Baby

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Saying Goodbye to My Baby

I no longer have a baby. You almost forget how little they were.

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It seems over night, George has grown into a little boy.

Gone are the days where he sits in one spot, now he is like flash across the room.

Gone are the days were he just coos, now he is speaking in sentences.

Gone are the days where I am the one doling out kisses, now he is giving some of his own.

Gone are the days where we lead him on wild adventures, now he takes our hands and pulls us where we need to go.

Gone are the days where his curiosity is just following us with his eyes, now his curiosity gets him in cabinets and on counter tops.

Gone are the days where we laid him in Grace’s lap to sleep, now he tries to ride her like a pony.

Gone are the days where we can complete a task without a shadow, now he attempts to do everything we do (including the dishes and watering flowers).

Gone are the days where I read him books, now he picks out his own and reads to himself.

Gone are the days where I was confident he was getting all his nutrition from me or his formula, now we have to make sure we have a balanced diet for a toddler appetite and he feeds himself with utensils.

Gone are the days of the sweet soft baby skin, now he has scraped knees, bruises, and mosquito bites from exploring the great outdoors.

Gone are the days where he sleeps soundly in my arms, now he climbs all over me expecting a piggy back ride.

Gone are the days of my baby, now he is building his personality and living it up as a toddler.

In a MONTH, George will be two, which he can count to now btw. Every day, I learn a little bit more about being a mom. We are growing together.

I love being his mom, but it is going too fast. However, I need to not spend too much time in the past and enjoy where he is now. Because soon he will be in school, and I will be missing his toddler sticky goodness and unruly hair.

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George-22 Months

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Weight: 29 lbs. He hasn’t really gained a lot of weight, but I feel like he has gotten a lot taller.

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Health:  We continued the roller coaster of health issues these last two months. George got the worst case of Hand-Foot-Mouth that our doctor has ever seen. (Of course he did.) He has been over it for a few weeks, and you can still see scars from the blisters. It was awful. George seemed unaffected and was excited about the extra days at home that we had him quarantined. George underwent his first “surgery” last week and got tubes put in his ears. He did so great with being put under and didn’t even cry. Hopefully this will help keep the ear infections and other sickness at bay.

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Diet: His diet is the worst. He will eat whatever the sitter gives him, but refuses to eat anything but cheerios, yogurt, and smoothies at home. We can sometimes get him to eat chicken and pasta, but it is never predictable. He will drink so much liquids throughout the day. He sucks juice, water, tea, and milk down like it’s his job. He is obsessed with condiments/dipping sauces. He will dip anything into ketchup (like his mama).  It is very frustrating to feed him. Tonight I had given up feeding him actual meals after how lunch and breakfast had gone (very poorly), but then he ate more chicken enchiladas than I did. Toddler taste buds are a mystery.

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Clothes:  George is in 2T clothing for everything now. He is still in size 5 diapers, but we do size 6 at night. He is in a size 6 shoe. He is looking less babyish and more big kid.

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Sleeping:  He sleeps at night from 8pm-about 6:30 am. He sleeps through the night pretty regularly still. He goes down really easy at night. Naps are a little tricky. Sometimes he goes down easy for naps, but if we throw his schedule off even a little bit, he will play in his crib for hours before falling asleep. He just sits in there playing with his stuffed animals, jumping, or reading books. He has yet to climb out of his crib, but I am thinking those days are numbered.

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Likes: He loves the outdoors and Tom’s shop. He loves the UPS man. The other day he cried when he (UPS man) left the street, like big fat whopping tears. He is obsessed with legos and his fire truck. He loves taking his shoes and socks off in the car. He is still a big reader. He likes doing dishes with me. He pushes the chair over and actually tries scrubbing the dishes.

