Overreaction?

You tell me:


Tonight we took another visit to Urgent Care. Declan was fevery (102.2) starting in the afternoon, so I gave him some Tylenol and put him down for a nap. I figured he's probably teething, shouldn't get too bad. He woke up about 3 and he was about the same temp. He was pretty much his normal self, a little less active, but still playful. I put on The Emperor's New Groove, brought out the futon and we just chilled and watched the movie. Around 5 I took his temp again and it was 103.5. He's not been eating well this week, as in he doesn't want to try new things, and was very particular about what he would eat: strawberries and applesauce. I tried to give him some peaches (which he usually loves) for dinner and he wouldn't even eat that. He didn't even want some water to drink. At this point, all he wanted to do was cuddle. I gave him more Tylenol and called the advice nurse. I can never remember at what temp you want to go to the doc, so I figured a nurse could help.


Oh what an ordeal! Like I said, all Declan wanted to do was cuddle and be held. But to get him the Tylenol, I had to set him down.....which sent him into hysterics. His emotions just went downhill from there. Usually when he wants to be held, he'll follow us around crying with his hands in the air. Today he just sat where I put him and cried and cried and cried. And then when I finally picked him up, he was still so upset, he wouldn't calm down. So while I'm on the phone with the nurse, he's wailing in my ear. I (guiltily) set him in his crib so I could distance myself and hear the nurse, but that just made it worse. Even I was almost crying at that point! And then the nurse was asking me if he could stand on his own: yup. Could he use his arms: um, let me see...yeah, I think. Can he swallow: well, he won't, but I think he can. Is there a lot of saliva: yes, he's crying hysterically. Well this is important, I need to know if he can swallow: uh.....yeah, I think he's fine! How the heck can I tell all this when he's so upset?! Does he have a runny nose: yeah, but he's been crying A LOT. In the end she said this: "Keep giving him Tylenol and see if his temp goes down, but let me see if I can get you an appointment tonight, and if not you should go to Urgent Care." Uh....ok.

So off we went. Trevor was home by then, having gone by Target to get puffs, the only thing I KNEW Declan would eat...which he did when we got to the Dr. On the way there, Trevor sat in the back with him and he completely perked up and was practically chatty. He still wouldn't have any water, but he was not the inconsolable boy that he had previously been. This is where I started to worry that we were overreacting.

We had a bit of a wait at the doctor's since we had no appointment, in fact Declan was almost asleep when we were called back around 8-ish. His bedtime is about 7:30 or so, we couldn't blame him for being so sleepy. His temp was WAAAAAAAY down when we had arrived, 100.2. And the doc said it was probably just a virus, nothing they could do anything for, not worth testing for, just give him Tylenol, and let his body fight it off. He was nicer than that, but that was the gist.

We got home around 9, and of course D had fallen asleep on the way home. But he still needed his milk. And more Tylenol. (I'm going to by stock in it, I think you all should too!) So we gave him the meds and handed him his milk....which he only halfway drank. He was just too tired! I think he was asleep before we even laid him in his crib. Poor baby!

The bummer part of this whole ordeal (besides Declan's ridiculously high fever and him feeling completely miserable) was this: he's is back down to 20lbs. And that's with clothes on. And a SUPER full diaper. Our poor baby boy just can't seem to keep his weight from fluctuating....he must get it from his Mom! :) I know he hasn't been eating well the last few days, and he hadn't had dinner, but still, it worries us! Hey, is it ok to feed a baby straight fat? :)

All I have to say is he better get some teeth from all this!

Flying Declan

These are the pictures of Declan from the picnic with the Allan's. Of course I had to give Declan his own blog post.....I mean, I wanted the Allan Family to have their own post. :) Here is Declan learning to fly. Grandma, close your eyes and scroll down! :)

(*side note: these pictures were NOT edited! The lighting was just perfect. Oh yeah, and I'm awesome!)

And the rest of D from the day....

Signing "more" - Saying "moah?"

First time in the swing

He LOVED it!

