Patio furniture, July 4th, Snot, & Eczema

As I posted last week, my mom came up last Thursday and stayed with Jacob on Friday. I know they enjoyed their time together! On Saturday, Jeff and I did a marathon shopping trip - we got a new umbrella for the deck, as well as new chair pads. Then, on Monday, Jeff found a great deal on a set of deck furniture on overstock.com that is black metal. We ordered the six-top table & six chairs. The furniture was scheduled to arrive on Monday, but Jeff just called and said it just arrived today!

We had a great 4th with Chris, Nicole, Devyn & Megan. They came over around 4 p.m. and the kids all swam in Jacob's little pool. We got some great pictures that I'll post soon (with Nicole's permission of course!) They had fun splashing around for about an hour, and then we got them cleaned up and fed Jacob & Megan dinner, while Jeff & Chris grilled hot dogs, brats, burgers & portobella mushrooms. (You would have thought we were cooking for twice as many people, but hey, we like leftovers!) Jacob actually ate his first meal all by his big-boy self - he fed himself goldfish, about a half of a hotdog and about 3/4 of a banana, plus 2-3 animal cookies.

Thursday morning, Jacob sneezed about 7-8 times before we could get him out the door! He seemed to be pretty happy, and the drainage was clear, so we proceeded on with our day and dropped him off at Chrissy's. Jeff wasn't feeling well himself, so he stayed home from work. I told Chrissy if Jake seemed to not feel well to call. I ended up picking Jacob myself around 5:00 p.m. Chrissy said Jacob had just started seeming tired and not feeling good in the last hour or so, and she figured we would be there soon, so she did not call. He slept pretty restlessly last night and seemed pretty tired this morning. Jeff decided to stay home with him today. So, I have a sick husband and child at home today.

The other thing Jacob has had going on lately, is eczema on his legs, arms, back and torso. Through diligent use of Vasoline Creamy ($2.47 Target!) 4-5 times a day, we have the back, torso & arms under control, but his legs are still red, splotchy & dry. We are now trying Baby Eczema Cream ($8.59! ouch!), but I can't say it's worth more than 3 times the price of the Vasoline so far!

Sick once again...

Starting on Saturday, Jacob seemed to be coming down with something. He went to WalkAmerica with me, but wasn't himself. He was very quiet. By that afternoon, he felt hot, and I took his temperature - 102.5. Gave him some Infant Motrin and it went away. Sunday & Monday, I don't remember him feeling hot, but he started sounding congested - just upper respiratory. Tuesday, same thing, congestion, no fever. I think it was Tuesday night he woke up and felt hot. He was also very lethargic from the sedation they gave him at Duke. We decided to stay home with him on Wednesday. Needless to say, Jeff and I slept very little Tuesday night. We were so tired Wednesday, Jacob went to bed at 6 pm and Jeff and I were shortly behind him at 8 pm. That is the earliest I've gone to bed in my life. Even growing up, bedtime was 9 pm! We were asleep by 8:30 pm. Jacob woke up howling at 9:30 pm. He was HOT. I took his temperature - 103.4. We gave him some Motrin and spent 2 hours trying to get him to sleep in his crib to no avail. We finally let him sleep with us around 12 midnight. When he awoke at 5:30 am, he was not hot, and it had been more than 6 hours since we gave him Motrin, so I figured the fever was over. But, he was having major sinus drainage. I've even seen some green drainage near his eye! By 7:30 am, he was ready to go down for a nap. I called the doctor at 8:30 am and they said to bring him in at 9:30 am. I went to wake him up at 9 a.m. to get ready to leave, and he was hot again. By the time we got to the doctor, his temperature was 102.5. The nurses were very concerned about this and immediately gave him Tylenol drops. Dr. Ryan examined him and his ears & throat were fine. She sent us down for a chest x-ray since Jacob had pneumonia at the end of February. She also ordered blood work. Fortunately, the lab & the x-ray are all in the same building as our peditrician's office. We have already taken advantage of this on multiple occasions. It took approximately one hour to get the lab work & x-ray completed. Believe it or not, the chest x-ray was much more stressful on both Jacob and I than drawing blood! Drawing blood was over in a matter of seconds. The chest x-ray required Jacob be placed in this plastic contraption with his arms straight up over his head and the whole thing tightened around him. He screamed the entired time. The technicians reassured me... don't worry, we get better pictures when he is crying because his lungs are filled with air. Needless to say that did not make me feel better. It was one of those times you want to run in and get your child and run out of there. Finally, after that was over and we went back upstairs to see Dr. Ryan & get the results, which were good. The CBC was normal and the chest x-ray, based on her unofficial reading, looked fine, and was definitely better than February's x-ray. She had already told me that with his history, regardless of the results, she was going to give him an antibiotic. So, Amoxicillin for Jacob and I had to go to Kroger to fill it on the way home. What an exhausting morning! On a good note, we go back for his 9 month check up in 2 weeks - I made the appointment. I noticed the only "item" for that appointment is a blood count. I asked Dr. Ryan as we were checking out if we could use the blood work we did today and not have to stick him again in 2 weeks and she said that was fine and to remind her of that!

I'm so hopeful he will start feeling better. The poor kid is just not himself. When he has a fever, he just moans and moans. I am glad we decided to take him on to the doctor though.