Dax's First Stitches

Welp, it's happened! Dax's first stitch-worthy injury. I'm honestly surprised it hasn't happened before now considering he is a ball of rowdy energy- the only thing that's spared him is his anomaly coordination. But his catlike reflexes were no match for the slippery bathtub and its hard edges.

I actually wasn't in the bathroom when it happened (mom of the year!), but I am sure he was exiting the tub to sit on the potty- his favorite new trick. I was on my way back to bathtime when I heard the slip, splashes, and loud clunk of 2 VERY hard objects colliding (that'd be his head and the tub edge). I knew instantly when I saw it he'd need stitches- those eyebrow gashes are notorious. I had almost convinced myself he didn't need medical attention because we surprisingly got the bleeding stopped pretty quickly- but everytime I looked at him over the next hour that gaping gash was just staring me in the face!

Luckily Casey was on his way home relatively early yesterday, so he was able to take Dax to the Urgent Care down the street. We were hopeful they could glue the cut with Dermabond, but the doc wasn't comfortable doing it so close to his eye. So 3 stitches it was. Casey said it was really sad- Dax was strapped straight-jacket style on a backboard, and could see Casey's face through the little opening in the paper cover they out over the affected area for stitches- he just cried, stared at Casey the whole time, sucked his paci, and said "I'm scared, Daddy!" for the whole procedure. This mama is glad she didn't have to be there for that. I might've backed out and just taken the scar and infection risk of skipping stitches!

The boys went and had chocolate ice cream afterwards. :) When Dax got home he wanted to take a bath in mommy's bath, brush his teeth with mommy's toothbrush, and sleep in mommy's bed. Sleeping with that wild man is where I drew the line! He did have trouble falling asleep because he was scared to lay down flat :(... I had to hold him upright in my arms until I could lay him on his pillow. So he was a little traumatized from being restrained. If you know Dax, you know that's just about his worst nightmare! Here are some pictures of my brave little man throughout the evening!! Love him so much.

(My favorite pics are the ones of Dax modeling by the car just before leaving with Casey to get his stitches!)

Photo Dump

OK, the weather has seriously been gorgeous around here lately.  

We are taking full advantage of it before we've got a newborn confining us to more simple tasks in a few weeks!

Family bike ride last weekend.  

I thought I was going into labor towards the end of it (sort of joking)- 

I will not be mounting a bike again anytime soon. 

33 weeks

We rode up to one of the many parks in our new neighborhood!

Little scared of the whirling monkey bars!

Doing chin-ups before going down the slide.

We've been playing out on our driveway lots, too.  

Ada's beloved scooter finally made the commitment to be an "outside toy"- 

so we've been trying to ride it as much as possible on our street.

We're having a ROAD RALLY! -Ada

Kiss.  Boo-boo.  -Dax

 It was jammie day at Ada's school today- she was lovin' it!

And 4 out of 4 days this week we have ventured out to Sonic during happy hour, purchased ourselves some diabetes in a cup, and worked it off at another neighborhood park.  :)  Heaven.

LOVE.

We met up with our friends Jude and Mia at the park one day!

'Nother day, 'nother happy hour at the park.
(They're carrying their slushies)

Marking our cups so we don't make the fatal mistake of drinking the other's...  Ada likes to mark hers with a "happy face".  But then just claims whichever one is heaviest is actually hers.  :)
I'm on to you, girl!

2 things to say about this picture.
1) Please remember it was jammie day.
2) She slid through a puddle on the slide was in the process of removing her very wet leggings.

TIME OUT- for running away from mommy towards the street.
And for making 34 week preggo mommy run/waddle after him.
He actually got a leg pop for this one, too.

Getting so big and brave.
Who am I kidding, he's been doing this since he was 10 months old.
Lord save my soul.

Mommy heart attack.  This wall/ladder was TALL.

"Blue tooth!"

Helping brother learn to climb the blue spiral ladder thingy.

Dax is sick- for the first time really since May!  

