Finally!!!!

I suppose I could wait another 2 days and make it a full month until I post. Our new camera is broken so I don't have nearly as many pictures as I'd like.

We're in our new house now. Alex loves it, he has free reign of the kitchen, living room, hall, and his room. He loves to sneak in our room and climb straight up the computer chair to play on the computer. I will try to get more pics of the house but for right now I have pics of Alex. I'll put them on the shutterfly and give a link. Here's a video of him playing blocks.





He's helping us unpack.

Here's our new dining set and our red kitchen.


PICTURES Click Here PICTURES

Our (soon to be) New House

Living Room
Living Room
Kitchen and Living Room
Master Bedroom
Master Bedroom

Me me me me me

That's the word of the week. Everything is "me". If he wants something, "me". If he dropped it and wants it, "me". He's also saying up, high, "I see (you)", no, Oreo (or uh ah), hello, uh oh, and eat- of course he's saying mama and dada. I think there's more but that's off the top of my head.

He is very daring, standing on top of toys, climbing into the kitchen chairs, standing in the dog bowl, anything and everything.

He has begun to pull us in the direction he wants us to go- he just pulled Patrick closer to his vacuum so he could fix it. He has been putting things in our hands or moving our hands to things he wants us to do for him.

Alex is hitting and biting (mostly me). That's not fun and it really hurts. He's very curious. When he goes to new places he explores and runs everywhere. He's a mile a minute, non-stop B-O-Y.

Video

Alex is dancing to Granny singing Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Forever let us hold our banners High High High High (and that's why he's raising his hands and saying Ah (high))

A busted lip

Today marks Alex's first busted lip. Daycare called me around 10am to say that Alex tripped over a toy, fell, and busted his lip. I went over there and checked on him and it looked gross- of course because it was fresh and he was sucking on it. It bled a lot they told me but he did fine. I called the doctor and they said as long as it didn't cut into the flesh he wouldn't need stitches. I'll post a pic later.

New Pictures

Click here for tons of new pictures

We've been so busy. Almost every weekend we're across the lake looking for a new home. Alex is a handful. He KNOWS what he wants and will cry and whine RELENTLESSLY until he gets it. I suppose his parents had NOTHING to do with that gene.

Pics at Grandma's

That wonderful fever ended up being roseola. Here's the rash.

Our son is T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Today I get a note from daycare...he bit AGAIN. A kid took his toy and he bit her. Tonight when we were at home He was trying to hand me a toy, I guess I didn't do it fast enough and he bit me.

He wouldn't eat dinner....it's something he's eaten before.

He's climbing EVERYWHERE. He climbed into the bathtub last night, climbed on top of this car and fell back when it rolled, climbed on his Little People garage he got from Aunt Jen and then he fell and bit his tongue.

And, like his father, he has selective hearing. He can hear Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and "bye bye" but cannot hear "NO".

ugh...

More teeth

Maybe this will explain his extreme crankiness and clinginess. Sunday he had a slight fever and it was gone by Monday afternoon. Yesterday at his 15 month checkup while he was screaming from the doctor checking his ears and throat I saw the tooth coming in. It's the bottom right to the main first 2 teeth. So now he has 8 teeth, which he uses to bite me.

Click here and see the #4 teeth. Now he has 1, 2, 3, 4.

Pictures

Click here for 45 new pictures. Since we've been at Grandma's we've been busy. I have finally uploaded the pictures we've taken in the past month.

New things

Alex is getting really smart!!

Zoo videos

First taste of snowball

Alex tried his first chocolate and mango (not mixed, two different ones) snowballs tonight. He LOVED them. Now he's pretending to feed himself and Oreo with my cup and spoon.

We went to the zoo today and I have some pictures and when I finally get around to uploading them I'll put them up.

Agh, the F word

FEVER

Alex has had fever since Sunday night. He woke up from a nap with 103.5 fever, last night it got to 104.1, he's had so many baths and cool rags on him. He was a limp noodle yesterday. Today he finally perked up, and of course that was after Patrick took him to the doctor. The doctor said he wouldn't be surprised if he had roseola. However, the fever broke and we didn't see spots (*fingers crossed*).

