1st official "Mal"ady

We stayed home from church Sunday because Mal and I weren't feeling great. Mal's had a few roughish nights since then, but last night was the worst. Today, he pretty much fussed from the time we got up, and I told James that I could not handle another day of just crying. So I called a nearby pediatrician and set an appointment for later in the day.

Fortunately, it was 22 blocks north of here and about 7 blocks over, so I was able to ride my bike. I think Mal appreciated it. He fell asleep when we were almost there, but immediately woke up and played with the toys in the waiting room. The sick child waiting area is about 5 times the size of the well child area, and it has all of the toys. So them chillens can share errythang.

Mal weighs 21 (officially), which puts him in about the 92%. He is 27ish inches, unofficially, from when I was waiting for the nurse and held a yard stick up to him, without trying to straighten his legs. This is about average for his age, which is 6 months, 3 weeks. He is a big-booty baby!

I loved the doctor he saw. I don't think we'll keep using her; a lot depends on what insurance James ends up with at his next job. But she was quick and to the point and didn't lecture me about a dang thing. She asked the questions about symptoms and whether he'd been pulling on his ears. I told her no, until this morning when the Tylenol was wearing off, and he pulled on the tip top of his left ear, but just once and he wasn't being fussy.

She listened to his chest and back, and said he sounded fine. She looked in both nostrils and said they were clear. She looked in his right ear, and said, "It all looks good, which is good, but I know you want to know why he's been this way..." just as she was looking (or trying to look) into his left ear.

He didn't want her to. He turned his head and started getting nervous. Finally, she said, "Oh, yeah," then he pulled away. She said, "I don't want to call it until I see it," so I repositioned his head against my chest and she got a good look. "Yep. There it is." She described what she saw, which I will spare you, but he has an infection in his left ear.

What was awesome was that her office was able to send Mal's antibiotic prescription to CVS electronically, and by the time I rode my bike over there, it was ready. Because James had put money in a Healthcare Savings Account, even though we had to pay for this stuff (insurance expired the end of last month), we won't "feel" it in our regular budget.

Mal did so well, even stopping at CVS and having to hang out a few while they finished mixing his meds. He fell asleep about 5 blocks from home, so when we got back, I held him for an hour while he napped, then gave him his first dose of meds.

We decided not to go to small group, since Mal's been super fussy and probably wouldn't take to too much stimulation, but I had a doughnut shop I had to do between 6 and 9, so James and I decided to make it a sort of date to take advantage of a couple of Tax Day deals, and give D a break from Mal's crying (she had her white noise machine cranked this morning, since he woke up earlier than she did and he was clearly in pain).

Mal got to use his brand new convertible car seat today! I can't believe I forgot to take a picture; you'll just have to take my word for it. He cried/whined a bit, but fell asleep about the time I got onto the highway. We went to Sonic first, for James to get a 1/2 price cheeseburger and an order of chili cheese tots (I'd had some pizza from a lunch job). Then we went to the doughnut place for my job (a dozen to go, so tomorrow's breakfast is ready!). Last, we headed way down to Orange Leaf Yogurt for their $4.15 16-ounce yogurt. Mine weighed about 13.5 ounces, but James' weighed in the neighborhood of 18 ounces, and the cashier totally let him get away with it!

$4.49 with tax, baby!

Mal loved jumping around on that orange vinyl couch! He ate a pouch of apple raisin quinoa baby food while we had our yogurt, and then I let him have a taste of mine. He didn't seem overly impressed. I tried one more small bite, and he just wasn't interested. Not at all like the time he surreptitiously started gnawing on the frosting can and giggling like a bad movie villain. Well, glad he enjoyed his healthy meal better, anyway!

After that, we walked around the back and found a playground I didn't realize was at Southpark Meadows. On our way to the car, we saw three maybe ducks in a tree talking, seemingly trying to decide where to go. One flew out to a lamp post, then a few minutes later, the second one did. Finally, the last tried, overshot the post, and ended up in another tree. They were really cute, and it seems like Mal is going to be as interested in animals as Daphne was. Is. Was as a baby and is now.

Aww, duck it.

Now I need to get to sleep. Last night was ROUGH, and I'm ready to hopefully get a better night's slumber all around. Hoping the meds kick in fast!

Oh, I told James that my rule of thumb needs to be: If I feel myself thinking, "I cannot be around this kid one more second," I need to take that kid to the doctor. The only time I felt that way about Daphne, when she was about 9 months old, she had double ear infections, double conjunctivitis, and an upper respiratory infection. Glad we only had one ear giving us a problem on this day!