Just Chillin'

We kept it pretty low-key today. I mean, it was only 70 degrees outside and overcast or raining. Once again, they had warmer (and nicer) weather in Fairbanks, and once again, I'm not really complaining because when you don't have central air, this is perfect July weather. We had fun playing with Joey today. Here's one of Joey and his Daddy.

And of course one of Joey and his Mommy.

He was fussy again today, mostly towards the end of the day. I'm hoping another week of this teething stuff, and then we'll get at least a short break. Although by the time these three come through enough that they don't hurt, I'm sure the fourth will be breaking through. Oh well. He still has the sniffles, but no sign of that fever, which is great. No other developments, so I'll leave it at that and go enjoy the rest of my Fourth.

Rubber Duckie

If you've seen Joey in action, you know that he loves to kick when he's hanging out on his belly (and his back). Well, that love for kicking translates very well into the bath tub.

He did practically kick all of the water out of the tub, but that's what bath time is for, isn't it?

Joey is also getting some of his top teeth, which has been trying on all of us. It started out with the outer incisors, but now I can see that he is also getting at least one of the inner incisors (front teeth), and probably both. Can you imagine cutting four teeth at once? Poor thing! Fortunately, we can still make him smile (occasionally), but the poor guy's been so fussy and crying in the middle of the night. The good news is he should be done with all of this in time for the wedding, and shouldn't start cutting any more teeth for at least another month. (He was relatively late to start the bottom teeth, but then almost immediately started cutting the top ones, which seem to be more painful.)

Oh yeah, and he's still constantly playing with his feet, if not actually eating them, and he's gotten very good at pulling his socks off! But he's still our Snuggle-saurus.

Cover Me

Today was not a fun day for Joey or Mommy. It started early yesterday morning, when Joey woke up with the sniffles. Then I noticed he felt really warm and took his temperature - which was 100.5. I called and left a message with the doctor, who just said to give him some Tylenol and check back in if it got any worse. So everything seemed to be going smoothly through bedtime. Then midnight rolled around and I heard this crying. I went to check on him, and he was half-sleeping half-awake, but definitely crying. I woke him up enough to give him some more Tylenol (his temperature was 101.5 at this point), and then tried to help him get back to sleep. But he was just too congested. I tried holding him in the rocking chair, then went downstairs so that maybe if holding him on the couch worked, I could recline and fall asleep, too. No dice. So I took him back up to our room and put him down in the pack 'n play. Turned on the air conditioning, hoping that maybe cooling him off and controlling the air might help allay his discomfort. At least he slept until 6ish. Mostly. There was still lots of fussing and crying, but I didn't have to get up to comfort him. (More like I couldn't get myself out of bed to comfort him, and fortunately it worked out ok.)

Daddy was kind enough to get up with Joey this morning. (Since he didn't even hear the baby crying last night, I felt it was only fair that I get to sleep a little longer.) He was still fussy and not quite eating right, and was he ever tired. He went down for his nap at 8:30 and slept two hours. I tried feeding him lunch like normal, and he ate most of his sweet potatoes, but that was about it. He went down for his second nap at 1:00pm (still normal) and ended sleeping until almost 4:30.

And this story is now way to long. The short-ish ending ... he seems to be extremely tired but feeling much better. Believe it or not, going outside seemed to help his congestion. Counterintuitive, I know, but it worked. He's sleeping in his crib now, and as usual his Nana afghan is covering him up. (See above.) Everything seems to be on the up-and-up, and hopefully he can forgive us for the aspirator. We'll see how he does tomorrow.

Airportman

We had a very exciting weekend, and as you look at this post, you'll think we spend the whole time in the airport. Apparently I only remember to take pictures before or during the flight. (At least I have great images for the scrapbook!) Here's Joey playing in O'Hare on our way to Easton for Shelley's bridal shower. There was a little eleven-month-old also in the airport, and they had some fun together (before Claire left for Madison - why would you fly to Madison?). Since this wasn't our first flight, Mommy was definitely prepared with a blanket so Joey could stretch out and plenty of toys. (You'll also notice he's holding his head upright - yeah!)

The bridal shower was a ton of fun. Fortunately, Rachel did take pictures, and you can find some here. There are also some from my sister-in-law Danielle here. I think there were at least 40 people enjoying the sunshine in my mom's backyard, and every single one of them thought Joey was just so cute. I think there were even a few "fights" over who got to hold him. It was great. Sunday was the Godiska family reunion, which is also captured in Rachel's blog. I haven't played volleyball in so long; it was excellent. And once again, they were passing Joey around like a football.

