Water Table

On Sunday the 22nd, we opened up the water table for the first time this season. Parker thought all the splashing was great fun.

He got himself quite wet!

It was difficult to convince Maia that she is much too big to get in the water table this year.  She really liked to sit in the table last year, and call it her "pool." 

Stomping

May 21st was the 9th Annual Stomp Out Stigma event for the Mental Health Foundation. I captain the team for my place of work, and we ended up having 104 people register for the walk, with 97 actually participating. AMAZING.  I was grateful to have some extra help from my family, while I tried to make sure that 20+ got their t-shirts the morning of the walk, and to help find some of the t-shirt sizes I was shorted.

When we were getting ready in the morning, Maia was the last to get dressed.  She saw Parker in his shirt, mommy and daddy in their shirts, and said "I want one of dose shirts like Pahkuh!"  When I showed her the t-shirt for her, she yelled and jumped up and down "I'm excited about dat, momma!"  She also asked to wear it the next two days.

My sister started running this year, and has already run two 5k races.  So a 5k walk was nothing for her, and the kids did great as well.

Emily had a volleyball tournament later on during the day.  And Parker was very sleepy.

Maia was a little overwhelmed by being in the middle of 900+ people.

Adrian had was set with his Ipod.

Right as we were supposed to start walking, Maia decided she had to go potty.  So Kath quickly ran her to the bathroom.

Maia walked (and ran) the last half, and was very excited about the river. She told us it looked like daddy's coffee.  Meanwhile, Parker had a nice nap.

 After the walk, we went to Applebees for lunch.

 And in the afternoon, Maia tried on my glasses (which I rarely wear),

... and "played Piroska" by wearing those glasses and combing my hair.

Ears by the Numbers

Sixteen doctors appointments since February 17th.
Twelve weeks of chronic ear infections.
Six Rocephin injections.
Five rounds of antibiotics.
Four different antibiotics.
Three additional medications.
Two infected ears.
One surgery: Bilateral Myringotomy with Tubes.  Hopefully the resolution of a long three months of ear infection, after ear infection, teeth and a couple more ear infections. Poor kid.

In addition to traditional treatment, we also tried a few chiropractic visits.  I was hopeful it had helped, but I brought Parker in to the pediatrician to have his ears checked, since he'd had a cold for about a week, but hadn't ever spiked a temp, and... Nope. "Raging bilateral ear infection."  Sigh. Rocephin injections. Again.

Our arrival time for Parker's surgery was set for 6:45 a.m. Today was the first time in quite a while we actually tried to, and managed to, get up before the kids (who are notoriously and unfortunately early risers).  I'd last nursed Parker at 1:30 a.m., since orders were for no milk/formula after 1:45 a.m. We had to wake him, and he was pretty okay with that. A sleepy Maia was dropped off at daycare with a cereal bar and some milk at 6:10. 

Then off to the outpatient surgery center.  Parker got his cool new bracelet, which he played with until he managed to get it off, about 15-20 minutes later.   Until then, he was cruising happily along the waiting room furniture,

 and reading a book with momma,

 or cuddling with daddy.

 When it was time for surgery, they took him from us with paci in mouth and jammies on.  We saw the ENT surgeon in about 15 minutes, to advise that surgery was fine, and that yes, there was an infection (we knew that) and we should go ahead and get that third (and hopefully final) Rocephin shot.

A few minutes later, they were bringing us back to a recovery room. He was cuddling the nurse and they told us he did really well.  They often expect them to be irritable, sometimes inconsolable, but Parker was content to look around sleepily and lay his head on my shoulder.

He didn't nurse much, and wasn't acting particularly hungry. After another 5-7 minutes of cuddling he perked up and was ready to play.  He remained snugly for the rest of the day, and finally seemed more normal and ate well at dinner time.

It was actually kind of nice to have a cuddly, snugly baby for a day.  He's on the move so much, that cuddling has become minimal of late.  We had designs to get a bunch of things done while we were both home, but with cuddly sleepy baby, cold rainy day, and serious sleep deficit (see above for 12+ weeks of illness and teething) made napping seem much more appealing.  Our fingers are crossed that this is the end of this issue, and we don't have to repeat this in a few months.  Poor Parker.