Tonight he ate the most he's eaten in several days. He had rice and pork chops. He drank G2 Gatorade because he drinks more of that than milk and water.

and some more video

Alex's favorite game


Feed the Deedee (puppy)

This is a monumental post

It is my 200th post AND Alex read out loud today!



And here's Alex's new bathtub trick.

Updates

It's been a while. Moving is so hectic. We're still not all the way out. We have about 5 things left. We had to rent another storage unit because the one we got just wasn't big enough. I'm sure there are some things we'll throw out :)

Alex has been tickling Oreo. He calls Oreo Deedee which we think is puppy. He tickles him too. He says dooka dooka for tickle tickle, it's the cutest!!

He's started searching for belly buttons so if you're close enough he'll lift your shirt, pinch your fat, and jam his finger in your belly button.

There's so much, but I have to upload the pics and video. We've been so busy it's undescribable.

a new trick

Today Alex learned to climb on the couch. Gone are the days I can leave him alone while I get ready for work. I have video, it's uploading...

Granny bought him a Handy Manny lawn chair and he climbs up that and stands.

We moved

We're out of our house and into Patrick's Grandma's house.

Today Patrick put up Alex's slide that he got for his birthday. He had tons of fun. He used the slide to go up and down. When we brought him to the ladder he tried to run back around to the slide.

I don't have pictures yet but it's so cute!

Well, gotta go move more stuff now. The closing is set for the 27th so soon we'll be completely out of the old house.

The cutest

Alex has been doing many things lately.

Tonight he opened his mouth for a Nilla Wafer and his noonie came tumbling out of his mouth and he said, "Uh oh".

When Patrick or I make a goat sound, he does it....so cute!

Tonight he was fussy to get to bed. Patrick was holding him, I made a bottle. Alex usually spits out his noonie for a bottle. When I held the bottle up, he put the noonie in Patrick's mouth and took the bottle.

A whirlwind of a weekend

Saturday was Stephanie's bachelorette party. Granny watched Alex. Mommy was soooo tired. We picked up Alex around noon. He had a diarrhea diaper. Then, he had one while we were there. He's had 3 since we were home in about 2 hours.

So, he has a virus...yay :( Alex gets everything. So on top of the breathing difficulties and coughing we have diarrhea after every meal and every bottle.

If anyone wants to babysit so Patrick and I can make money, let me know :)

....and we have black eye #2

Alex was playing basketball with me. He was trying to turn around to share his ball. He lost balance and hit the bottom side of a toy. He broke the skin under his right eye and it's bleeding very slightly and turned blue within a matter of seconds.

Boys...

So that's what it's like to sleep a full night

For the last 3 weeks, Alex has woken up several times a night. Tuesday night he woke up no fewer than 12 times due to coughing. His cough was so bad it was as if he could have vomited. Last week I called the doctor and they said it was post nasal drip, just give him zyrtec, elevate his bed, and put on the humidifier. A few days later we went to the doctor because Alex's sternum was protruding. Then, the doctor said again that it was post nasal drip.

After Tuesday night's wakings I brought him to the dr the next day. The doctor (a different one) said he was wheezing and his coughing was due to bronchiolitis. Now he's on a nebulizer with albuterol and a "p" medicine whose name escapes me.

After 3 breathing treatments and one steroid treatment, Alex almost slept the whole night. Waking up once is just as good as waking none.

The doctor won't say if it's asthma, but my friend's son is asthmatic and she said her son started the exact same way.

So anyway, that's what's happening now.

Alex's First Mardi Gras

I guess saying that this is First Mardi Gras is wrong, because he was about 6 weeks last Mardi Gras. However, we did not go to any parades. So technically it's his Second Mardi Gras, but first in attendance.

I wish I had pictures to share, but my husband took NONE. He sat back in a chair and took no pictures. I may be a little bitter.

Alex was so cute!! He started throwing beads and stuffed animals from his ladder seat. (I'm pretty sure I asked the husband to take video of this cute event, alas, there are no videos either.) If no one was paying attention to Alex, he'd scream to get someone's attention, then throw stuff down. It was the cutest thing.

For now, I'll just wait for Granny to send us some pictures because I know she took some.

Some firsts

Hop on over to http://babynoble1.shutterfly.com/ to see the new picture blog.

I'll still post video and notes/commentary here.

