Gavin Update

Oh man!  Our little guy is really in rough shape.  He made it to the doctor still sporting a 101+ fever and it was not good news.  He has a double ear infection and was diagnosed with RSV.  Yikes.  RSV is not cool and takes a long time to get rid of, up to 3 weeks.  You can read more about it here.  It's rare to have it in the summer time so they tested him on a whim and were surprised to find out he had it.  It sounds like one other baby in his class was extremely ill over the weekend as well.  We'll call that kid patient 0.  Wash your hands once in a while dirtball!  Geez, my kid is practically dying.  I know he'll tough it out because he's such a nice baby with his good natured disposition but it's going to be several more long nights and probably a couple more days home from school. We're not sure how much sleep or work is going to be getting accomplished. 

They recommended we see an ENT to explore the options of putting tubes in.  This kid always has perfect timing.  I figure by the time we get an appointment for the consultation and get the procedure scheduled, well, let's just say it's unlikely to happen.  These kids sure do keep it interesting.  On top of that he lost weight since the last time he was in there, which was about a month ago.  Obviously, that's not a good sign either.  I'm sure with some meds he'll gain his appetite back and start getting his strength back.

Last night he was vomiting more and kept that up this morning.  He's on both antibiotics for his ears and on breathing treatments for his lungs.  He can't cough hard enough to break up the mucous in his lungs so the treatments help him do that.  He's having a tough time keeping food down so dehydration is a concern.  Carrie spent some time with the nurse so she knows what to look out for.  They said he probably won't turn the corner for about 7 days.  Saturday would be day 1 so we have probably until the rest of the week.  Hopefully Care and baby can make it.  It's exhausting and almost like reverting back to newborn status where you're at Gavin's mercy for when you can catch some Z's.

On a more positive note we received his 9 month pictures in the mail. I posted a couple here but Carrie can get you copies of whatever you would like or pass on the proofs electronically if you're interested in ordering some.

Rough Night saved by Corn Fest

Welcome back blog readers.  We have so much to catch up on after such a busy summer.  Last night was like going back in time to when we only had Quentin to deal with but he didn't sleep a wink.  It was discovered after a long day with little napping happening for either boys that Gavin was sporting 104 degree temperature.  We were planning on going to the Sweet Corn Festival (oh, Iowa!) but since neither of the boys took even an hour long nap I could see the crabby map on the wall and saw numerous public tantrums and didn't want to go down that path.  We hoped we could squeeze it in on Sunday.  Turns out Gavin was having a tough time sleeping because he was sick as a dog. His screaming led to big brother not being able to get to sleep and the afternoon adventure was in full swing.

We had our typical long, tear-filled afternoon when the boys don't get a robust nap filled with, "Dad I burned my hand touching the hot grill," touching the hot pan the cookies came out of the oven for the newly moved in next door neighbors (oh Iowa!) and my play lawnmower attacked me and smoked me in the chin.  We literally ran out of ice packs.  When is bed time!?  We finally got Quinny tucked in without much fanfare, after all the Brewers had a late afternoon national game (national! - they are so going to the World Series.  You know they haven't won a pennant since 1982 and made the playoffs exactly once since then as a wild card team in 2008) and that game was immediately followed by the first pre-season Packer game.  Boys, oh boys, can't you throw me a solid on a such a sporting afternoon?  What happened to the Sundays of, "Go Pack Go!"?

Carrie and I got little sleep with Gavin trying to navigate his way through his fever.  He was burning up, which put us on edge and was having such a tough time.  We were giving him ibuprofen and Tylenol, which helped bring his temperature down to the 101-102 range but all day today he was still sporting it.  He was still eating pretty well and wasn't dehydrated.  We can't really find any other symptoms.  By the time we were getting ready to put everyone to bed tonight he was feeling a little better but not much so he'll shuffle of to the doctor's office tomorrow.  He just made it to 10 months and we're pretty sure he's been to the doctor's every month.  I think it's just daycare.  It's been so hot that the kids don't go outside for recess so they've been trapped inside most of the summer.  They get stuck inside all winter and then it's too hot in summer to go outside?  This is bizzaro world! I don't get that but then again I'm not running a daycare center.

He's in full motion these days crawling all over the place.  He's still mostly pulling himself around army style but can prop up on his knees and crawl in the traditional sense if he wants.  He's able to sit up and down now and has begun pulling himself up.  The other night he woke up and I went in there to give him his bah and he was standing, much to my astonishment.  It freaked me out a little.  I think we may need to lower the crib again. He's entered the realm of table food as well so he's trying new foods on a regular basis.  We haven't found anything he doesn't like but we haven't given him too much either.  We're taking it slow but he's well on his way to walking, talking and eating. 

Since Gavin was sick we didn't think it a good idea to bring him to Corn Fest 2011 so Q and I went on the adventure together.  All morning long Quinny kept saying, "Dad we're going to the cornfield right?  Dad, I want to go to the cornfield!  When are we leaving for the cornfield?"  It's funny when he gets mixed up.  It's crazy to go back just a few months on video and hear what he was saying.  In just that short time his vocabulary is larger and enunciation is so much clearer.  He's growing up big time.  He and I straight up dominated the fair.  The Corn Fest is totally set up for little kids under 10.  The thing is super cheap (free parking, free to get in, $1 for an ice cream cone, corn on the cob for $.50, brats for $3, rides for a $1, games for $.25) so we did everything.  Deep breath - we rode the ladybugs, bumper boats, spinning strawberries, rocket ship, and the swings.  He won tic-tac-toe, played the ring toss game, played the launch a frog onto the lily pad game and finished it off by winning the catch a fish game.  And of course Quinny ate a ton of food.  He had an icee, a brat, a hot dog, a bag of popcorn and finished the day off with an ice cream cone.  It was good fun but we missed the other half of the fam.  Best of all it was a tantrum free day.  Hooray!  We're very much focused on listening these days so it was nice to hang out with such a good listener.  Enjoy the pics! 