Pre-Ruby

Waaaaaaaaay back in April, 11 days before Ruby was born, us 3 Gills had an impromptu picnic with the (Danny) Allans. I, of course, brought the nice fancy camera along (thanks Jake) to get some maternity shots of Grace. However, Hopie became the main subject of the shoot (with Declan a close second....sorry Grace!)

I'm not the best at posing people, I have ideas in my head prior to actually being behind the camera, but once I'm there, my ideas kinda fly out. So the candid shots usually come out more.....not that I have a problem with that! So here's what I got...Grace did make it into some, you'll see! :)

Hopie, sending out the vibe.

Yes. That's my brother.

This was supposed to be candid....but Danny had other ideas.

1 Year, 1 Month, and 1 Day

Our amazingly patient friend Jake went out with us once again to shoot Declan's "1 Year" pictures.....a month and a day late, but whatever! Makes for a cool blog title! :) A lot of you have probably seen this already on his blog, but because I have them now, I post! These are just a few sampling, when I get the whole set, I'll probably post some more. I think I'm going to make that first one into a wallet size. Let me know if you want one! :) Enjoy Jake's talent!

Tall and Lean

Declan had his follow up appointment today see if he had gained any weight in the last month.....meh. He was 20lbs 6.6oz. He is now 21lbs 2oz. Not much of an improvement. But, the doc was just glad to see that he had gained, and assured me that perhaps he's just built to be small. He was in the 10th to 25th percentile as a baby, so maybe he'll always be on the small side.

On the other hand, he grew a 1/4 of an inch in the last month. He's in the 50th to 75th percentile for height. This boy's tall! Well, at least compared to his weight.

In other news, Declan is a signing fool! Ok, he knows 5 signs, but still! He knows "all done" (it was the first one he learned.....because it's the easiest to teach!), "more" (which he also "says", it sounds like "Moah?", with the question aspect heavily accented....I have it on video, you'll see.), "please", "food" and "water". I think he sometimes mixes "food" and "water", but he generally knows which one he wants. It's so cool to be able to communicate with him! We have a couple signing videos, too, that we watch. I hope he becomes fluent one day, it would be awesome if he were bi-lingual! :)

Speaking of speaking, (har har) he's kinda talking a little. He says "ah da" when he's signing "all done". He says "da-dee" pretty clearly, but were not sure he's got the association. He also says "bwee" (which I think is "please"), "muh" ("milk" or "mom"......I'm hoping for "mom"), "ti-tee" ("kitty").....and that's all I can think of for now. He babbles a lot......a lot a lot a lot! I love it, makes me smile to hear him "talk", he likes to give monologues to the monkey on the mirror in the car, probably because he's a captive audience. :) Oh yeah, and he says "NO" reeeeeeeeally well!!

He's still a pretty happy baby, but I think he's starting to fine tune his tantrum. If I take something away that he really wants to have, he'll "cry" and start rolling on the floor. I like to stare at him as if he's gone mad. I'm hoping he gets embarrassed and stops. I don't think it's working. We're also having to start disciplining him, too. I'm not the biggest spanking fan, but with guidance from our Pastor Randy, and his uh-may-zing parenting class, I now know how to use it in an effective and loving way. It's still not my number one option, but I know it's sometimes the best way to get the point across. Right now, we basically just "spank" his hand when he touches something he shouldn't, or goes where he shouldn't. It's hard to spank his bottom with that nice cushy diaper there. :) We also know we need to set up the house better, so we don't set him up to access places he shouldn't, or reach things we don't want him to touch.

Oh yeah, our tall boy can now open doors. Well, ones with lever handles at least. And he gets into the cabinets in the kitchen. Awesome. We let him get into the Tupperware one, but the others are off limits. He doesn't always get that. I can understand why....he's only one. So we've bought the baby proofing stuff. We probably should have gotten it several months ago, but whatever. The important thing is that we have it now right? :)

Hey, look! I updated!! :) Pictures in the next post...which I will go to now. :)