A Walk in the Woods

Jamie, Nathan and I romped through the woods this morning. The air was more than crisp and frost still covered areas yet untouched by the sun. Nathan 'stole' my camera and took pics of everything one can shake a finger at. Below is a pic of the old diesel tank and then one of dirt tracks made from logging trucks. He's a pretty good photographer for being only 3.

Meet and Greet

Our plane rides were uneventful--nearly unheard of with a four and a half month old. Jack got to meet some new family members, including his goofy cousin, Nathan.

Meet and Greet: The Toy Edition

Grandma pulled out all of Nathan's old toys for Jack's play. New toys are always goods things!

Next Step: Driving

He thinks he can feed himself. The struggle begins...

Four Months and Growing

Jack had his four-month doctor's checkup today. The tiny little 6lb 8oz bundle we brought home in August has grown into a 15.6lb, 27 inch snuggly monster!

In the last two months, he has shot from the 25 percentile for height to the 97th. Wowsers! No wonder I want to cut the feet off all his jammies. He's outgrowing them in length too quickly.

This development is quite astonishing. I told Jamie that I didn't think the milkman was that tall. ;o) Jamie didn't laugh--even though he should have for the shear fact that milkmen don't really exist around here anymore...

Meanwhile, while we consider him to have a cute little Buddha-belly, he's actually only in the 50 percentile for weight.

Working Mom's Guilt

I blame myself. My pride in being a mom who doesn't rush her kid into the doctor at the first sniffle or sneeze, along with my over-the-top will-do attitude at work have kept me from doing right by him.


For the last week or so, Jack has had a case of the sniffles, which progressed to a case of the sniffles, coughs, sneezes, wheezes and phlemmies (another new entry in my personal dictionary). Using the humidifier, bundling him up and aspirating his nose were no longer viable options on Friday night into Saturday morning when the wheezing began.

Still hoping for the best and not knowing the full extent of the illness, I called the doctor's office to get a same-day appointment before the predicted ice storm. After taking his temperature in preparation for the call and discovering it to be 100.4 degrees, I reported all of the symptoms and signs to a questioning nurse, who in turn directed me to get him to the nearest emergency room "asap".


Armed with only ourselves--having forgotten the diaper bag in our haste--we arrived at OSF ER. To make a long story short--he has RSV. This is like a serious cold that can be potentially very dangerous, especially to infants 2-6 months old. The doctor also thought he could also have Fifth's Disease because of his rash--including the rosy cheeks (see pic). I think it's because we gave him a Johnson's vapor bath that morning. The rash began resolving by the end of the day.



If I weren't working so much--setting my alarm in the wee hours in the morning to manage multiple priorities, would I have acted with a little more urgency? Yes. Is that work's fault? Absolutely not. Everyone chooses his or her own destiny. My goal is to be a mom who provides--but right now I'm focused to much on providing in the material sense instead of tending to the physical. My self-worth should be measured by the width of my child's grin instead of the amount in my check.

All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Tired Boy

Ah, the little milestones. They're enough to melt even the stingiest of hearts. Tonight Jack mastered the art of grabbing his own feet. It took some grunting and straining, but he performed the new feat during a diaper changing (a welcomed end to the usual grunting and straining on the table). He was quite tickled with the results of his efforts and so were we!

All that hard work (combined with an ever-increasing bad cold) tuckered the little lad tremendously. While playing with mommy on the couch, he dropped into a sudden sleep in the middle of a spirited babble.

Pausing to Enjoy

Sniffles, Sneezes and Snots

As you know from previous postings, Jack is beginning to drool. If this wasn't messy enough, he now has secretions oozing from his nose, too. Thus, we have been introduced to a new stage in parenting: nursing the weary and wounded.

Jack's little case of the sniffles started about a week ago. Poor little guy. We heard a modern-day old wives tale (ha, like that makes sense!): take the kid outside and let the cold air push all of the snot and crud out. Really? My first reaction was honestly one of disbelief--aren't we supposed to stay out of the cold in order to ward off a cold?

Well, we thought we had been doing everything right, but he still got sick, so we decided to give it a shot. Staying away from sick family on Thanksgiving, finding religion in a bottle of antibacterial gel and throwing menacing looks at coughing children in the store obviously didn't do the trick.

First, I held him in front of the open freezer door. All that did was make him blink at the luke-cold (a new word I just made up) and make me crave ice cream. Before I was able to accidentally freeze his little noggin to the inside of the freezer, Jamie suggested taking him out to the garage.

Bundled in his little winter hat, Jack was thrown over his daddy's shoulder for a short trip to the garage. (See pics!) The result? A deluge of snot shot out by the chilly air and a new method stored in our parenting repertoire.