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Dislikes: He hates mornings right now. He throws the largest tantrums when he gets up and refuses to not be held. He is not happy when we tell him no and try to keep him from doing dangerous things. He is a sassy pants when he doesn’t get to do what he wants right then. He despises getting his teeth brushed. (It’s also my least favorite part of the day…) He hates the deep end at the pool. He doesn’t mind pools as long as he can touch the bottom on his own. He even went down the slide at the no entry side. But for me to hold him in the deep end during swim lessons, no bueno. He has a death grip on us the whole class period.

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Milestones: Gosh he talks a lot. Most of it is unrecognizable, but he is a chatty little guy. His new words are thank you, bite, good job, bubba (bubbles), juice, Grace, cheese, alright, green, blue, two, and mine. He knows a couple animal noises now. He can do a cow, sheep, and dog noises. It is so funny hearing him say bye to everyone. He screams it several times before leaving the house. He can get the milk and juice out of the fridge and put it on the counter. We started swim lessons, as a said above he does not appreciate this time. This last week he was a little better and tried blowing bubbles but he is definitely not a fan of this time. He is starting to really recognize folks that he hasn’t seen in awhile. We stopped potty training, which I guess is an un-milestone. He went on the potty for two weeks and then all of a sudden decided he would never do it again. So we pushed pause on it, and we have just gone back to asking if he needs to go and waiting for him to run to the bathroom. This is fine with us because the original plan wasn’t to start until well after he was 2, and to be honest closer to 3. He has “chores” now. He gets the dog food when the bowl is empty and helps load the washer and dryer with laundry. He takes these jobs very seriously. He smiles for the camera now, while saying cheese.

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Quirks: He is super shy and doesn’t like big crowds. However, when he warms up to you, he loves really hard. When he is sad, a sure fire way to get him out a funk is to play hide and seek. His tantrums are pretty ridiculous. We think it comes from the fact that he really wants to do things on his own and be independent, even if he shouldn’t be doing it on his own. He also isn’t the best at communicating, so sometimes all this frustration comes out in a throw himself on the floor tantrum. When he is really investigating something, he lays flat on the floor to get a really close-up look. He is a very hands-on guy who loves to see every detail. While there are a lot of mentions of tantrums in this post, for the most part if he is exploring he is the happiest guy out there. I just love watching his face light up. He warms my heart.

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Nicknames:  Booger, Gdubs, Gman, Little man, Georgie, Georgieman, and Boogs.

We parents are:  Our schedules are a little wild right now, so things have been weird at our house with a lot of rearranging of schedules. We are also ready for a month where George isn’t sick since that is super stressful on so many levels. George has been very clingly lately and is definitely becoming a momma’s boy. I have a love/hate relationship with this kind of attention. While I am loving that he wants my comfort and he finds safety from me, it does make it hard to walk alone, get something out of the fridge with two hands, eat a meal where he isn’t sitting in my lap…it can just be exhausting at times for him to want to be on my hip 24/7. The death grip hugs are nice though. Like I said, he loves hard. We also are looking forward to the day where we can go to a restaurant where someone doesn’t have to go “walk” George during the meal.

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The dogs are: loving summer. George loves the dogs. He gets so excited to let them outside. He thinks trying to ride them is his job. Grace will let him do it, and is so patient with him. Crosby gets up and moves away the second George tries to get on him.

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Don’t mind me, I will be over here wiping up my tears knowing that he will be 2 in two months. I will take one of those hard hugs now Gman.

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George-20 Months

George is 20 months old today. We are only four short months away from not telling his age in months. It was really hard to do this update, because I know I am missing things or I put too much in areas. I want to remember every detail, but he is changing and growing so quickly it is hard to keep up just like his hair!

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Weight: 28 lbs. I get a workout every time I lift him.

Health:  The last two months have been a roller coaster of a time with his health. We spent a week in the PICU in the beginning of March. Last week we had to go to Urgent Care because he was having a hard time breathing again, and we found that he has a double ear infection. We go back in a couple weeks to see if tubes are going to be necessary. My mom thinks that he is teething after seeing him at Easter. The only ones left are the back 2 year molars, so yippee.