(Aside from his stomach flu he caught from Ada in the fall)  

He's got an ear infection (in the ear that the tube's already fallen out of) and nasty chest cold- 

but being a champ as usual!  

So happy I'm staying home- he's so much healthier.  :)

Dax tattooing his arm with a pink crayon while waiting on the doctor...

 And this lovely gem was taken by the kids.  

They always get a hold of my phone- so I indulged them and let them take silly pictures of me while I was making dinner one night. 

First Dentist Trip

The kids had their first dentist appointment yesterday.  Ada was so brave and sweet and precious.  

She actually had the beginnings of 2 tiny cavities- which makes me feel so guilty!!!!  

So, we're getting those fixed, and then her molars sealed in a few weeks.  

Poor girl.  Bad mommy!

Dax wasn't so brave for his cleaning and fluoride treatment.  

He recovered quickly, though; and semi-cooperated for a picture!  :)

Last Post of Summer Week 1 :)

What a glorious week.  I freakin' love this summer.

We had some free time on Thursday morning, and walked up to the neighborhood park.  Where they also have a sand volleyball court.  Which is just a huge sandbox, in the kids' eyes.

Then we played on the park like maniacs.  I love the picture below because A) I think Dax is so handsome, and B) his drool stain looks like manly chest sweat.

That evening I finally indulged him and allowed him to play with the iPad. Except he was wearing an oven mit.  Not conducive to navigating touch screen technology!  He figured it out quickly.  Oh, the trials of today's generations.

Today we had our post-op consultation with Dr. Duncan about Dax's second set of tubes- they look great AND his hearing is normal! Hallelujah!  Below are pictures of him playing in the waiting room and office while we wait. 

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Tubes Take 2 (5 weeks later)

Daxy Bear got his left tube replaced yesterday (remember it fell out 2 weeks after getting it)- he was such a trooper with the fasting, waiting (Dr. Duncan was over an hour late, per usual), and anesthesia. 

The combination of being suctioned out, the fresh tubes (they ended up just re-doing both, to be safe.), and taking an antibiotic that *finally* seems to be working is making him feel SO MUCH better.  He was a different kid as soon as we were home and the anesthesia wore off!

7:20am- Waiting!

Entertaining himself wandering around the waiting room.

Entertaining himself with his surgery paperwork.

Entertaining himself by abusing MiMi.  Thank you SO MUCH for coming, Mom!! Definitely couldn't have done it alone.

Entertaining himself by eating the hammer.

Entertaining himself by climbing up and jumping on tables in the waiting rooom.

Entertaining himself by begging other children in the waiting room for food.  He followed this kid around for a good 15 mintues giving him the puppy dog eyes, trying to get him to offer him some goldfish.  Poor baby.

Entertaining himself in pre-op by trying to completely shut himself inside of the wagon.

 Cute story- while we were waiting in the pre-op area where a nurse was taking his vitals and discussing his current medications, she let him hold her thermometer.  He successfully turned it on and swiped it across her forehead, taking a nearly accurate temperature! 

He is destined to be a male nurse.  :)

Another cute pre-op story. 

Dr. Duncan came over to explain the procedure (again), and Dax stared at him intently, nodding very seriously the entire conversation.  As if he were comprehending every word Duncan was saying.  It was so darn cute!

Not quite as fooled by the fun red wagon this time - getting a little apprehensive.

Since tubes alone is such a quick surgery, he didn't have nearly as much anesthesia this time (not even an IV!  Yay!)-
he was MUCH more peaceful and agreeable while waking up this time.  He was being such a snuggle bug!! 
I loved it- can I get some over the counter anesthesia to occasionally use at home!?!?

So, here we are again.  2 fresh tubes. A successful antibiotic (fingers crossed).  Almost summer.  I think this boy has a shot at a good, healthy few months ahead!  He deserves it. 

He is such a precious (sometimes stinker) trooper!

We go for his check up and hearing test in 2 weeks- praying for no hearing loss!!?? 