And then here we are back at the airport again. It was lunchtime when we arrived, so Nana and Pop-Pop gave Joey his last meal in Easton (until we go back in August). Pop-Pop can be such a cry-baby sometimes. But it's great flying in and out of Allentown because there's no line and I can get there less than an hour before the flight and not be stressed at all.

Finally, here's Joey on the plane. All smiles for the first 10 minutes, but was he exhausted from this weekend. Slept the whole flight home, and then took another hour and a half nap once we got home. He's just waking up now, so I have to go. Can't wait to see you all again in five weeks!

Special Note: We also had our first Tylenol today. Joey's running a low-grade fever (100.5 degrees) and developed a runny nose before we left Easton. Probably nothing to worry about, but since I'm essentially using this blog as his baby book, just one more thing to mark down.

Remember the Time

So I was sure I was going to get a picture of Joey today with his good friends Sam and Annabel. Then Mommy got half way to their house, and realized she didn't bring her camera with. Argh! Anyway, it was fun, and Sammy is getting so big! He's only four months old, but he's practically the same size as Joey. It's absolutely incredible. Annabel is still learning how to share (she turns two on Saturday), but her mom is doing such a great job convincing her that if she wants to play with the toy Joey has, she has to trade him for something else. Joey doesn't know any different, so it works really well. I can't wait until Joey and Sammy get a little older, and are crawling and walking around, chasing Annabel everywhere. And I'm sure she can't wait until she has her own minions to boss around. They're both such laid-back guys, I don't think either one would mind.

Oh, and the doctor called this morning. They didn't see anything on the x-rays, so we'll just watch how it goes and take him to physical therapy as necessary. One less thing to worry about. (And since I cut him off from the tv downstairs, he's doing remarkably better. Maybe that was the culprit after all.)

PS - We'll miss you, Michael.

NOT Wordless Wednesday: Hydrangeas

I realize the whole point of wordless Wednesday is to keep it wordless, but that's why I called it NOT Wordless Wednesday. First things first. Did you see those hydrangeas? Seriously? They were tall last year, but this year they are definitely taller than I am. (That's my neighbors raised deck in the background - it's at least four feet off the ground.) There are crazy ones peaking up I'd say at least five and a half feet. And in the front? We removed verigated bushes that I didn't like at all, and replaced them with another hydrangea (Endless Summer) on the north side, and a lilac bush and a rose on the south side. Not sure why. On the south side of our house, you can barely even see the lilac bush, and you can't see the rose bush. Once the blooms are fully developed, that hydrangea is getting a major trimming. Which, to be honest, I'm a little concerned will only help it grow even better, faster, stronger. Anybody want any?

Another curious observation about Chicago, which everyone who lives in Chicago already knows. If you don't like the weather, wait a day and it will change. Seriously. I did the baby's laundry yesterday, and I folded two pair of fleece pajamas and three pair of cotton long-sleeved pajamas. Which means that within the last two weeks, because I usually do his laundry on a weekly or week and a half basis, it was cold enough for fleece. And today, the temperature was over 90, with heat indexes in the upper 90s. Un-freakin'-believable. We even had a thunderstorm this afternoon, but it did absolutely nothing to reduce the heat or humidity. Good times.

Finally, there is no update on Joey. I called the doctor's office as soon as they opened this morning, but they had not yet received anything from radiology. Seriously? They said the results would be with the doctor in 24 to 48 hours. (The website actually says results would be within 24 hours, but I'm not going to nit-pick.) I gave them 50 hours, and they hadn't even yet provided the results to my doctor. On top of that, Joey's pediatrician was off today. I'm not going to fault her for that, though; everyone deserves a day off. All I can say is they better have been lax getting the results to Joey's doctor because everything's fine.

Early Morning

Good morning, everyone! Joey's already up, playing with his fishies. And now I think he's getting antsy for breakfast, but I thought I'd get my blog out of the way early. (I'll add a note later with the update from the opthamologist.)

And for reference, here's a photo from yesterday, where you can definitely see he's holding his head to the side. He's doing better this morning, at least for now.

Update: The opthamologist said Joey's vision is fine. Need to follow-up on the x-rays and then schedule physical therapy. But that's one less thing to worry about.