A Hoppy Life: January 2012

In early December Kevin and I took the Jetta in for a tire rotation, oil change and fuel filter change... everything went fine.. until three days later. Three days after our cars check-up the alternator went (a pricey problem and one that must be fixed). This situation irritated Kevin and I as here we had brought in a healthy car and now three days later it was broken. WTF! Well we chalked that up to something that "Just Happens"... irritating but just happens.

Now you wonder how does this story have anything to do with Max and our parenting skills.. well let's see. On January 9th, Kevin and I took Max in to the doctor's office for his 6 month checkup. As always he did wonderfully! Healthy as a horse... a perfect little man! He weighted 20 lbs. 7 oz. - 91% for weight, 27.5" - 82% for height, and had a head circumference of 47.0 cm - 97% - big brains we say!! Overall it was a good appointment!! At the end of our appointment he got shots.. lots of them!! Including the Flu Shot!! It was terrible! He screamed and was not happy!! This made mommy very sad!!

Mommy & Max at Dr. Cox's Office!

The next day after Maxwell's appointment, after Mommy picked him up at Daycare Mommy noticed he had a slight fever and felt warm. I took his temperature and was right he had a slight fever! Kevin and I gave him some medicine and it immediately came down. We attributed this to the shots and thought nothing of it! Max was luckily at his Memaw's the next day so we told her to keep an eye on him and give him some medicine if his fever came back. Needless to say the fever came back and Maxwell was progressively getting sicker. Memaw held him and kissed him and he wouldn't let her go at all when she had him... Memaw could tell something was wrong with our little man and suggested to me that we take him to the doctor.. that was it for me!! If Memaw says it it must be true (Thank you Memaw... we Love you so much and appreciate all the love an attention you give our little man!) so by Thursday of that week (Jan 12)- a mere 3 days since having gone to the doctor - Mommy, Daddy and Max were back in the doctor's waiting room as he had developed a cold and his fever kept coming back. Mommy was immediately worried about RSV having had a cousin who's son had gotten it. I was terrified. As we sat waiting in the waiting room, I could feel Max getting hotter! I pulled him from the car seat to find that he was burning up! I sent Kevin to the receptionist telling him they had to get us in the office or I was going to freak out.. (truthfully I already was). They quickly took as back and Dr. Cox came running into the office!! Max had a fever of 105.. It was crazy! I was crying Daddy was about to punch someone and Max was well very upset! Just remember it is making me very sad! I was terrified that something was going to happen to my baby and was panicked!

Dr. Cox is great! He immediately accessed Max and listened to what we had been doing with Max for the past few days! He was very happy to hear that he was taking medicine and the fever was going down, this ment to him that it wasn't bacterial but viral.. viral is good bacterial is bad!! They gave him more medicine and then tested him for RSV.. which he popped positive for! I swear you've never seen a staff nor a doctor so excited for a positive test! Although RSV isn't exactly treatable it's viral and this meant that it wasn't something worse (ie meningitis or something). We were relived but freaking out all at once. We were sent to the ER... Akron's Children's ER in Boardman. So we headed over.

Once at Akron Children's they took us back and again accessed our little Max. He was feeling better but still wasn't good. They reviewed Dr. Cox's notes, and gave him some Motrin - mommy's apparently you can give Motrin and Tylenol at the same time which the staff at Dr. Cox's office did not tell us. So they gave him Motrin - which is amazing and immediately took down his fever - and sent us back for x-rays. Cue the worst thing ever! Poor Max and Poor Daddy! They had to take x-rays of Max's chest to ensure he did not have phenomena.. he passed and his lungs looked good!! Daddy had to hold him down for this x-rays however, and it was horrible!!!

Baby feet!

After he was feeling better.. smiling... relieved Mommy is smiling too!

Feeling much better!! God I love him!

Trying to take his toe tag off!

So $800 odd dollars later, we left the hospital with a diagnosis and some Motrin. We were also warned that little Maxie would get worse before better. So we kept a strict watch to make sure that we never let his fever get high again, alternating Tylenol and Motrin ensuring that his fever would never peak again. And so it would begin. We will count hospital day as Day 3 of our RSV scare.

Day 4 Friday - Max stayed home with Daddy in the morning and mommy took a half day and was home by noon. Max was actually pretty normal today, except we started to notice his lack of interest in eating. Odd for our little elephant. So we just noted this and chalked it up to him being sick after all. By Saturday Max was miserable!! He was full blown sick. He slept practically all day! This worried Mommy & Daddy extremely! As Max never sleeps this much and never doesn't eat. So we started to feed him through the medicine syringe as we were told NOT to let him get dehydrated! We were clueless and scared and freaking out!! But we kept pushing through, I think we called my dad a hundred times and I read every blog site I could find. I couldn't get any exact answers (I later found some info from the hospital that said all this would happen but couldn't find it at the time). So he slept and refused to eat. It was awful. I finally decided that I needed to do something so I turned the shower up high, and steamed up the room. Then I took him in there and we hung out. The shower cleared him out and he ate. Thank god!! I even took a shower with him, which he enjoyed! And we snuggled and watched over him all weekend!!