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Diet: He is still big on meats and carbs. He loves raisins, clementines, yogurt, and chicken nuggets. He is sitting at the table with just a booster seat now, and his utensil usage is getting really good. There are a few things I still don’t trust him with, and they are saved for the nights we do a bath. We started making him smoothies every day to get his veggies in. He loves spinach and blueberry smoothies, but wont eat either when it’s not in a smoothie. I bought these which saves us so much money with not buying as many pre-made packets, and they work great for these smoothies. He pretty much eats mostly what we eat, besides the veggies.

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Clothes:  18 month clothes are mostly too small, so he is swimming in 2T clothes since we can’t find many 18-24 month items. Little boys in shorts has got to be the cutest thing. He is still in size 5 diapers, and moved to a size 6 shoe.

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Sleeping:  He sleeps at night from 8pm-about 6:30 am. He sleeps through the night pretty regularly still. He goes down really easy at night, but naps are a different story. He fights naps and will scream and play instead of taking the nap. He eventually wears himself out and konks out. Once he does take a nap, he usually sleeps for 2-3 hours.

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Likes: He loves to explore. He is so very curious. Of course he wants to be everywhere he isn’t supposed to be. He is obsessed with legos and anything with wheels. He loves dancing. The kid bops around anytime music is on. He loves to sing to worship music. We have music on A LOT around George, but he seems to sing only when we are in church or when I have K-Love on. No joke. (He also likes to talk all through church…) He is OBSESSED with being outside and going to his daddy’s workshop. He loves exploring all the tools Tom has (like the broken chainsaw here). He still loves to play with scarves and play dress up with them. He loves climbing, and his current favorite spot is in the middle of the kitchen table. I am honestly surprised he hasn’t climbed out of his crib yet. We are holding on to that as long as we can! (Although at the sitter’s, he did climb into his crib then freaked out when he couldn’t get back out.)

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Dislikes: He hates mornings right now. He throws the largest tantrums when he gets up because he is hungry. He is not happy when we tell him no and try to keep him from doing dangerous things. He is a sassy pants when he doesn’t get to do what he wants right then. He isn’t a fan of the lawn mower. He still isn’t a fan of veggies unless it is in the smoothie state. He does not like to sit still for photos anymore. He is always busy and on to the next thing.

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Milestones: Gosh he talks a lot. Most of it is unrecognizable, but he is a chatty little guy. His new words are ugh oh, more, bye bye, and baby (babee). Others have heard him say thanks and George, but Tom and I haven’t been so lucky to hear those. He does sign “more”, but I also think that he believes it also means please. We have had to re-do operation-take away-pacy due to the hospital stay, but I think we are on our way out. He gets it maybe once a week now when he is having a really hard time and neither of us have the patience to deal with the tantrum. George is so smart. He is really good with spatial awareness. It is insane what he is able to do with stacking and putting things into tiny holes. He is really into the concepts of how things fit together and the mechanics of it all. He knows how to detach/reattach things and how to turn things on. His brain is just on fire right now with absorbing information and then putting it into practice. He can walk from the door to the car now without me having to hold him. He even knows which door is his door. He cleans up his own messes now. It is ridiculously cute to see him dab his face to get it clean. Big milestone: we started potty training this past weekend! We weren’t really going to push this until he turned 2, but he has been telling us when he needs to pee for the past couple weeks. So we figured we could at least try and see what happens. He has gone pee twice in the actual potty since we started two days ago. I never thought I would be so excited about bodily functions! Hopefully it means the less I will have to deal with said bodily functions down the road.

