Are you ready for some football?

Well, to answer the first question on everyone's mind - How is Tyler feeling? Well, he's acting as though he still feels great. But he still has a bit of a cough and some congestion. So on Friday, we took him BACK to the pediatrician (for those who are counting, this was Visit #4 since Labor Day). She wanted to get some chest x-rays taken, so she sent us to one of the hospitals in town......at 3:00.....on a Friday......all the way across town......not fun. But we went, Tyler was well-behaved, we got the x-ray, and waited for the call from the pediatrician. She said that the results showed the beginning stages of pneumonia in the right side. So we started some antibiotics, and we are continuing with the albuterol inhaler as needed. Since going on the antibiotics, we have noticed a difference, so hopefully, we have really kicked this for good. He has a follow-up appointment next Thursday, after the meds are done, and I am sure we'll get another x-ray to ensure a clean bill of health. What a month.....what a month.


Football season is here, and Travis couldn't be happier. And now he has a little buddy to watch the games with him. His parents bought Tyler this Tony Romo jersey. It looks so authentic, and I have to admit, though I am not a Cowboys fan, it is a pretty darned cute onesie! But wait until Uncle Eddie sees this - I'm sure a Washington Redskins jersey will be on the way!


Tyler tried his first zwieback toast this week. He really seemed to like it, once he figured out what to do with it. He made quite the soggy little mess, but it was so much fun to watch him experience this new food. We also got to watch him do his new "trick" with his toast. While he's sitting up, he'll turn his body around as much as he can, and he'll "hide" whatever he's holding in his hand behind him. Then he'll turn towards the front again, only to immediately whip back to the side to see if he can find the dropped item. It's loads of fun for him!


He's chatting up a storm now, and is saying "dada" OFTEN. It makes our hearts melt, but Travis' even more so. We're working with him on "mama", but for now we just get "mmmmmmaaaaaaa". He's trying! And I'm trying to wait patiently......

Can you see the similarity?

On the left is my mom, circa March 1956. On the right, is Tyler in September 2007. Just food for thought......

On the mend

Seeing as Tyler isn't quite 100% yet, we thought it was best to hang close to home this past weekend. The weather has finally cooled off, so it's bearable to be outside again. So we took our little man on a walk to the playground at the front of our neighborhood for some swinging! It was the first time that he had been in a "big" swing - and he LOVED it! He laughed and smiled the whole time. Travis took him back the next day when his parents were visiting and got the same reaction. Makes us wonder why we hadn't taken him there before???? Oh, yeah, because it was 185 degrees outside with 10,000% humidity. I think we'll be spending some of these nicer, cooler autumn days there.

We also worked on packing up some of the things that we no longer need - the last of my maternity clothes, baby clothes that Tyler has outgrown, baby gear that we no longer need (Bjorns, mobiles, etc.). It's going to take a lot of storage containers to get all of this stuff in the attic. A lot. I can't believe how quickly he's growing out of things, and how quickly we're moving to the next stages in "baby gear world". The swing and exersaucer's days are pretty numbered too, we think. Soon we'll enter the world of babyproofing. In the meantime though, Tyler thought that he would "help" me with the maternity clothes packing. What a cute little helper.....

Tyler also practiced his sitting up skills at the house. He's getting to be quite a little pro at it! He will play for extended periods of time with his many, MANY toys and Mom and Dad can actually get a minute (or 2 or more!) to themselves! He plays independently! And he does it well! We have a hard time letting him play alone for too long. Our time on the weekends is so precious with him that we want to just get in the floor and do everything with him. Anyway, he'll play on the floor and will start to reach for something - a toy, one of the cats, anything - and he'll land right on his face. He'll play on his tummy for a few, as he tries to figure out how to get from Point A to B. He's getting there......

Another day, another sickness

Well, another 2 doctor's visits later and we have a diagnosis. Tyler has bronchio-litis. It is brought on by RSV, which can be a very serious respiratory illness for babies, especially preemies and infants under 6 months of age. After Tyler's Labor Day pediatrician visit, we saw a little improvement in his cold. So since he had been fever-free, he went back to daycare last Wednesday. By 10:00 that morning, I had received a call saying that Tyler had thrown up a lot of mucus, and did I want to come get him? Well, I did get him, and made yet another appointment with the doctor. We saw a different doc in the practice this time, and she again said that his lungs and ears were clear, so we were good there. But since he wasn't improving, she ran some blood work and discovered that we were indeed dealing with a viral infection. She informed me that unfortunately, we would need to let it ride out, but that if he wasn't better in a few days to let them know.

He did well this past weekend, but his sleeping and coughing progressively got worse at night. Then as I pick him up at daycare yesterday, I'm told that another baby has just been diagnosed with croup. Great. Just great. So I call the doc......AGAIN. She listens to him breathe and cough over the phone, and says that it is NOT croup. She mentioned bronchiolitis and asked that I make a sick appointment for the next morning. So I did.