Last 2 nights at dinner

pony ride FAIL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMlGnNDwk_Y

Alex Videos

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Our day at the zoo

Zoo pictures

teething hell

As I type this, American Idol is paused, Patrick is trying to calm Alex, and I have a headache.

Alex is teething, and it's not a pretty scene.

I picked him up from daycare today and he was drooling like crazy. When we got home, he had a 102.4 fever, so we gave him Motrin. He wouldn't eat much dinner and was soooo fussy. Patrick tried putting him to bed but he just screamed. I tried, he just screamed. Since about 6:45 he's been crying, drooling, snotting, etc. He's putting his noonie in the back of his mouth and gnawing on it. I gave him teething tablets...still fussing. We called the pharmacy to see if we could give him some rx pain meds from his tubes surgery, they said "YES!!" So now we're waiting impatiently for the medicine to start working.

I think this will be a very very very long night.

Happy Birthday my little man!!!

So today we took One Year Old pictures at City Park. My co-worker, Jenny, took them for us. Thanks Jenny....It was so hard to choose. I'm buying 29 different pictures.

Oh, and make sure you have time before clicking the link, there's 159 pictures!
Click Here for Alex's One Year Old Pictures

Happy New Year everyone!

1st Birthday Party

We had our family birthday party this Sunday. Here are some pictures.

Much better today

Granny kept Alex last night and Patrick and I got some much needed, continuous sleep. He had no fever all day today, although he was still fussy but he's cutting teeth, so I venture to say that's why he's being a pain.

At least I had off of work and was able to stay home with sick boy.

So, we went to the doctor

Alex was given a baby decongestant. The dr thinks that he may have had a virus b/c the antibiotics should have worked by now and he shouldn't have had fever for 4 days on the amoxil. Since he still has massive snot and mucus she said to do the decongestant and hopefully things will start to clear up.

Last night Alex threw up 3 times due to choking on mucus. He finally cleared up after sitting in the bathroom with hot steam for 15 minutes. Patrick and I took shifts sleeping this a.m. because we were basically up from 1am-5am. He also ran to the drugstore at 3am for some vicks to put in the humidifier.

*Here's hoping tonight is better.*

Misery Christmas

Alex is not better. He's pretty much had fever all day except between 4:15am and 10:30am. His cough sounds disgusting, he's been whiny, crabby, clingy, and more.

Tonight when I tried to put him to bed (an hour early because he was so tired) he threw up all over me. Now, two hours later Patrick's trying to feed him and he sounds like he'll throw up again.

Tomorrow morning can't come soon enough. Alex is miserable, Patrick and I are both exhausted. I'm making a dr. appt first thing in the am and I really really hope Alex isn't super sick.

I wish I could take his place right now.

Our sick boy

In addition to the eye boo boo, Alex now has an Upper Respiratory Infection, a horrible juicy cough, and thrush. Today he had a fever of 103. He was so down in the dumps, miserable, whiny. Hopefully Christmas Day will be better for us.

1st attempt at saying his name

For a few weeks he's been saying "at". We thought he was saying cat. Now, I think it's his name.

Alex's first black eye

Today, Alex was walking (trying to walk) and when he gets to his destination he gets really excited and he rushes. Well he rushed into the edge of our computer desk. I assume he'll have a black eye for his first Christmas and Birthday.

You can see the spot on his nose but look at his eyebrow and right under his eye.

Peek A Boo

New Pics

Today we went to a gymnastics gym for a birthday party. Alex had tons of fun. He played with Kylee and gave her kisses...yes, Kenny, your daughter started it.

Click for Pictures

We've reached a milestone!

Right before I took this he took 3 steps toward the tub. Then I ran out of the bathroom to get the camera for video. 11 months and 6 days he steps on his own.

2 New Videos

Our funny boy

We tell many people that we can just sit back and watch Alex entertain us. This is what he did tonight.

Santa Video

In case some of you were wondering why we chose this pose, here's the video that goes along with the photoshoot. After I turned off the camera I told the camera man to take one with Santa looking at him because it didn't seem like he'd smile.

Santa Picture

Thanksgiving

Alex shares

dang blasted ear infections

On Thursday, the daycare lady said he was pulling at his ear all day. On the way home I noticed he was holding his ear. So I made an appt for Friday am. Patrick brought him and the DR said it was teething.