Sunday was better than Saturday, but Max still wasn't normal! He was still refusing to eat - apparently the RSV makes babies very congested and they feel like they can't breath so they don't eat. He also would throw up or did throw up a few times because he was coughing and the phlegm would come up. Again seeing a baby throw up is miserable and breaks my heart!!

So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday go by (Jan 16-22). Each day he got a little better... let me tell you each of these days sucked and was a challenge. I've never cried so much or have been so scared in my life.. where was that damn owners manual again? Why did our little man - break down - just like our car when we took it in for a tune up!! Why? By Friday he was eating better and by Saturday he was practically normal.

Thank goodness, because Mommy had to leave for a work trip starting Sunday, Jan 22 and I was gone for 5 days. Again cue sad music, cue miserable mommy, cue everything. Thankfully Kevin works from home so he took Max to my mom's house and stayed with my parents for the week. This was good for Max and Kevin gave me detailed reports each day. It was also good for Kevin because it meant he'd have lots of help. By Sunday, after I left that morning, Max was back to his old self - eating and drinking and healthy! He had alot of fun at his grandma's house and was showered with love and attention so that he wouldn't notice his mommy was gone! Just want he needed! Plus this meant an extra week away from daycare so we could ensure he was 100% healthy.. the last thing we wanted to do was send him back when he was a little sick and him get something else... Needless to say, Kevin and Max being with my parents made my time away go quickly and finally WE could all relax!! Let me just say this again -- this RSV thing was the most stressed out Kevin and I have ever been as parents. There were a few days were I thought we were going to lose it on each other... as we were both scared and frustrated. I wanted answers and neither of us had them! But you know what - we stuck it out and I know I could never ever do this parenting thing without my better half - Kevin is an amazing Daddy and Husband -- me and Max are so blessed to have him!!!!!!!!! Love you honey!

So that brings me to today - almost 3 weeks from when we started this whole sick thing! It took a good solid 2 weeks to get over the RSV and a 3 weeks to be back in mint condition!! Today Max is healthy, happy, and active! He's trying to crawl and wants everything and anything that you have! This includes water bottles, coffee, necklaces, earrings, CELL PHONES (especially iPhones), wooden spoons (his new favorite toy) etc. He's rolling around, sitting up on his own 100% of the time, trying to get to the sit up position on his own(this is very challenging, even for some adults), pulling himself up onto his knees, walking around in this walker (okay pushing himself around), talking, mimicking, kissing (sorta it's more of a french kiss now), shoveling anything and everything into his mouth, and just being perfect! His laugh is wonderful.. and Kevin and I are more appreciatively of his healthy appetite and him being a great sleeper more than ever! Now, maybe this weekend we can move him back into his room... as we have had him set up again in his playpen in our rooms again since he was sick.... hmmm.. maybe!!

Love him!!

Hmmm what toy to choose?

Wow as always so much has happened since my last blog post! Our little man is growing so much and is getting smarter, more agile, more eager to move and happier everyday. I can't tell everyone enough how wonderful being a mother is and how truly happy it makes me. Sometimes I find myself crying because I just can not imagine my life without my little man! I am so lucky to have him, daddy and of course our little puppy! This has been the happiest year of my life, and I am so excited for so many more to come!

Okay enough mushy gushy stuff. Again where have I been. It's amazing how time flies when you have a baby and are working. The holiday season has come and gone and it all happened so fast. Wow! Work, typically crazy this time of year, is twice as crazy - which has me twice has busy. Max is a toddler (basically) and needs constant entertainment at home. He'll play by himself in his laugh and learn jumperoo or on his playmat, but we like to play with him, so we are very involved. He's rolling over constantly and if he had it his way he'd be crawling.. he's just not quite yet there.. but he wants to be.

