Friday, June 29, 2007

A Busy Week in Which I Hate Teething

We had a nice weekend and we're now looking forward to another one. The week in between has been pretty busy and we've had to deal with the woes of teething...at least I hope that's the root of our problems. Caleb started running a fever on Tuesday night. He kept an unmedicated temperature of about 101.4 for almost 48 hours. He responded well to Tylenol and Motrin and the fever stopped quickly when we gave him those. He's been pretty lethargic - as most of us are with a fever - but when we gave him medicine, he perked back up almost immediately. I've also noticed increased drooling and he's been playing with his tongue a lot. He's very resistant to the toothbrush all of a sudden. Also - he's had some pretty funky diapers. All of that put together is a pretty good indication that teething is the problem, but you can never be sure. I've tried to get a good look in his mouth, but he won't let me see and the one time I tried to feel around in there I got a pretty hard bite. That was my sign to lay off and just let nature take its course! No fever at all today and he seems to be feeling a lot better, so I'm hoping the worst is over...for now.

Despite the mild setback, we've managed to entertain ourselves pretty well this week. On Monday, I had some errands to run and took my weekly "Mom's Day Off." Rudy and Caleb not only went to play in the play area at West County mall in the morning, but they also went to the Ballwin pool in the afternoon. Rudy took his well-deserved "Dad's Day Off" on Tuesday and went to do his errands and play golf. It was too hot to do much outside and I can't stand just sitting around the house all day with Caleb ("no, don't touch the outlets," "no, don't eat the dog food," "no, don't press every button the satellite receiver..."). No matter how many toys we play with - they get boring! So, after a very short nap, we packed up and went to Chesterfield mall for a stroll, lots of time in the bookstore and playtime in the play area. We both enjoyed it! On Wednesday, we tried to go to the Magic House for our morning out, but it was raining and it seemed like everyone else in town had the same idea. We didn't even go in. Rudy ended up taking him back to the mall to play again. (The mall play area is so great because it's free and Caleb loves it!) We had an open house on Wednesday night, so we did some pretty heavy-duty cleaning and then went out to dinner while the house was open. On Thursday, we thought we might try the Magic House again, but Caleb just wasn't acting like himself, so we decided against it. We had a pretty low-key day at home. Caleb was feeling better after his nap, so I took him to the park to swing and watch the "big kids" play while Rudy took a nap. After the park, we stopped at Sonic and split a milkshake to cool ourselves down and just because it was fun. We came home and played for a while, then Rudy and I had a date night. We actually got a babysitter and went out to dinner at Roberto's and then downtown to the Broadway Oyster Bar to hear the Rebirth Brass Band - one of our favorite bands from New Orleans. It was a wonderful night - so relaxing and something very different from the usual activities. Unfortunately, Caleb woke up when we got home at midnight and cried so hard that I had to sit and rock him back to sleep. Everything was fine until he woke up again at 4:00 sobbing uncontrollably. Normally, I would've tried to wait it out to encourage him to get back to sleep on his own, but with the way he's been feeling lately - I just couldn't do it. I picked him up and tried to rock him back to sleep. No dice. So, I laid down in the guest bed with him. Again...no dice. We ended up going down to the living room and watching a recorded episode of Sesame Street, drinking a whole cup of milk and then he was ready to play! I stayed up with him until 7:00 so that Rudy could get some sleep. By 7, I had been up for 3 hours and was working on just about 3 hours sleep. I woke Rudy up and handed parenting responsibilities over to him. He gladly got up and took over. I was asleep within minutes and slept most of the morning away. Rudy took Caleb to playtime at church. After Caleb's nap, I decided that he was feeling much more like himself and that we were finally going to go to the Magic House. Rudy was running errands, so we were on our own. We had a wonderful time in the "Little Bit of Magic" area at the Magic House. Caleb played with balls and pots & pans, mirrors, other kids and all sorts of fun stuff. He really enjoyed crawling up and down the ramps too. It was a fun afternoon for us.

Only 3 1/2 weeks until we move! Still no bites on the house, but we're less worried now that we have a temporary place to live in Rogers. We have fun stuff planned for every week until we move. I decided that we needed some sort of plan so that the days don't just slip by and we wonder why we didn't do anything. I researched some fun activities in the area and wrote them all down on a calendar. I feel much more "in control" of things that way. I guess it's just my nature.

I guess I should go to bed now. There's no telling what time the little monster will wake up!

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