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Quirks: My favorite quirk of his is that when you ask for a kiss he gives you his forehead for you to kiss. It is so stinking cute. He points to the things that he wants in a staccato manner. When he hugs he has to put his arms under your arm pits. He really does want to help you do things, so this is generally how I get him out of tantrums. Giving him a “project” to do makes him feel independent and usually stops him from crying. He loves to help carry his bag (aka drag it), put away dishes, put away toys, and load laundry into the machines and turn on those machines. When he is done with his food plates/cups, he runs and throws them in the sink like he is doing a slam dunk. This weekend we were building borders around our trees, and he would pick up rocks and put them (sort of) into place. I hope that he always wants to be a helper. He is very silly, and his personality is starting to shine as a big goof. He loves to make us and himself laugh. If he doesn’t feel like he is getting your attention, he will climb in your lap and bear hug you around the neck. I love it.

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Nicknames:  Stink, Booger, Gdubs, Gman, Little man, Georgie, Georgieman, and Boogs.

We parents are:  doing really good. We just got out of the worst shift so we are getting a lot more time as a family. We feel like we are finally in a good groove as a family unit. We have been working on the yard a lot lately which makes us really happy to see things coming together the way that we want. Plus it’s always nice to get outside for a little bit every day.

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The dogs are: loving this weather. Crosby is basically an outside dog now. He goes out when we wake up and doesn’t come back in really until we go to sleep. Grace likes the comfort of the couch a little too much to give it up all day. They love George, and they are so good with him. They let him beat them up since he is very aggressive with his petting,  and he tries to ride them. George tries to give them their food and hands them their toys in all fairness.

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I want to remember this hair. Some days I think we are ready for a cut. Other days I just love every thing about its messiness.

I just love this little munchkin so much! I can’t wait to see what the next couple months bring with summer!

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George-18 Months

How is this littler booger a year and a half old?!?

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Weight: He is 27 lbs.

Health:  This kid and teething. He now has 16 teeth. He had a rough time health wise the last month. He had an ear infection and a bout with RSV. We are doing much better now. He also endured quite possibly the worst diaper rash. It broke the skin in several places. It was so sad to have to change him because he was so uncomfortable. He still acts like he is teething right now with chewing on everything in sight (including his own hands), so I don’t know if those last four molars are coming in. I thought they come in much later!

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Diet: He has the same appetite. He loves meats and carbs. We still struggle with getting him to eat vegetables. It is a little frustrating because he used to do so well, and he would eat more veggies than anything else. Thank goodness for squeeze packets. He loves veggies that way! He smacks his lips and starts salivating when we get them out. He will always eat oatmeal, rolls, chicken nuggets, and bananas. We have been really working on his utensil training. Some days he does a really good job; others a bath is a necessity. Many times, he will pick up his food with his hand and then try to stick it on his fork.

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Clothes:  He is mostly in 18 month clothes. On tops we can also use 18-24, we just have to roll the sleeves up. 18-24 month pants are way too big. He is in still size 5 diaper and 5 shoe.

Sleeping:  We are officially down to one nap, and he takes it right at lunch time. He sleeps at night from 8-about 5:45am. (We have tried keeping him up later at night, but he still won’t sleep past 6.) He sleeps through the night pretty regularly still. Thank the Lord for that. Those nights while he was sick were absolutely brutal.

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Likes: He loves the dog bed in the kitchen. Jumping on anything is a big hit. He LOVES blocks and stacking things. He loves pointing at things. Also proud parent moment, he started making fart noises with his hand/arm, so that is a fun past time for him. He likes to take my phone and turn it on and off and pretend he is talking on it. He loves to crawl in our laps. (I have loved how snuggly he has gotten over these past two months!) He absolutely loves to be outside. We have had a few nice days where we can go roam our yard and play on our slide. He loves to chase the dogs and throw them their balls. He thinks it is so fun to climb our hills and just be outside in general. I can’t wait for more consistently warm weather! He also loves this blue chair.

