What a Difference a Day Makes

Looks like we've made it through the roughest part. Bennett is doing much better today - no fever, and we're getting those sweet smiles again. It appears that he just has a stomach bug. I'm sure the nurse, on whose hand he poopied today, would concur. Of course, she had left the room to wash up when he peepeed on his own chart. Despite the copious amount of practice I've had at beating the stream, Bennett is still the pro and has no qualms about putting me back in my place. Needless to say, dehydration is, thankfully, not a problem.

The blood cultures still have a couple of days to go, but there has been no growth yet, so that's positive. Looks like this little one will be back to being dragged around in no time! Thanks for the prayers. They definitely work.

Big Band-Aids for Little Boys

Bennett woke up this morning with a 101 degree fever. Normally, not such a big deal, but he's only 6 weeks old, therefore, it is a big deal. I called his doctor'soffice, and they said to come in at 9:45. The nurse took his temp again when I got there, and it was 101.6. This is not good. They bagged his pee-pee to get a urine catch and drew blood to run tests. On a side note, I now know for certain that it is easier to get a sample from an infant boy than an infant girl. It may take longer, but it is definitely less traumatic on both mother and child. Both tests came back clean. The doctor suspects it is just something Bennett has picked up from his older brother. (Isn't it sweet that he is already sharing so well with his brother?) I hope so, but just in case, he sent me to the lab to have a blood culture drawn. Unfortunately for me, this is nothing new. Through pyloric stenosis and several allergy tests, I have become accustomed to seeing my children's veins be probed. Poor Bennett. He was not a happy child while it was being done, but I nursed him immediately afterward, and he seemed to be OK. We should get the results back in a couple of days. In the meantime, we have a follow-up appointment tomorrow, just to be sure he's doing OK. He's eating well, and each diaper is wet, so that's good. And we now know that he weighs 10 pounds, 2 ounces.
Update - He has had a couple of diarreahs and a huge throw up. Looks like it may be a stomach bug - hopefully. We'll know more tomorrow and over the next 72 hours as the blood culture grows. Keep Bennett in your prayers, and let's hope that this passes soon.

Adrenaline Junkie

This is apparently where my older child is happiest - in midair. He has no fear, except of being left alone to fall asleep in his big boy bed, but that's another post entirely. Reeves discovered he was able to "jump" off of things sometime last winter. He enjoyed it and would often decend from such heights as 6 inches. Of course, this was really more pseudo graceful falling rather than actual jumping. Then, just before he turned two, he masterd the act of jumping with two feet off the ground. (That's with both feet, Gams, not two vertical feet!) Oh the joy hopping around brought him. He was so proud of himself, and so were we. But now, now we have entered into a whole new realm, the world of really jumping OFF of things.
It began innocently enough when Jodie put this slide next to the pool for the children to slide in. True, it's not a huge slide, but the children, mostly 3, 4, and 5 year olds were perfectly content to climb the two steps up the back and slide down, on their bottoms, into the pool. Enter Reeves. First, he slides down it on his back, headfirst, into the pool. But that's not dangerous enough for him. He spent the rest of his time on the slide jumping from the top into the pool. And that's the only way he would do it. And he loved it. Did you know swimmies sometimes come off when a child launches himself into a pool? Well, they do. Not that Reeves cared. Thank heavens for Jodie and others to whom Reeves now owes his life. Turns out you don't just swim in a circle with only one swimmie; you actually start to sink.
Van told Bryant that he saw lots of stitches and broken bones in our future. There was nothing Bryant could but nod and agree because that statement is so true. Of course, I figured it would be a few years away. Reeves has other plans.
Tuesday at playgroup, I thought we were going to have to leave and go to the hospital. None of us saw how it started. We picked it up after he was already midair. Reeves jumped from the top of DuBose's slide. Just so you know, I'm 5'7". The top of the slide is at my eye level. Nancy saw him in the air twice. I only saw him just before he hit the ground, after he had bounced halfway down. He landed and started crying and holding his left arm. We all just knew he had broken it. How could he have not? He landed with his arm under him, but on top of a toy rake. He must have a pretty good guardian angel. I picked him up, hugged him, and tried to feel his arm for the break. Nothing, but even more telling was the fact that his cry didn't intensify while I was doing that. I am still in shock. He has a couple of pretty good bruises, but no broken bones. Thank heavens!
Maybe this has taught him. He hasn't tried it since then, but I know it's only a matter of time before the lure of a good freefall becomes too much for him, and he goes at it again. Danger Bair, that's our son!

One of Those Days

And what makes it so much worse is that it is absolutely gorgeous outside!
Reeves woke up at 6:30 this morning with 101 fever. Guess what? No school yet again for the boy! This then seriously throws a wrench into my plans for the day. My errands are whittled down to a couple of necessary things.
First, go to pick up color cartridge from free refill at Walgreens. Guess what? My cartridge failed! I am so disappointed. I think I have the one cartridge that must be ordered from Dell. Neither Mom nor I can find this stupid thing anywhere! I'll keep searching.
Second, stop by Neal's to pick up Reeves' crocs we left there. Guess what? No crocs on the porch. Not terribly disappointing, just one more thing I have to remember to do.
Third, go to grocery store to pick ingredients for Morgan's birthday dinner. (BTW, Happy 30th Birthday, Morgan!) Guess what? Purchase all ingredients for casserole, forget all ingredients for salad. Typical!
And finally, I feel like my throat is getting sore. Hopefully it will go away, but it would be just my luck if it didn't.
But, as bad as a mom's day may be, there is always that silver lining. Bennett gave me a solid 5 or 10 minutes of good, sweet smiles. If he had teeth, they would have beel shining. I got the dimple and all, and Reeves has been a super trooper all day and is at the tail end of at least a 3 hour nap, so I guess that makes up for it!

