Bye-Bye, Boxwood!

Will is now completely over his rash, his fever, and any other malady (knock wood). We spent yesterday ripping out about a dozen well-established boxwood shrubs in our back yard, so I think we're all having a little "allergy hangover" today. The bright side is that our patio suddenly seems much bigger, and I honestly think we get a little more light in the evening. We're still trying to figure out what to do with the area - whether we'll plant something else, pave it out to expand the patio, or put a nice little container flowerbed out there.

Some pictures from yesterday...

My climber is blooming - we have 7 blooms now and another dozen on the way!

Will, enjoying the sunshine and watching us work.

Boxwoods - halfway gone!

Good riddance! (and Rolf's new garden shed)

I've never liked those boxwood, but we kept them because they were the only thing growing at the house when we moved in, save the giant nandina in the front. Now that we have other vegetation, and the house no longer looks like the Addams family resides here, it was time to rip 'em out. We had planned to do it last year, but by this time last spring, I was on bedrest and wasn't even supposed to go to the store, much less do heavy yard work.

I'm glad they're gone.

Some Pictures of a Happier Baby

We took these on Saturday before Will's rash got bad. If you look closely, you can see it just starting in his hairline. He's been so irritable since then (and who can blame him, really?) that I feel the need to remind myself of the sweet happy baby he really is. He's just the best thing that ever happened to us.

Culprit Identified

We think we've figured out what was wrong with Will. About 3:00 yesterday afternoon, Will's head broke out in a rash. Poor baby was itchy, irritable, and downright miserable.

After some research (and 24 hours with a very fussy 11 month old), we've figured out that Will had Roseola (the kid in the picture has a MUCH more severe rash than the Willster). The best we can hope for is that the rash will subside soon and he'll get more comfortable. He's just been so hard to deal with - so unlike him. He's been clingy, which really isn't a problem, except that if he doesn't get his way (or someone isn't holding him 24/7), he's screaming. That can't be helping the rash, since Will turns red as a lobster and gets really hot when he's crying.

All we can do for now is try to help the little guy stay comfortable until the rash goes away. At least he's not contagious anymore. I don't have any sick days left; I used them all up last year when I was on bedrest for the last six weeks of school. If he gets sick in the next two months, I may just have to eat the cost of a sub.

Update on Will

Will was up twice before midnight, parched. Once he got some fluid in him, he'd fall right back to a fitful sleep. When he got up again at 1:15, I just took him to the living room and slept with him on the couch for a few hours. Rolf had to conduct a training session at work today, and he needed his rest. I had already called in for a sub when I saw that thermometer pass the 104 mark. Will slept no longer than 3 hours at a time. He's pooped.

I had to tote Will up to school with me this morning to make sure everything was ready for my sub today. Poor baby. Everyone wanted to get up in his face to look at him, something none of us likes when we're feeling under the weather.

He still didn't have much of an appetite all day. He took a good 2 hour nap in the morning, and this afternoon, he still was running about 100.7 when he dropped off to sleep at 2:30. He woke up at 2:50, soaking wet, but his head was cool. That was the last of it. He drank some fluids this evening, and he ate about half of his container of sweet potatoes and glazed carrots. He played and talked with Rolf this evening, pausing every now and then to rest his little head on Rolf or me or the floor. I know he's wiped. He's resting comfortably now. I hope he gets to sleep through the night.


I've racked my brain trying to figure this out. I tend to run below normal temps, so if I hit 101, I'm REALLY sick. Rolf said that he ran a little high when he was a kid. Maybe for Will, 103 is like normal people's 101. For me, 101 is like everyone else's 103. Maybe it is just teething. Or maybe it's teething plus a virus. I don't know. All I do know is that this is the second time he's had a high fever spike with no obvious cause, and I don't like it.

Checkup, or Our Pointless Trip to the Pedi

Length - 29 1/4" (50th %)
Weight - 22 lbs., 10 oz. (50th %)
Head - 19" - (90th % - that's my boy!)

His head circumference is only 1/2" shorter than his whole body was at birth.