So last night, Alex woke up at 1230 and 430 and was just weird. It wasn't the normal wake up in the middle of the night. Then he got up again at 630 and was fussy and inconsolable and fidgety. So we're sitting on the couch watching Blues Clues and I see drainage coming out of his ears. Both ears.

How can a daycare worker and parent know he has an ear infection but a dr can't see it then the next day it's so bad it's draining?

I'm so mad....another copay.

Bathtime Fun

Starting to Walk

We're Home

We left this morning at 5:30. Alex was taken in at 7:30 and we were with him in recovery by 8:00. After he woke up he was cranky cranky. He was starving. The last bottle he had was at 1am and I woke him up for that one.

We spent about an hour trying to make Alex comfortable. He was flopping and flailing everywhere, screaming and just miserable. Nothing we did made him happy, except for when he played with Patrick's Sunglasses or the wire for the nurse call button. Finally we got the all clear to give him a bottle and then we had a much happier little boy. Now he's playing like normal and seems totally fine.

Surgery Tomorrow

Alex is getting tubes put in his ears tomorrow. He has had an ear infection for a month and a half. The hospital is supposed to call today and let us know what time it's scheduled for.

Happy Halloween

We did not Trick or Treat. Alex was in bed by 7. Plus, with him being sick I really didn't want to bring him out in the night air and cold.





Here is Alex's new favorite thing to do.

Thank goodness for ear drops and tylenol

Last night was so much better. He was up from 1-3 but it wasn't crying. He had a bottle then laid on my chest for about a half hour. I could not fall asleep or get comfortable so Patrick took over. He came to bed around 3 or 3:30.

I don't know what helped ease the pain but he's on a new antibiotic, some numbing eardrops and tylenol. We will be using that every night...:)

I got more sleep when Alex was newborn

Sunday night Alex was having breathing issues. Monday night he was up every hour from 8:30pm-6am. It was pure misery. Patrick was at work so I got to do all the fun stuff by myself. At 9pm he woke up screaming, I put him back to sleep. At 10:30pm same thing. About 10 minutes later, he was screaming again. I thought he was cold so I changed his PJ's. 10 minutes after I got him to sleep he was screaming again. Now it's about 11pm, he wakes up again. Now he's inconsolable, screaming, flailing, spitting, snotting, crying....it was really bad. At this point I'm walking around the house to calm him. I end up on the couch where he finally relaxes. We fall asleep. He's on my chest.

Patrick gets home from work at Midnight, offers to take care of him but I figured, no, Alex is settled, I don't want to wake him. Well, he still woke up every hour, still screaming, etc. Finally it was morning. I heard my alarm clock and got up. As soon as I moved off the couch, Alex's eyes popped open. I put him in his crib to play then as I got ready, Patrick took care of him.

I brought him to daycare and everything was fine.

Flash Forward to Tuesday night. Same thing except he started the waking later in the night 1:30am until about 3:10am he cried. He took a bottle from Patrick but afterwards, cried. We tried gas medicine, he spit it out. We tried tylenol, he spit it out (oh, I did gas medicine on Monday night and I thought it worked). He didn't want anything. At about 3am after listening to all the crying, I called the after hours number for the doctor. Of course, that was the cure for crying. I should have called the number at 2am. They called back and said to make an appt in the am. Well, at 4:30ish Alex was up again. I can't remember the details but I know at 5ish he ended up in the bed with us. At 5:30 he fell asleep. At 6 my alarm went off. At 6:30 I woke up and so did Alex....I woke up because Alex started to cry again. Expecting to get ready for the day, I take him out to change his diaper and he's burning up with fever. Since daycare won't accept them with fever I had to take off work. I took him to the dr and they said he has an upper respiratory infection, severe ear infection, and bronchiolitis (wheezing). He slept most of the day. He's totally not himself. He's lethargic and just pretty much staying in one place (TOTALLY NOT NORMAL FOR ALEX). After his nap I took his temp. It's 102.6. So, now I'm just waiting....

I suppose I'll be up again tonight. The dr gave us ear drops that should help with the pain and he's on a stronger antibiotic for the infection.

