The Plague Sweeps the Household

When we took Amanda to the Emergency Room last week, we hoped her bug would spare the rest of the family, but we weren't that lucky.  No sooner had Amanda recovered when Reagan spiked a fever herself.  We think it started overnight on Friday since she didn't sleep well, and by Saturday morning she had a temperature around 101 or so.  Fortunately, we were able to get some infant's Motrin in her without her throwing it up (she has in the past had a very sensitive gag reflex for medicine), so I think we were able to control it.  As a result, the fever never got up in the scary 103 to 104 range.  Also, she never vomited.  Still, it's tough to feel so helpless when your baby is clearly suffering.  By Sunday afternoon, Reagan had basically recovered, though she still isn't eating all that much or taking as much formula as we would like.  Hopefully the appetite will return soon.

Of course, now that Reagan has recovered, Susan has a fever, headache, and a sore throat.  I don't have to hold her down to get her to take medicine, so she's been able to minimize her symptoms somewhat.  If the lifespan of the illness holds true, she should probably be better by late this afternoon.  At any rate, that's when my sympathies will expire.

The question becomes, then, who and when will the dreaded 36-hour plague strike next?

Spring Update

The past couple of months have absolutely flown by, and it's hard to believe that Baby Reagan is already ten months old.  Where does the time go?  I've actually got a lot to cover with this update, so let's get on with it, shall we?  A few pictures are embedded, but there's also an album over yonder >>>>>>
with more photos (and captions!).


Overall Development

Let's see . . . what milestones has Reagan hit since the last update . . .  Well, she got two more teeth, bringing the total to four!  And she's been drooling a whole lot for the past week, so we're expecting some more activity along the gumline any time now.

Reagan had her nine-month check up, and everything was pretty good.  In fact, the only source of concern was that she wasn't crawling yet.  But since she was otherwise so normal (i.e., not lethargic), and since I've heard of plenty of kids that go straight to walking, I wasn't really concerned.  Still, the pediatrician asked us to check in with her if Reagan wasn't crawling by two weeks later.  Two weeks passed, and there was no change.  However, we still thought everything with Reagan was good enough that we just ignored the pediatrician's directions.  Shhhh . . .

Finally, one day short of her ten-month birthday, Reagan shuffled forward enough toward an identifiable goal that we officially called it a crawl.  And since I happened to be home that day (self-employment can be awesome), I got some footage of one of her earliest attempts:

She still much prefers being held, but she can squirm her way toward whatever she wants, which is usually the remote control (not her toy one, mind you, but only the real one).  Life just got more complicated.

Easter

As usual, our Easter weekend was busy with multiple egg hunts, along with brunch at the Athletic Club. Amanda seems to have finally gotten over her abject fear of people in animal costumes.  Now, it's merely a healthy distrust.

Mother's Day

In keeping with our Mother's Day tradition, we did brunch at the club.  Yes, again.  A good time was had by all.  And a cute picture was had by me:

Baptism

We had our little baby girl baptized on May 15th at Johns Creek United Methodist Church.  Heading into the ceremony, we were worried we had waited too long to have it done.  Rather than being oblivious to her surroundings, Reagan had gotten to the point where she was afraid of strangers (in a healthy way).  And with the pastor doing the baptizing also having a full beard, we were expecting the worst.  Imagine our surprise, then, when I handed her over to Rev. Big Beard and she just went along without complaint.  She did fantastic during the little ceremony itself, even waving to the congregation!  Then, she let the pastor carry her around the sanctuary to show her off, and she even let out a few squeals during the rest of the service that got the whole place laughing.  We were so relieved proud!

Code Brown

Reagan's ability to sit up without wobbling, combined with her inability to fit comfortably in the small plastic baby bathtub, led to our bathing her in the big bathtub in our bathroom.  Ordinarily, I would agree that such a simple achievement wouldn't qualify for inclusion in her blog, but the big tub had an unusual effect on her -- it caused, shall we say, extreme relaxation.  In other words, she pooped.  Three of the first four times we put her in the big tub, she let loose.  And for two of those three times, Amanda was in there with her, so we had to do an immediate evacuation of both kids, followed by a good Comet scrub down.

Projectile Vomiting

In keeping with the theme of bodily excretions (aren't you glad you waited so patiently for this?), I've got another wonderful story.  And, it's a two-parter!

Part I begins on the evening of Friday, May 6th.  Susan had a "girl's night" at a concert, so it was up to me to get the girls fed and put to bed.  That responsibility in itself is no big deal, as I have handled those tasks without incident on many occasions.  Dinner went fine, and a little while later it was time for Reagan's last bottle of the night before putting her down.  After finishing the bottle at about 7:15, I tried to burp her, but something didn't seem quite right.  Then, instead of burping and being happy within about a minute after finishing the bottle (which had been her m.o. for weeks if not months), she threw up all over me like a freshman during fraternity rush.  Here's what my clothes looked like:

Not pictured:  My look of disgust

At least Susan enjoyed the concert.

Part II of the story took place the following Tuesday.  Again, Susan was conveniently away, this time traveling for work (a likely story!).  Well, I gave Reagan the last bottle, and the little critter vomited all over me AGAIN!  And again I had to shower and change clothes!  Okay, so maybe that wasn't so much a Part II as it was a sequel which simply recycled the plot of the original.  Still, it was very disconcerting to see throw-up that close, and to see it twice in five days is something I'll not soon forget.  Neither will Susan, as I intend to regularly remind her of the fact she missed both of them.

And Reagan?  She was fine.  We decided we had been trying to cram too much food into her in a short amount of time -- basically, within about three hours, we were giving her two full bottles sandwiched around baby food and whatever finger food she could shove down her gullet.  We ratcheted back the size of the bottles, spread out the timing a little more, and everything has been fine since then.

Solid Food

We've been gradually scaling back Reagan's formula intake since we've been able to add baby food and some solid food to her diet.  So far, we really haven't found anything that she doesn't like.  Her favorites are ham, cheese, beans, cantaloupe, pasta, and avocado.  That said, we're not naive enough to believe she'll always eat whatever we put in front of her, but hope springs eternal!


First Day at the Pool!

Our neighborhood pool opened in mid-May, and Amanda could not get in there fast enough.  Though it took about a week and a half for her to be as comfortable (swimming, jumping in, etc.) as she was at the end of last summer, Amanda is now planning a summer of almost daily swimming.  And we're dreading a summer of facing the daily choice of either going swimming with a three-year-old or disappointing a three-year-old.


The bigger question, of course, was how Reagan would react to the water.  Since she loves her bath, we hoped that would translate to loving the pool, as well (albeit with fewer bowel movements).  Well, after a few minutes with a "what's going on here?" look on her face, she settled in and now really enjoys it herself.  In the little ladybug floaty, she'll stand on the steps and kind of jump toward the pool, which seems pretty fearless for a ten-month-old.

I guess that's about it for now.  As I write this, Amanda has been battling a pretty high fever which led to an Emergency Room visit last night.  Not only did she have a fever pushing 104, but she threw up a bunch of times yesterday, too (only a little got on me or Susan), so we thought it made sense to get her checked out.  Fortunately, it's nothing serious -- probably just a virus -- and we're just supposed to try to control the fever with Motrin.  Unfortunately, Amanda absolutely will not take medicine, so she's had to kind of suffer some today.  We've kept an eye on her fever, and it hasn't been as high as it was yesterday, so hopefully she'll be her old self again soon.