we tried some more small spoonfuls of Pedialyte. It came right back up. At 8:00 we called the pediatrician again and took him in shortly after.

Max's dr checked his electrolyte levels and sent us home to wait for results and to try to get some fluids in him. I spoon fed Max watery apple juice throughout the day, and he was tolerating it well. The lab results showed mild dehydration, but we were warned that if he vomited any more that day then our dr would want to admit him to the hospital and run IV fluids. Thankfully that did not happen! I was not prepared to sit and watch my baby be stuck with needles and tube and not be able to hold and comfort him.

On Friday morning I was trying to get Max to take a bottle and he gagged and threw up again. So... off to the dr we went again. All of this occured while Curtis was in Temple (30 minutes away) getting the fuel pump replaced in our car. My friend Stephanie risked life and limb to come and take Max and I to the dr since I was still weak and achy. This time his labs were good and we were told to offer clear fluids, but not to force anything that day. He didn't take anything for the rest of the day and went to bed with an empty tummy, again! When he woke up in the night hungry we gave him gatorade and water and kept it down.

Saturday was sort of the worst day because that was when Curtis was hit with the bug too. He spent the day either in bed or in the bathroom and wasn't too helpful with Max. But Stephanie came to the rescue again and came over to help me out in the morning. Max and I had been getting along until about 7:30 pm when I was giving him a bottle and Curtis announced that he needed to go to the ER. Ack! I went to call my Mom and see if there was ANYTHING else we could try ti keep him from that course of action when Max threw up again... all over me again! Grrr... so off to the bathtub and another phone call to get our friend Wade to take Curtis to the dr. We found a clinic in Hewitt (the Scott and White next to La Fiesta, they were great!) that was open until 9:00 and they got Curtis fixed up while Stephanie and Ross came to help me with Max. Again, Max went to bed on an empty tummy.

Sunday was much, much better. Both Curtis and Max held down everything they ate, they just didn't want a lot of anything. Who can blame them?

Max still is not into solids, but I keep trying some yogurt to help his digestive system regulate a little. Curtis went to work today to catch up on some lab work, but is still fatigued easily. It will probably take a couple more days for all of us to get back to normal, but I think we are over the worst of it. Thanks to all for calling and praying for us. This was a very difficult time for me as new Mom facing Max's first illness while being sick myself. I often felt helpless and alone, but was not thanks to our great friends who were here and those who offered to help in other ways. Thank you all, it meant a lot to us!

Bye bye ECHOvirus. Hope we don't see you ever again, or at least for a very long time.

Max's Ancestral Grounds

We have had a wonderful, and relaxing, time at my home in Carlsbad. It has been great seeing family and friends... it has been too long. I hope that we will be back in Carlsbad for Christmas and making the rounds again. I will be posting some pictures of our trip over the next few days so please keep checking back. For now I have a video of Mr. Max playing chase (he loves it!) and coming VERY close to crawling. 'm glad he hasn't done it yet... I would hate for Curtis to miss out on this big event.