On a side note, on Wednesday, 11/5, Alex should be getting tubes in his ears. He's had an ear infection since 9/15. This is his 4th round of antibiotics. If Alex is still sick the surgery may be postponed.

Little Piggy

It seems like Alex is starting to not want jarred baby food. He had grits today for lunch (because I forgot about them at breakfast time) and for dinner I tried to give him jarred vegetable beef. He had about 3 bites then started doing raspberries. So I switched to corn and sweet potatoes which he loves and he only had a few bites of that. Then I decided to see if he would eat a waffle. He almost ate an entire waffle- of course it was plain.

Now I'm going to have to start actually planning and cooking.

Cute stuff

Alex has a new tooth. His 5th one cut through. It's the tooth to the left of his top middle teeth.

Tonight after his bath, I pulled the towel off his head and he had a mohawk so I had to take a picture. Then I realized he was posing and smiling. Check them out.




P.S.- Sorry about the sideways picture and the baby porn. I thought I had his penis all covered. Oh well.

Some firsts

Alex went to the park for the first time yesterday.Link to pictures....click me!

He said "Mama" tonight.

He's been standing on his own up to 20 seconds at a time.

I have some video I will try to upload.

Updates

It's been very hard the last few weeks to keep up. Alex is crawling and is into everything. He loves cords, laptops, cell phones and remotes. I wonder if we used his toys all the time if he'd still like our things.

He's also standing by himself for a few seconds at a time. He's growing up so quickly. Last year at this time I was pregnant and now I have a baby who is close to walking.

He's starting to eat finger foods. He LOVES graham crackers. Today at daycare, he ate a whole pancake. He only likes his turkey or chicken mixed with fruit. He will not eat it otherwise. He loves cantaloupe but hates avocado. He can throw a mean temper tantrum too. Tonight I took his graham cracker away because his mouth was full and he wailed. Next time I'll have to get it on film.

His hair is growing fast too. At 6 months he hardly had any and now it's like an inch long.

JCPenney Pro Pics

If you want the link to order, email me. Here's the pics from his 9 month photo shoot.

My photoshop handiwork

I just created a collage. Hope you like it. Starts in the top left corner and goes counter-clockwise.

A new trick

I taught Alex how to do something!


Isn't it cute?

Video

Alex is progressing VERY quickly. 2 weeks ago he sat up on his own and since then he has crawled and pulled himself to a standing position. This video catches all 3.

He crawled!!

Last night we went to Ms. Doris' for Uncle Vincent's birthday dinner. Nan and Uncle Chuck were there too. Alex really wanted either my flip flops or the plant and he turned around and crawled, coordinating his hands and knees. I didn't bring my camera so I don't have it on film...shocker, but I'll get some footage today...I hope.

Our First Trip to the E.R.

Thursday night I thought I noticed a little wheezing from Alex. He didn't have fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and he was acting totally normal. So I put him to bed. Friday morning he was fine. Friday afternoon I picked him up from daycare and I noticed him wheezing. Friday night, I was feeding him dinner and it got worse...louder and closer together. I called the dr. and the on call nurse said "Pick your hospital because you have to bring him in." So, we picked Children's. We got there at 6:40pm Friday night. The nurse checked Alex and said she heard wheezing the first time then didn't the next time, but "hopefully the dr. will hear it." The dr. came and didn't even take out his stethoscope at first, he wanted to observe Alex's chest and belly. He noticed labored breathing. Then he checked him with the stethoscope. He heard wheezing, ordered an xray and breathing treatments.

The xray didn't show pneumonia so the dr. said he just had bronchitis. We asked if he had asthma and he said at this age they don't diagnose that and it's more of a family history diagnosis. No one in our families (that we can recall) has or has had asthma but I have horrible allergies and Patrick has horrible sinus problems, so poor Alex inherited one, if not both issues.

After the Xray, Alex fell asleep. 6pm was his bedtime and now it was after 7 and he was so tired. A lady came down to give him a breathing treatment and he did so good with it. Next, someone came to suction snot out of his nose with a high powered syringe. It was a hose hooked up to air on the wall. Alex and mommy did NOT like that. They were going to test his snot for RSV and other illnesses. The RSV test came back negative.