We had been putting Max to bed around 9 p.m., however, he's changed that on his own. Since we've been feeding him solid foods, for over 2 months now, at night time he knows it's time to eat. We used to feed him at 8 p.m., then get him ready for bed, then put him down. He decided that 8 p.m. was too late and since then we've moved everything up about 30 minutes, so he's eating around 7:20 p.m. and then we start his night time routine thereafter. He's been in bed the past few nights around 8 p.m. or so. We've also started reading him books every night as part of his routine. We alternate who reads and the other gets his stuff ready for the next day. Max loves it! He'll try and turn around and watch you while your reading and it's super cute! In fact, right now he's in bed (in his own room, first night ever) right now! It was a good Saturday night for us!
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Okay let's jump backwards real quick here! How was our Christmas! Well it was nice. We celebrated in Sandusky on the 23rd, which was lots of fun! Kevin and Max got me a brand new D5100 digital SLR camera. It is awesome! I also received the backpack camera bag (that has a tripod and everything in it) and the best digital camera card. I'm so spoiled and happy! I'm going to be the best mommy photographer ever!! Watch for lots of pictures!

When it came time for 'Real' Christmas Day.. Mommy got sick. That's right on Christmas Eve we went to Kevin's Aunt's house, which was fun but I started to not feel good.. so we left a little early. Once home we put Max to bed and I started to feel nauseous. Next thing I know I'm throwing up, okay I threw up twice. But I felt horrible.. very very horrible! The next day, Christmas morning, I managed to get up and we opened presents and celebrated our first Christmas as a family! It was nice.. but again I felt horrible! Daddy saved the day, he let me sleep and try and recover. By noon I was feeling better but not nearly perfect! We got ready and headed over to Memaw's house. Thank goodness for family.. I informed everyone that I was sick and so I was allowed to rest and they took care of Maxie. We opened gifts and spent time together. I love our family get together's and seeing everyone... it's true you getting sappier after you have kids because just thinking about how much I love everyone could get me crying again.. the second time during this blog I think. I wish I wasn't sick, but I have promised Max never to be sick on Christmas again! He's so amazing he forgives me!

Christmas Day was huge! We had our Christmas, Memaw's Christmas and we traveled to Florida!! Wow we are crazy to travel on Christmas but you can't beat the fact that we got to fly out of the Youngstown airport on one of the few flights that they have. It's so nice and only 5 minutes from Memaw and Papa's house. So we left from there and headed to the airport. We checked in, made it through security and immediately boarded. A short 2.25 hours later we were in Florida. We got our rental car and were at my parent's Florida house by 10:15 p.m. Wow!! Again what a day! I'm disappointed to say I do not have any pictures from our house Christmas morning or from Memaw's I'm going to have to ask her to send me some.. even if I'm not in them.. as it was Max's first Christmas and so I don't want him mad at me when he's older because I have no pics!

Florida was so much fun, it was so WARM!! Ah why we don't live there I don't know but it's amazing! 70 degrees all week, Sunny and just the right amount of humidity! Ah amazing! It was so nice we spent alot of time outside, swimming, golfing, shopping, at the zoo and at the beach. We also visited our Florida Family - the Florida Crabbs - and my Uncle and Aunt that live across the golf course from my parents. While we were in Florida Max's bottom front two teeth came in a little more which made him a little uncomfortable.. but we're all good and he fought threw it. It was a busy week but again so much fun and worth all the travel and hassle!

The Florida Crabbs are great! Bradie got to carry Max around (something she's wanted to do since he was a newborn) and Kaleb is such a good young man. They are amazing kids, I hope Kevin and I do as good a job as Kerry and Derek have done! Amazing! Their parenting skills -- wow amazing! Derek even showed us how it's done, and I swear I had to blink as I thought I was looking at Papa for a second!!

As for New Years, we stayed in, ate lots of food and a spent time together as a family! Again it's been an amazing year! I am so blessed, we are so blessed and I can not wait to see what the future and the future years bring. Hopefully we'll see our little family grow and we'll see lots of career success and continued happiness!

Here are a few pictures of our little vacation. I miss the Florida Crabbs already and the Florida weather!!

Doggie loves Doggies!

Feet!! Loves Feet!

Morning time.. Max was grumpy his teeth hurt! They came in!

Sam aka the model!

Uncle John and Aunt Peg!

Happy Baby!!

At the zoo!! Checking out the animals!

Captivated!

My little ham!!

Florida Crabbs Plus Max!

All of us!

Bradie! Another little ham!

Kerry wants another!!

Bradie and her Uncle Kevin aka Jungle Gym!

Max swimming!!

He loved moving around on his tummy... he did not like going under!

Sam and Max!

Sam in the ocean!

The beach! It was a perfect day!

Beach... beautiful!

Max and Grandpa!

Max and Grandpa again!

Our little family!

Henry would like to be in our family! Another Ham!

Grandma and Grandpa Nesgoda!

If you can't tell I love my new camera.. and will be taking a ton of photos!! Max has even learned that when I say 'Smile' he smiles. Here's few pictures from today!!