Fast forward to the appointment, and they give Tyler a nebulizer treatment. For those that haven't had to give their infant one of these, it is no fun. Since he didn't want to sit there with the mask on and play, I had to hold him in my arma very tightly and almost force the mask to his face. He screamed, flailed, kicked, writhed, and wiggled for the whole 10 minutes. After it was over, doc came back in and listened to his chest again. She could tell a small difference, but said that we would need to continue these treatments at home. Since using the nebulizer went over like a fart in church, the doc offered another option. We are going to use a regular albuterol inhaler (like an asthmatic patient would use) and attach it to a small mask. We will hold the mask to his face, and give 2 puffs of medicine, and allow him to breathe for 20 breaths. Then it's over. And it is the equivalent of 10 minutes on the machine. So I took that route. I'll give him his first treatment this afternoon, then another tonight. From that point on, it is as needed only. And it should clear him up.....soon.

All through this though, our little man has been quite the trooper. He never indicates that he is feeling bad. He plays, he laughs, he smiles, he has fun. And he's gotten his appetite back and is enjoying his solid food again (especially peas, believe it or not!!). I know that the cough is just more bothersome to him than anything else. But we have been so proud of him and how well he has handled everything - the late nights, the MANY doctor's visits, and now the treatments. We have ourselves an amazing son,and I am so proud to be his Mommy.

6 months - Now what???

Yep, Tyler turned 6 months on August 28. I honestly can not believe that 6 months have passed since our little boy came into our lives. It's amazing to see how much he has changed, and how much he has changed our lives. But there's no need to go getting all sappy on everyone here....not yet. I'll save that for his first birthday.

We had a busy day on his 6 month birthday. It started out with a VERY nice luncheon at my work. See, there were 3 of us on my floor at work that were all due to have babies within 3 weeks of each other. So there was a big baby shower planned for all 3 of us in February. However, since I was unexpectantly taken out on bedrest at the beginning of February, I missed the festivities. So they decided to celebrate with me upon my return. And it just happened to work out that the best time to have the "shower" was on Tyler's 6 month birthday. So I felt that he HAD to be there for it. So I picked him up from daycare, and Travis even came for it. How often do you get to have a baby shower with the baby REALLY there??? It was so much fun and was very nice. Everyone brought great food and we got some really nice things for Tyler. Though it's a very well-known fact that I don't want to be back at work, and I'd rather be at home with my little boy full-time, I do work with a great bunch of people. A very generous group of people.

After the party, which Tyler did VERY well at by the way, we had his 6 month pedia-trician's appoint-ment. He weighed in at a whopping 17 lbs. 9 oz. and was 26.5 inches long. This keeps him in the 50th percentile for weight and height, so he's growing right on target and his doctor is very happy. She was happy to hear about how well solid-feeding was going, and gave us expectations for the future - crawling, teething (which we thought was in full-swing, but doc couldn't confirm), "talking". He also got his shots, which is never fun. It's especially not fun for Travis, who is the designated "baby holder" for those shots. Mommy continues to hide in the corner. (Yep, I'm a chicken. What of it????)

We had Tyler's 6 month portraits taken this weekend. Let me just advertise for a second here and say if you have any portrait needs, go to Portrait Innovations. They are WONDERFUL. And VERY reasonably priced. They took every bit of 60 shots of Tyler, and were so great with him. You can go to http://www.portraitinnovations.com/ for locations near you.

OK, enough with the free advertising, I was just really impressed. Tyler seemed like he was starting to get yet another cold this weekend, and we debated whether or not to even keep our appointment. But on Sunday, he looked like he was feeling better and we decided to go ahead. I'm glad we did. We got some great shots of our little man. But we realized once we got home, that his good mood was an act. He had a fever of over 102, so we called the after-hours service for our pediatrician. He also had a bad cough, and some congestion. We were told what to do, and if he didn't get better by this morning to call back. Well, he had another low-grade fever this morning and we decided we needed to see the doc. So we got in, and it was confirmed that he had yet another cold. He & I are staying home tomorrow, and I hope that he's better by Wednesday.

Here's where I am going to go off on a daycare tangent, so feel free to bypass this as you see fit. Tyler's been in daycare for 3 and a half months. He's had 3 colds. That's approximately 1 cold a month. Seriously, there are some plusses to daycare - socialization, lesser stranger anxiety. But there are some serious downfalls - germs. Now, many people have said that the germs will make him stronger, and these colds are good for him, etc. Honestly, these colds are HELL on us. All of us. At what point do the colds get less severe, because he's had, oh I don't know, a million of them???? And why do parents feel the need to send their kid to daycare when they are outside of the sick policy. Kids aren't allowed in until they have been fever-free (without meds) for 24 hours. Many people must lie about this, but we aren't those people. We strictly adhere to that rule in this house. He's not going to daycare because at 10:00 this morning, he had a fever. We've been pumping him full of Motrin and Tylenol all day. He should stay home tomorrow, just in case. I understand people have to work, hell, I'm one of them. But please don't put MY kid in jeopardy because you don't have another plan for him/her when he's sick. *Steps off soapbox**

We'll get through this cold. We always do. I just hate seeing my Little Man sick........