The dr. came back to check on him and said the breathing treatment helped so he ordered another one. They also gave him a dose of Orapred (steroid) to help with inflamation.

In addition to the bronchitis, Alex also has an ear infection and a throat infection. He's on amoxicillin for those.

We left Children's at 9:45ish and Patrick and I were starving. Neither of us had eaten since lunch....and ya'll KNOW I was starving if that's the case. So we bring his rx's to Walgreens and then go to Taco Bell for dinner. I get a large Sierra Mist and as we pull off I taste the drink and it's 90% carbonation. Yuck! Then we get to Walgreens and the girl said insurance didn't cover the rx's because his birthdate was wrong. So really long story short on that one. The girl was new and didn't notice the "RX" sign on the card. Our rx don't go through our normal company they go through a prescription company. The next day I brought in a statement from Humana with Alex's correct birthday on it and the new set of workers at Walgreens caught the error and I got a refund. Yay! But, add the rx mistake with my gross Sierra Mist and it was not a fun night.

We got home at 10:45 and were in bed by 11.

Then we had to- or I- woke up to check on Alex's breathing at 3am. He was fine, but he woke up at 4am so I had to feed him since he didn't eat a lot yesterday. Then after the crying he needed a treatment. Then he went back to bed.

New Videos

What Alex looks like after HE feeds HIMSELF.

He's starting to crawl

Is your baby ready to move to a forward-facing carseat?

New Pictures

Here are pictures from evacuation. Alex turned 8 months and belated giraffe pictures are in there as well.

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/album.sfly?sid=0BaM2zRy2YsWGX&startIndex=0&fid=5d3a2c976b94fc62cf4ab00f16ca9e1e


http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=4da066c49deb5862d33ce936de451066

EDITED:: I don't know what's going on with shutterfly. I hope these links work...they're the same pictures but different links. It has added pictures of our first family trip to the Aquarium of the Americas. Alex loved watching the sharks and penguins.

We're home

This trip took the normal time. We didn't have traffic but we were with many cars on the road. Everyone went the speed limit and it was fine. We drove through some showers.

On the return trip it was just me, Patrick and Alex. Ms. Doris (Great Grandma) left with Ms. Debbie (Granny) earlier in the day. Patrick and I didn't decide until later on that we would return home. Knowing we wouldn't be able to wash dishes, take showers or flush the toilet until possibly tomorrow was better than having 2 adults, a baby, 2 cats, and a dog and our luggage in one small hotel room. We have electricity so we can microwave the meals we bought in Alabama. We stocked up on food and water before we came home so we don't have to go out and wait in lines like most everyone else.

The trip was about 6 hours. We left around 12pm and got home around 6pm on Thursday. We had to stop for gas and to feed Alex. Alex slept the first 3 hours of the trip so we made good time then. After he was up he needed to eat twice. The second feeding was done on the side of some neighborhood off I-12.

So, we're home safe and sound. The pets are happy, the baby seems happy and the parents are happy.

DirectTV was not working so Patrick set up the bunny ears. One must NOT miss the first regular season game of football.

Hurricane Gustav

Long story short:
We left home at 4:30am on Sunday morning. We arrived at our final destination at 11:30pm Sunday night. To save you from math that's 19 hours.

Long story:
We made plans to leave at 4:30am and after those plans, JP announced that they would start contraflow at 4am. Because we didn't know if Alex would wake up at night we didn't want to push up the leave time. We had no problem on the WBank Expy or the CCC. When we got to I-10 we hit traffic. From there we went 90 miles in 10 hours. We didn't get out of Slidell until 3:30pm. I-10 was blocked off going East so EVERYONE who wanted to go to the coast of MS, AL, FL, or GA had to go up I-59. The traffic was absolutely a nightmare.

Ms. Doris entertained and fed Alex in the backseat. He was an angel. He didn't cry at all.

Patrick found some shortcuts in MS so we didn't have to sit in I-59 traffic more than we already were. We stopped to eat and that took about 30 minutes. Around 7pm Ms. Debbie started getting tired so we tried our hardest to find a closer hotel. Nothing was available. Then I remembered that my cousin Tracy was in Tuscaloosa and I called her to see if her hotel had an opening. They did....one room. So Ms. Debbie and Ms. Doris stayed to sleep while Patrick, Me, and Alex continued on another 2 hours to our hotel.