Is that even possible after 5 burst ear drums in one ear?

Dax's ER Visit and Immune Deficiency

Last Monday night started out innocent enough.  I fed and bathed the kids, and put everyone down.  Dax had his typical runny nose, sporadic cough, and ear tugging- but he was happy as a lark. 

This was him in the bathtub.  He kept pointing to the faucet and saying "More. More. More." so I would turn the water back on.  Look how high the water level got before he let me keep it off!  

I began working on Sweetish Baby, and 2 hours later checked on him to find him breathing VERY rapidly and BURNING UP.  I took his temperature- 104.4, and counted his breaths per minute (normal for his age is 40/min, he was at 70/min).  I gave him a hefty dose of Tylenol, and contacted the on-call nurse. 30 minutes later his breathing was still in the 60s, and his fever was 104.6.  

Nurse said get to the hospital. So at 11pm we were on our way.

My miserable boy.

He was so hot and having trouble getting his fever down, they gave him this nifty little hospital gown with clowns all over it to wear instead of his jammies.  I thought it was SO cute!  

Obsessed with this stackable toy in the room.  It played music each time a ring was placed on the pole- I think we played with it for 45 minutes.  (This is after his 2nd dose of Tylenol kicked in!  We're down to 102.1 here)

Not crazy about the toe oxygen monitor.

Feeling better and wrestling with Mom!  We made a total scene in the waiting room laughing and screeching.  You have a nice view of the chipped teeth in this picture, too.  

I took this picture because my hair was in a slicked back bun when we got to the hospital- this is what he did to me, ha!  There's shark tooth again....

Playing with the phone.

 He ended up with a pretty nasty sinus infection and ear infection (surprise!), that was spreading to his chest. The ER doctor put him on Amoxicillan- which is a total amateur antibiotic that didn't even work for Dax at 4 months old.  I begged her to do something different, but she begged to differ.  

They also suctioned his sinuses out.  That was not fun.  

Machines, high pressure, tubes, screaming baby boy.

Pretty much pulled an all nighter on Monday, and on Tuesday we headed up to my classroom to get my room ready for a sub at 7am, then to Target pharmacy.
Only to find we were an hour early to get any prescriptions filled!
Oh well, we shopped.

We went home planning on resting all day-but I wasn't able to nap.  Too much on my mind, I guess!
I'm still exhausted and not recovered yet...

 We had a follow up consultation with the allergist that I love 2 days later.  Dax was no better (she also thought the ER doctor was an idiot for prescribing the Amoxicillan), his ear drum was on the verge of bursting (which it eventually did 2 days later- 5th perforated ear drum for this poor guy.  We are getting his tube replaced this Thursday, thank God), and she said he "sounded like he was drowning" with each breath.  So he's on a better antibiotic and breathing treatments and steroids and the list never ends.

His bloodwork also came back.  He shows no allergies (neither does Ada- yay!)- but his Vitamin D is low.  So that's an easy thing to focus on.

He also has REALLY low IgG antibodies.  That's an immune system thingamajig.  He has some other low things that showed up, so Dr. Dickens officially diagnosed him with an immune deficiency.  Transient Hypogammaglobulinemia in Infancy.  

She said he will almost 100% grow out of - usually between the ages of 2-6.  She also took a culture of his sinus to see if we can get a hold on what type of bacteria is invading this poor baby's respiratory system.  

She thinks it's resistant to common antibiotics. 

So now we have some more thinking to do about me working next year.  Casey caved a few months ago and said the decision was mine.  I decided to continue working- and have been excited about saving money, possibly buying a larger SUV, and enjoying the lifestyle that we currently have.  

But now I'm not sure how responsible it would be to send Dax to daycare with an immune deficiency.  I need to make a decision soon, so I will keep you all updated!  

I'll be nervous about being a stay-at-home-Mom if that's what happens...

A little illness and immune deficiency can't keep this boy down, though!  He's still running-and-gunning like usual.  I thought these pictures were cute after bath time tonight-