The last time we took Will to the doctor, he had an ear infection (which surprised the heck out of me. He had no symptoms but gunk in his eyes). This morning's appointment was to be his ear infection follow-up/9 mo. well baby checkup. Unfortunately, he wasn't well today. He was running a fever yesterday at daycare when I went to pick him up, he had no appetite for dinner last night, and he was running a fever most of the night. He slept fitfully, party due to his illness, partly due to the massive storms that rocked the DFW area last night. When we were in the pedi's office, his temp was 101.8. The doctor said his ears were clear, his lungs were clear, and there was no sign of a sore throat. He said all we could do was treat his fever. I gave Will some Tylenol in the exam room while we were waiting for the nurse to come back and prick his finger for the hemoglobin count, which helped him through the next 5 hours until we had run the rest of our errands and returned home.

When we got home, his temperature was super-high - it actually hit 104 on the thermometer. I think some of that was sleeping on the sunny side of the car all the way home. It dropped to 103.5 within 5 minutes. I had to cool him down with a cold wet washcloth, but it didn't help too much. When I got his temp down to 102.7 (with a dose of Tylenol), I laid him down to sleep. He slept for 30 minutes before he woke up soaking wet and screaming. His fever was down, but he was in pain. I couldn't tell if it was his head, his throat, or his tummy that was hurting. I couldn't help him. It was the most powerless I've felt in a long time. I would have given anything to take away his pain and taken it on myself. He finally calmed down when we stepped outside into the beautiful afternoon. His fever never really completely broke.

About 1/2 hour ago, I gave him a cool bath. We kept him in there until his head felt close to normal and his poor little teeth started to chatter. We gave him some more Tylenol about 20 minutes ago, but his temperature just seems to be climbing. Rolf is cradling him now, wrapping a cold washcloth around his head. I don't know what else to do. If he's still running a temp over 101 tomorrow, I'm taking him in somewhere.

UPDATE: Rolf seems to have broken the scary-high temps. At last check, Will's fever was only 101.1. Whew. Let's hope it continues to drop.

Will's Vocabulary

Thus far, at a week shy of 11 months, Will has said:

"dood-dog" - good dog (for any furry critter - squirrels, cats, cows, and of course, dogs)
"dindoh" - window
"dada" - dada
"mama" - mama
"gangah" - grandad
"mum mum mum" - num num num
"thilly" - silly (I swear, he said it! He was copying Rolf during a diaper change)
"mmm" - yummy sound when he had a bite of cheese
"uh-uh" - uh-oh

If he's getting into something he's not supposed to, he'll look at us, grin, and shake his head vigorously from side to side.

He squeals in delight if we head to the garage to get in the car. I think he loves his new carseats that enable him to see out of the window.

Did I mention he can whistle? He watches us whistle, purses his lips, and says, "ooo." Occasionally, he'll actually get a whistle in. Appropriate, since we call him Sweet Pea. Usually, his whistles happen on the inhale, but it's a bona fide whistle, for all that.

I always knew he was sweet, but

I had no idea he tasted that good. Last Friday, Will had an incident report at daycare. Apparently, Will awoke from his nap and stuck his arm through the bars of the crib. Another child bit him. Poor baby had teeth marks on his right arm until Saturday. Yesterday, Will had another incident report. This time, Will and his bud were at the table, having snack. Will got excited about what they were eating and pointed too close to his friend's mouth. As those of you who have been around teething toddlers know, that's not a good idea. Fortunately, neither bite broke the skin.

When we got Will home last night, Rolf noticed marks on his left arm. He had multiple bite marks. Poor baby had been chewed on pretty good. If he didn't cry, there was no way the daycare people could have noticed every little thing that happened all day, so I'm not mad at them about not catching it. I pointed the marks out today (they were still there, he was bitten so hard), and they promised to watch more closely and separate Will from the vampire (my term, not theirs). Apparently, it worked. No bite marks today! We'll see what tomorrow brings.

On the cute side of things, when Will sees I'm on the laptop, he comes over to me, peers around the screen, and sticks his wrist in his mouth to say, "bah-bwa-bah-bwa." He's letting me know he wants to watch the video I posted on March 22 (the one titled, "The Sound of ...Something." He thinks it's hilarious.

bonus pics are now in the picasa album. link can be found on the right ===>

We're coming to get you Barbara!

Here's where I keep my assorted lengths of wire.

You people actually EAT this stuff?

Hi-larious