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Dislikes: He does not like it when I am too slow with getting his milk cups ready. He did not like the Nebulizer and doing the breathing treatments. He does not like veggies. He also is not a fan of prayer time at dinner. He can see the food on the table and doesn’t understand why we have to hold hands and not be eating so we usually have to pray very loudly over his screams and clap for Jesus.

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Milestones: He hugs us intentionally. It is the most delightful thing. He can follow most instructions like put “this” away, go to “this” room, hand me “this.” He is actually a really good listener. We have had some temper tantrums, but for the most part if you tell him a couple times and help redirect his attention he will listen to you. His new words are ball, Bill, bana (banana), key key (kitty), mmm (milk), yep, and cah (car). He does his own babbling a lot so we have started trying to make up what he is saying which has turned into some pretty hilarious sayings. He blows kisses and gives you open mouth kisses. We have had a solid week without a pacy anywhere! No car, no bedtime…NO PACY! He still cries for a few minutes in the car, but we sing the ABCs (which he will mouth it trying to mimick me) and talk about what is outside to distract him. I have been super amazed!

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Quirks: He does this hunched over squat walk around the house. He just hunkers down and scuttles along. He does this scrunchy face smile where he crinkles his nose and shows you all his teeth. If you start laughing he will make himself laugh. He has had some issues with hitting. He has been hitting a lot of people. I tell him every morning that today is not the day to be a bully. Some days that message is received and other days it is not. But what is funny is when you try to correct him, he knows that he wasn’t supposed to do that so he will pull you in for a hug as you reprimand him for hitting and give you the best hug and a kiss. He is basically a sour patch kid commercial when it comes to hitting.

Nicknames:  Stink, Booger, Gdubs, Gman, Sweet cheeks, Little man, Georgie, Georgieman, and my most used right now is Boogs (short for another nickname booger).

We parents are:  tired. This has been rough couple of weeks. Tom’s quote, “We’re like college sophomores. We are still trying to figure things out, but we kind of know what we are doing. He is getting fed, and he has a roof over his head.” Our parenting in a nutshell some days. We have had a lot of family time this month too which has been nice. Also I am trying to comprehend how in the world he is 18 months old…That elephant used to be twice his size!

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The dogs are: driving us a little bonkers. I think they can feel spring coming, and so they want to basically live outside right now, which means that they bark at us A LOT to let them out. Crosby will come in from outside and within five minutes bark at us to let him back out. They are still sweet dogs though. George just loves them. However, the hitting is not just happening with people.  We are really trying to curb that in general, but with him hitting the dogs specifically. He does give them hugs and kisses their backs every night before bed.

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 Every day I love this kid more and more. I still can’t believe that he is ours most days. I still wonder how in the heck we became parents. But God graced us with this wonderful delight of a human being. He has such a bright personality that I am really enjoying watching come out more and more. He is going to be a ham for sure!

We love you so much George!

 

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Thoughts of a Parent With a Sick Kid

George has been really sick the past couple weeks. I blame it on the teething, but then it turned ugly when he also got RSV (which is a respiratory infection).

We have had a couple rough nights where George won’t stop screaming, which is really not like him at all. When this kid can’t be consoled by being held, you know there is an issue.

These are just some of my thoughts on one of the nights that he thought it was a good idea to be awake from 12am-5am.

12am-*Hear George crying across the hall* Does he know this is not appropriate? How did I stay up at this hour in college?

*Tom attempts to get him to sleep, but all George does is scream.*

1am- Ok this kid has some pipes.

1:12- Have you tried milk? (talking to Tom)

1:32- Have you tried milk? (talking to Tom, and clearly I am half asleep because I don’t remember what you told me before.)

1:42- Seriously you tried milk and it didn’t work? Hmm…that normally works.

2:05- Ok let me try and hold him…

2:10- I have to pee, and he is falling right asleep right on my bladder.

2:12- Ok seriously I may wet my pants. I can totally put him back in the crib, he has been asleep for like 10 minutes right?

2:13-Successfully put him in the crib. High five self!