All About Gavin

Gavin had his nine month check up today and he's growing up fast.  He has four teeth coming in on the top and has his two front ones on the bottom.  He's starting to copy us when we do things like shake our head no.  Every day he gets more alert, curious and mobile.  About 10 days ago he made the plunge from stationary to regular army crawler.  He's not officially crawling yet but he can go pretty much where ever he likes.  He's mostly focused on things on the floor like the dog bowls, dog toys, any kind of paper (he likes the rustling noise), and of course Quinny's toys.  So far they share pretty well.  Quentin does like to take away whatever Gavin's playing with I think just so he knows who is the man around here. 

In the mean time we are focused on getting the place childproofed.  Quinny was pretty good about staying out of the cupboards but we know we have an uphill battle of keeping him out of places he shouldn't be.  This time around with Quentin leaving a constant trail of destruction we'll have a more challenging go of it.  We've already struck out twice trying to barricade the stairs off.  Our gate from Tampa along with an extension isn't wide enough.  We ordered some more parts but they don't fit either so it's back to the drawing board.

We've been doing quite a bit of driving around with the whole family in tow this summer whether that's up at Carrie's parent's place in Prairie Du Chien on the mighty Mississippi or heading back and forth between here and Lake Geneva.  The boys have been pretty good but the dog has been a massive pain.  He's such a spasz in the car.  He's constantly trying to get into the back seat with the boys drooling on them, breathing stinky breath on them and generally doing anything but lying down and relaxing for the sometimes 4+ hour trip. 

This past weekend we headed up to Gilbertville, about an hour drive, to celebrate Carrie's Grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary.  If I make it to 91 years old Carrie and I have a shot at matching that number.  I can't imagine there are too many people out there that are married for 60 years.  Good for you guys.  So we get about 20 country miles out of town, essentially just far enough to not be able to easily get home when a stench of monstrous proportions hits me like a sledge hammer.  Oh my.  What is that?  Keep in mind Stinky wasn't in the car so we couldn't blame the dog.  It was bad.  I mean really bad.  I told Care we have to pull over.  I am never going to make it another 40 minutes with that in the car.  We know there is a gas station 5 minutes down the road so it's plug your nose city until then.  It's about 110 outside. (It's so ironic that it's 20 degrees warmer here in the summer time and 80 degrees colder in the winter than Tampa.  I asked my buddy yesterday what's the most enjoyable month to live here.  He replied, "The one you go on vacation)."  Ha!

Anyway, I have the window cracked because this car needs some fresh air.  Carrie is in the back middle with one boy on both sides.  She, apparently, decided she needed a closer look.  Um, I'm not sure what that was all about but not a great idea.  She soon discovered why it stank so bad.  There was a blow out.  I'm not talking I need to change a tire with your run of the mill blowout.  I'm talking poop was easing out of every orifice this kid's got.  I mean it's like we made a stewing pot of pooh and then placed our child in it for the ride to Grandma's house.  Gavin is directly behind me so I can't really see but I take a look back at Care, who just happens to be wearing a white skirt for the occasion that has a few new alterations, a rather notable six inch streak of pooh stew on it.  At this point there is some swerving, some speeding, some nose holding and a minor amount of sheer panic.  We finally and I mean finally get to the gas station and don't forget it's a 127 degrees outside because Iowa turns into Mexico in the summertime and then we realize we can't even figure out how to get him out of the car without spilling the special sauce all over the upholstery, which we definitely don't want. 

I get out and carefully get him, still contained in the car seat out, so Carrie can climb out of the middle and we open the back hatch and place him there.  At this point we unbuckle him and are holding him like he's the first human on the planet to come down with the plague as in by two fingers holding him as far away from our bodies as possible as we lay down a roll of paper towels to place him on.  At this point Quinny wants out of the car to watch.  And the other families in the parking lot want to too.  It was a pay-per-view event.  I take Quinny into the gas station to get something to eat and they have a popcorn machine in there so he wants popcorn.  Normally that would be great but we are knee deep, literally, in poop so everyone's hands in a bag of poopcorn, oops total typo, sounds like the most unappealing snack of all time at the moment.  By the time we get outside we have one naked boy in the back of the tailgate and one garbage bag filled to the brim with nastiness. 

The kid has to go back into the car seat and man, let me tell you, we're going to need a hose and not any old hose but a power washing hose to get this thing clean so we ultimately decide to sacrifice the diaper bag changing section and line the car seat with that so we can leave the gas station.  Then the impossible.  Carrie wants to salvage the $6 outfit he was wearing, which ultimately means poopy pants will be riding in the car.  She's sentimentally attached to the outfit because it was one of Quinny's.  Uh-huh.  Well, there's certain things you don't mess with the wife on and this request seemed to rest firmly in that category so after rummaging around we found a one gallon Ziploc bag and put the offending clothes in there, sealed it up tight and put it in the spare tire compartment.  This was a story about a blowout remember?  Outside of the wife running around with a camouflage streaked white skirt we were, shall we say on our way to a clean getaway.

Oh the joys, the wonderful joys of parenting!  The video is of Gavin enjoying lunch with his momma. What can we say?  The kid enjoys a good chuckle.