7 miles from our hotel exit Alex started crying. It got worse. There was nothing I could do so I was going to wait it out. At 3 miles from the exit, he vomited and gagged from crying so much. I pulled over to take care of him and console him. I was scared to death someone was going to hit me because there were no lights on that stretch of highway and cars were going upwards of 70mph. Finally, I had to put him back in his seat and listen to crying for 3 miles. When we got to the hotel I took him out and held him for the rest of the night. We arrived at 11:30pm and finally got to bed around 1am.

This morning Patrick woke up early to get his mom and grandma and about 20 minutes later he called to tell me the Tuscaloosa hotel had a room. So he came back home. We packed up and decided to drive the 2 hours again. At least when we go home it SHOULD be a shorter drive. Personally I'd like to wait for the bulk of the people to return home so we can avoid traffic again but money will be an issue and we'll have to leave when we can come back.

I'm not looking forward to returning!

Patrick and I are finally getting to take showers....48 hours later. I think we'll burn our clothes. We're in our new hotel room now.

I need tires too. As soon as we pulled in to the Tuscaloosa hotel parking lot my tire rolled over something and began losing air. Then Patrick inspected my tires and we decided it would be safe if I got all new tires. So that's a pretty penny too.

If there's any more, I'll add it down here....I think that's all, I'm pretty sleep deprived. I have driven 21 hours in 2 days and had 6 hours of sleep...and anyone who really knows me, knows I need more than 6 hours of sleep.

Just thought of this so I'll add it. I'm so glad and LUCKY that Alex was so good. When I say he didn't cry until 7 miles from the hotel, he really did not cry. I couldn't believe it. I know he reached his limit of spending time in the car seat. Heck, I reached my limit of driving around the 4 hour mark. At least I know if need be, I can drive 19 hours straight....but I'll never do it again unless I absolutely have to. I'm so proud of my little man.

Final post before we leave

We're evacuating early Sunday morning. We have a hotel room in Northern Alabama. We've packed (or should I say I) so much more. I have a whole rubbermaid container for pictures and Patrick doesn't understand why. Since we're on the westbank and the news is saying we're so vulnerable, I'm prepared to lose the house. It's very sad to know that's a possibility. With Katrina, I don't think anyone ever thought it was a possibility but we've had 3 years to deal with people with loss and it's sunken in.

I'm not looking forward to doing bottle and nipple stuff in a hotel sink. I'm not looking forward to being quiet in the room while Alex naps. I'm not looking forward to taking the dog out for walks instead of letting him roam free in the yard. But I'm looking forward to the fact that we will have electricity, food, and water.

To those of you who choose to stay. I hope that things go well for you. I have many people that I LOVE who are choosing to stay and I wish they wouldn't. But they don't live on the westbank and could be safer.

As Gustav is a category 4 now, I don't see how anywhere in his path will be safe. But that's my opinion.

I'm sure I'll post when we reach our hotel and tell about our joyous adventure of evacuating with an 8 month old baby. BTW, tomorrow Alex makes 8 months.

HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!

This used to be a regular occurance, pre-teething. Last night he slept from 6pm-...he's still sleeping at 640am.

Maybe the virus is going away and the formula is what he needed.

YAY.....I hope this continues.

OMG he's still sick

Today I made a dr. appt. The dr thinks Alex has lactose intolerance so he told me to switch to soy formula. Try that until he has normal poo and for a week after that. Then give him regular formula and see if he gets diarrhea again. If he does, then Alex is lactose intolerant.

So, on to the fever mystery and all that sleeping. Alex has coxsackie virus. It's quite gross. That's the reason he had fever, whiny, snotty nose, cough, sleepy, etc. They took a blood test and the virus is in his body full force.

Poor baby. Hopefully tonight he will sleep through the night. Last night Patrick was up with him from 1230am to 330am. I hope the new formula makes a difference.

Video

In this video, Alex was very sleepy. Patrick was trying to put him to sleep but he kept popping his head up. Then once I took out the camera he put on even more of a show.


In this one, everytime Patrick would sniff his nose, Alex would get startled and pop up. Before this video Alex was doing raspberries on Patrick.