2:15- Well George does not feel that it is appropriate for me to relive my bladder. How can he still be crying?

2:16- Whew Tom got him. Thank God he is home tonight. Only 3 more hours of sleep time.

2:30- Why are you [Tom] bringing him into the bed?!?! He thinks we are jungle gyms!! He won’t sleep in here.

2:40- What did I tell you!?! That is a baby hand slapping my face.

3am- Ok really just 2 more hours. That’s a solid nap.

3:20- Let me try again.

3:23- Let’s bring him into the bed. (I get that I just yelled at you an hour ago, but I am desperate.)

3:45- Sweet! He has slept for the last 30 minutes on my chest. My arm is asleep though so maybe I can move him now. Please Lord let me move him without him waking up.

3:47- Why are you [George] awake again and staring at me like that!?!?! This is terrifying. Yes, TOM I WOULD LIKE YOU TO TAKE HIM.

4:15- WHY ARE YOU STILL CRYING? How is it possibly for you to cry this long?

5:15- BEEP BEEP. What the hell. BEEP BEEP. Why can’t I turn that stupid alarm off? Tom’s not in the bed, where is he? *Look at baby monitor* No baby in crib. Someone kidnapped Tom and George!!!! Oh what is that? They are asleep on the floor. George is asleep on the floor! Bless that man. How did I get so lucky? Am I crying?

Best Husband

5:20- *Dogs start barking.* Shut your mouths! (said through clenched teeth)

5:23- Maybe he will sleep long enough so I can shower and get ready for work.

5:25- Ok I should stop starring at my sweet boys on the monitor, and get in that shower!

5:35- Did I use the shampoo or body wash on my hair? Better wash it again to make sure I am clean.

5:45- Shower is done, and he isn’t crying. Yes. Yes. Yes.

6:10- *Dogs bark at nothing.* What are you [dogs] doing!?

6:11- Awesome. George is crying. Tom is a zombie. This is my life today I guess.

6:13- *Give George a bottle.* This is what silence is like. I told Tom that milk would help.

6:20- George, you have got to be out of tears? What is happening?

6:23- Trying to put makeup on while George is in the Tula is not easy., but God bless wearing babies. #wearallthebabies

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6:40- Ok he is burning up. Where is that thermometer?

6:45- Crap. It says 101. So how does this work to stay home with a sick kid?

7:00- Call work and baby sitter about sick day. Cancel all appointments. Darn it, those students were not easy to get in the first time, hopefully they will be on it to reschedule.

7:30- He will only fall asleep in the Tula. This is going to be a good day. Lord help us.

7:45am- How does he sweat this much? I look and feel like I just got in the shower fully clothed, but instead of feeling clean I am covered in baby snot and saliva.

And all that on repeat until we can finally get George to successfully nap for more than a half hour.

It’s been really fun around our house. We had to take George to Urgent Care last week because he had almost a 103 temp. There we found out that he had an ear infection (which he did not show any particular signs of besides screaming his head off), and he picked up RSV somewhere. So he is on antibiotics plus we have to do a breathing treatment several times a day. Poor guy was miserable. He is just now getting back to himself a week later. He has never had a fever like that, and it totally wiped him out.

And it wiped us as parents out as well. Luckily, we have been a good team and will tag team trying to make George feel better. I love George, however, it was exhausting to have him inconsolable and screaming for 5 hours in the middle of the night. Maybe 30 minutes here and there, he did not stop crying. I don’t care who you are, that is tiring for anyone.And we felt utterly helpless. It also made me realize how far we have come from the newborn days. I honestly don’t know how we didn’t sleep through the night for months on end.

This sickness though has made him extra cuddly. He is handing hugs out like he is Oprah on her Favorite Things show. You get a hug, you get a hug, and YOU get a hug. Except it’s just me all day, YES. For a kid who has avoided any affection, these snotty hugs are making me feel better about only getting 2 hours of sleep.