One Month Down

It occurred to me at some point this afternoon that Bennett is one month old today. These poor second children. I'm sure with Reeves I found this milestone so important that I probably marked it in some way other than casually remembering it halfway through the day.

The Gripewater seems to have done (to be doing) the trick. Bennett's fussiness is definitely due to gas bubbles. He eats almost every two hours in the late afternoon/evening, but I think that is because I don't produce as much later in the day. He has had a rash on his face and neck. It seems to be heat and hormone related. It flares up when he is hot and sometimes when he is eating. As such, I dispensed with the polycotton daygowns yesterday and dressed him in a onesie. It made a huge difference. He was able to stay cool, and the rash never got too bad. I suppose we'll just have to sacrifice fashion for the well being of the child!It seems silly to me to post about his one month a mere two days after his four week update, but honestly, there has actually been one achievement. He is smiling now when we get in his face and make silly, sweet sounds. I love this because it makes his dimple really show up. He only has one, and it's on his right side, and it's just the cutest thing when he gives us that cockeyed smile.

He continues to squirt me at almost every diaper change, although I'm getting better at it. There have been lots of loads of laundry done around here recently. Reeves thinks this is just one of the funniest things when he sees it. That's fine as long as he doesn't think it will be cute to follow suit. Not so cute in a two year old. So far so good.The brothers are still getting to know each other. Bennett is beginning to recognize Reeves' voice, and Reeves has become my real, live baby monitor. He hears Bennett wake up from his naps way before I do. So far, he's only accidentally landed on Bennett once or twice, and they were just glancing blows at that. For the most part, he is very sweet with his new brother.

I am trying to treasure this newborn state as much as possible, but there is definitely a part of me that looks forward to the day when these two will be able to play together. I am hesitant to use the phrase "I can't wait" because I can. Although, sleeping through the night will be a welcome milestone. This is such a special time in both of these boys' lives. I wish they could realize it as much as Bryant and I do.

Worst Idea of the Week

Returning home from Mt. Pleasant via 526 at 5:30 in the afternoon. While I find almost any amount of traffic frustrating, it is nearly unbearable with two fussing children in the heart of the gangrene hour. What was I thinking? Luckily, we all made it home in one piece with no lasting effects on any of us.

Bennett at 4 Weeks

Bennett turned 4 weeks old yesterday. Where has the time gone? He is still growing like a weed. I think he must be in the throes of his three/four week growth spurt. This child, who until Friday has really been quite easy going, started fussing on Friday and is only now quiet because he has worn himself out over the weekend. He was only truly content when he was nursing, and that was at least every two hours. Bryant could get him to be quiet some, but then he would pipe right back up. I would have been worried, but I remember this same thing with Reeves. Ah, the benefits of having already been through this once! However, part of it could be gas. He's not a great burper. Just in case, I bought my Gripewater today.

Bennett has already grown out of three or four outfits that I know Reeves wore till he was almost two months old. Right now, that's fine with me because our house is overrun with little boys' clothes, and the sooner he grows out of them, the sooner they get boxed away to make room in the drawers for more clothes.

Bennett's latest and most consistent trick has been to squirt me almost every time I change his diaper. So far today we've been through 3 outfits. When will I learn. Luckily for me, Reeves did not do a good job of training me in this aspect of motherhood. I can probably count on both hands the number if times he has done that in his two years. For some reason, with Bennett, I have this ridiculous confidence that I can get the new diaper on in time. I'm 0 for 4 today.

I'm Up

It's 5:45 in the morning, and I am wide awake. And it's not Bennett's fault. I fed him at 3:00. He is sleeping soundly. Bryant is sleeping. Reeves is sleeping. Not me. I want to sleep, but each time I close my eyes, I just toss and turn. I haven't slept since I fed Bennett, and now I'm afraid to go to sleep because it is almost time to feed him again. I have done laundry, gotten the coffee ready, straightened up. If it weren't for having to be quiet, this could be one of my most productive mornings. If the sun were up, I could be getting things done in the yard. But no, here I am updating the blog. I'll try to knock out a couple of thank you notes also.
I can't stand not being able to sleep, particularly right now, when sleep at our house is at such a premium. Luckily, Reeves has school tomorrow (today-in 3 hours), so I should be able to squeeze in a decent nap in the late morning while Bennett sleeps. But what to do between now and when the rest of the house awakens?

Time for Two

Unfortunately, Bryant doesn't get to spend a lot of one on one time with Bennett. With his work and other things and Bennett nursing, he is usually tapped to take care of Reeves as soon as he walks in the door. This, of course, is how things tend to be with two. Mommy handles the baby, and Daddy and the older child get some good bonding time. It works. But, there is still that sacred time, after Reeves goes to bed, and before we do, that Daddy and Bennett have their time to get to know each other. At the moment, this tends to be nothing more than snuggling on the sofa, but these are usually the sweetest times. Watching my husband with our children is one thing that always warms my heart. It seems to make any bad day better.

We will start Bennett on at least one bottle feeding a day next week. The last feeding of the night will be Bryant's. He is looking forward to it. I am too. And I imagine, if Bennett could tell us, he is also.