A Night Out For Mom And Dad

It's been a long couple of weeks. Max has been sick and therefore has been back and forth to the doctor's, Ted has recently been diagnosed with the early stages of pneumonia and I am recovering from my own sinus infection (with a short-lived case of laryngitis). As my best friend Karen said so eloquently, it's like General Hospital around here. Add in the fact that we are in the process of moving my office which causes me to run back and forth from old to new spaces, pickout carpeting and wall paint, meet with contractors, electricians and phone installers, and I've been pretty busy. Ted has no coverage in his office right now, either, so he's been busy at his job and has been coming home a little later then usual and has no flexibility to go into work late. So, I've had to take Max to doctor's appointments which has taken quite a chunk of time out of my days recently. Don't get me wrong, he's worth it, but I've been exhausted.



So, I mentioned to Ted that I needed a night out, and he said that he would ask his parents if they could watch Max for a little while so that we could go to dinner at Le Jardin du Roi, the restaurant in Chappaqua, NY where Ted's brother Cristiaan works. It's a little out of the way, but we knew that if we went there we would get an outstanding meal, and that is definately what we were craving.



Ted's parents were, as usual, more then happy to watch the boy, and so we dropped him off and headed off to dinner. Cris treated us like royalty, and our meal was fantastic. I was SO stuffed by the time we walked out of there that I couldn't breathe. On the way back to pick up Max, I sat back and realized how good I felt. Just when my night felt complete, I looked up to the clear sky and I saw a shooting star. It was a wonderful evening.....

My Little Turkey

I think I've mentioned before what a big hit Max is with the ladies at daycare, but today was a really special example of that. The director called me with a question about his meds for the nebulizer, and she said that Max was having a good day. She mentioned that Miss Melanie, who takes care of him in the morning, had made him a turkey hat and that I would just love it.



When I picked him up at 5pm, Miss Ann told me that Max had an especially good day, which was wonderful to hear since we had a bit of a tough morning together with him spitting up numerous times causing me to have to change him a bunch of times. Anyway, I talked to Miss Ann for a little while and then asked to see this already famous turkey hat. She put it on his head and we howled with laughter. I instantly knew that I had to have a photo shoot when we got home, and here's the best of the bunch.....Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

Sweet Potatos and Peas and Bananas....OH MY!

We've started to give Max a little bit of baby food in addition to his rice cereal and formula. So far he's tried and enjoyed prunes, bananas, carrots, sweet potatos and peas. This photo is proof that peas can be an effective fashion accessory....

He Has Bronchitis. Wait, no he doesn't......

Max has his first illness. He has been coughing for a while but since he didn't have a fever and he was his usual happy self, when I've called the doctors office they have dismissed me, clearly thinking that I am simply being a worrysome mother of a brand-spanking new infant. Call it mother's intuition, call it basic common knowledge, call it whatever you want, but I knew something was up.

On Sunday, November 2nd Max woke me at 3am howling and coughing. I ran into his room and he was in his crib kicking and punching the air and he was clearly unhappy. In the midst of having his diaper changed, he had a violent coughing fit. Noticing that he was turning a horrible shade of red which was quickly turning to a blueish scarlet, I scooped him up and ran downstairs to where we had the aspirator.

(This is a handy little tool for getting the snot out of an infants nose, and for clearing excess drool or mucous from their mouth. I don't know what I would do without it.)

Max was trying desperately to clear his throat and the coughing was heart wrenching. I sucked some of the mucous out for him, which seemed to help for a second, and then he started coughing violently again. Talk about scary!!! I woke Ted up and we both decided that this was getting to be too much to ignore. So, at 8 in the morning I called the doctors office to see what I should do. Luckily, the doctor who was on call from the practice had Sunday office hours, so they said they could see him a little later in the day.

Immediately upon walking into the room where Max and I were waiting, the doctor said, "Oh, yeah. He's got bronchitis. I can hear him wheezing from here!" So, he called in a prescription for ammoxicillin and a liquid form of albuterol and off we went.

About a week passed, and Max was still coughing up a storm and wheezing. A lot. So, I called the doctors office again and we were seen that same day. This time the doctor said that Max probably had either bronchiolitis or asthma, and they gave me a nebulizer to give him treatments at home. True to my little boy's wonderful nature, he takes it all in stride, but I have to admit that it is hard to see him with that little mask on his face....

He seems to be doing better now. Ted and I have been giving him treatments and his cough seems to be getting a little less "deep". Oh, and by the way, he is already close to 18 pounds....

Max's First Halloween

Max celebrated his first Halloween as a pea pod. The cutest darn pea pod ever!!!!

I brought him into school in his costume, and everyone there was just freaking out. I went to work, and we all tried to contain our excitement until I could go pick Max up, Theresa's mom came by with her sons, and Sabrina showed up with Emma. Theresa worked really hard to get the office looking festive, and Robyn made some great contributions including dressing up as a witch.

Everyone gathered at 4pm, and Max and Ethan were asleep by 4:15. Crazy party animals!!!

We had cupcakes, punch, 7 layer bars, popcorn balls with candy corn in them, mexican dip, sugar cookies and tons of candy. Theresa brought play-doh and construction paper and crayons to entertain the kids, and everyone seemed to have a ball. Around 5:30 we were all in our cars headed home and I'm sure everyone was as tired as I was!