Alex's fever is gone today. He took a nap from 930am until almost 1pm. He woke with a temp of 97.2. Let's hope it stays away.

sick baby part 2

So last night Alex woke up so much. He had 101.4 fever last night and this morning, and then it went down to 100.8, and then around 3:30pm today it went up to 103.3. He was lethargic, clingy, and sleepy. All he wanted to do was cuddle and whine. I called the dr., they said give him Tylenol and if the fever gets to 104 to call them back. They also said to give him a bath to cool him down and give him some water to drink.

Since then he's been much better and he's playing and laughing and talking. He has had some gross diapers but not as many as he's had in the past week. I'll probably still be taking him in on Monday to get his poop tested if he keeps having these loose poops.

He had a gross loose, but not diarrhea diaper today.

Here are some pictures of our visit with Lulu today and our first and probably only picture of Aramis with Alex. Aramis is never near Alex....ever. So this was a special occasion.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BaM2zRy2YsWFo

When baby ain't happy, ain't nobody happy

For the past 2 weeks, Alex has had diarrhea. It started 2 Fridays ago. I called the dr. office and they said to have him come in on Monday for stool cultures. This morning he had a regular bm. So I guess I'll wait and see on Monday if diarrhea starts and then I'll call back.

Last night Alex woke up very often. Patrick took care of a few wake ups before 11pm. At 11pm I got up and Alex was burning up. I took his temperature and he had a 101.4 fever, which the dr. says is an uncomfortable fever but not one to worry about. So I gave him Tylenol and he was up a few more times in the night with gas and such. At 530am, bright and early, he was up. He still had a fever of 101.4 so I gave him more Tylenol. I'm so tired...I just want to sleep in.

Patrick was up with him yesterday from 4am until 530am when he had to wake me. We had to tag-team on a diarrhea diaper....this involved the shower head and a bath, oh, and a stripping of his bed. Since Patrick did yesterday I have today :( How much are live-in nannies? j/k

I love the time I can spend holding him since I am back at work. When Alex gets home from daycare he has about 2-3 hours and then he's asleep. So I love the weekends even though I can't sleep in.

The new look in baby wear

I was letting Oreo in from outside and he tore through the living room. Well Alex was on the ground and he started screaming. I scooped Alex up and checked all over to see if I saw paw marks. I took his clothes off and he was ok. I guess he just cried because Oreo scared him. Well a few minutes later I noticed a scratch on his arm. Oreo did hurt him. I called the dr. and they said to put neosporin and a long sleeve shirt. Since it's so hot I cut the sleeve off one side....thus, the new picture.

My friend Connie has a baby blog and she inspired me to give a mini update on Alex.

For the past almost 2 weeks Alex has had diarrhea. We're changing about 10 diapers a day, 8 of them being poo. Yesterday he went through 4 outfits. Since he has diarrhea, he has been on bananas to "clog" him up. Now when we feed him anything but fruit it's a challenge to get him to eat. Last night he was up every hour from 9pm-3am. I guess it was because of the Peas I had him eat. Tonight he refused to eat his Garden Vegetables but he ate up all the bananas.

He loves daycare. He's happy when I drop him off and when I pick him up.

He's teething and it's not fun. He's so cranky and fussy. Over the weekend he got Motrin a few times. He chews everything, drools on everything and gnaws on his pacifier rather than sucking. I try to find the tooth but he starts to eat my finger and I can't see anything.

So far Alex is sitting up unassisted. He is getting on all fours and rocking but then falls flat like a pancake. He hasn't picked up how to crawl from daycare yet. We're hoping it comes....but then hoping it doesn't. If you know what I mean.

Alex loves petting Domino. Oreo and Aramis really want nothing to do with him. Oreo, at least, comes by Alex. Aramis is never seen. All pictures I have with him in the pets it's just Domino and Oreo...no Aramis.

Well, gotta go. Alex is crying. There's probably some poop in store for me and he needs a bath.

Oh the joys of daycare

Alex started daycare last Monday. Since then he had vomiting on Wednesday, I had the same plus diarrhea on Friday, then Alex started with diarrhea Saturday. Today he had it so bad it came out of his clothes.

Can someone tell me what else I have to look forward to? I already know...chicken pox, the flu, ringworms, stitches, busted lips, etc.