Swine Flu sucks

I picked Nicolas up from school right after lunch on Friday the 20th since he was coughing like crazy and the teacher called to see what we wanted to do.  Luckily, both Luis and I had taken the day off of work to do some things for the basement, so it wasn't a problem.  Nicolas started running a fever Friday night and had a fever all the way through last night.  Coughing, tired, and miserable for the past week.  Eating ok, but that is about it.  Taking 2-3 hour naps every day which is completely unheard of.  And stayed home all week from school this week.  Based on his symptoms (fever, coughing, tiredness, sore legs and 1 random puking episode), I have concluded that it was the swine flu (as opposed to the regular flu).  Hopefully no one else in the house will catch it.

Jackson and I have been sick since Sunday, but hopefully just with regular colds as there doesn't seem to be a persistent fever for either of us.

Birthday gathering

I think last night was one of the best night of sleep we got in a long while. Nicolas only fussed slightly twice and went back to sleep as soon as he got his pacifier. It was great! He also suprised me this morning by rolling from his back to his front all on his own - a first!Today we had the entire family over to celebrate my birthday. I figured it was a good excuse for everyone to visit with Nicolas :-) Both sets of grandparents were able to come visit, as well as Uncle Bryan and Auntie Rebecca, and Auntie Tina and cousin Bella. Nicolas gets so distracted when he is nursing that I had to go upstairs when he got hungry to nurse him or it would have taken hours!We had a great time playing with everyone and visiting. There was a bocce game and everyone had fun writing on the front sidewalk with the chalk that Louie bought.

Rule Breaker

Yesterday was fairly uneventful except that Vovo was able to get Nicolas to nap (very briefly - about 20 minutes) on his back. That is pretty unusual and I was glad that he did sleep for a bit on his back, but of course he always sleeps better/longer on his tummy. 4 months old and he is already "breaking the rules". Something tells me we are going to be in real trouble when he gets older!

Still not sleeping peacefully at night. I spent 2 hours sleeping in the rocker/recliner and Lou spent an hour. It is just easier to stay in there than go back and forth between bedrooms. He did have some gas - not sure what I ate that caused that - poor thing. Still hasn't pooped since Tuesday morning, so I am sure that may be making him uncomfortable. Poor daycare - I suspect he is going to have a "code brown" while he is there today!

Fooling Mommy

We had a lovely weekend. Lou's parents came to the house and helped us watch Nicolas and finish the new garden. The new garden is almost complete - just need to put down the edgers and finish mulching. Nic had a fun day playing with Vovo and was very impressed with the new garden :-)

Sunday Louie spent most of the morning playing with Nicolas while I grocery shopped and did some work outside. Then it was time to switch off and Luis got to "play" outside while I played with Nicolas. It was great teamwork.

Nicolas loved his rattle socks - he kept trying to put them in his mouth. He started doing something strange during feedings this weekend. He will nurse for a while, then he will start sucking his fist, then he nurses some more and so on. It is getting difficult for me to figure out if he is done eating. And he also started looking up at me and occasionally smiling while eating. It is like he has a private joke going on in his head. I think it is teething related since as soon as I try to "shut off the tap" he cries and wants more. He also started biting my finger this weekend, so I am chalking it all up to teething.

We all scream for ice cream

Well it was another long night for me last night. Poor Nicolas had some serious gas issues. He never appeared to wake up, but he did some significant squirming around all night and I could hear him farting for a good portion of the night. I ended up sleeping in the rocker/recliner from about 1:30-4:00 since he would go through spurts of spitting out the pacifier and crying. Luckily we splurged when we bought the rocker/recliner and it is really comfortable (thanks Luis - you were right on that one!)

This afternoon was the Parent's Ice Cream Social at Nic's daycare. We got to meet some of the parents of the other infants and Lou got to eat some delicious Edy's ice cream. Since Nicolas still doesn't seem to do well when I eat ice cream, I ate a cookie instead. It was nice to get together with the other families in a social setting.Nicolas was again only interested in daddy during dinnertime. He kept faking a cough so that Luis would look at him. Me, on the other hand, could have left the room and he wouldn't have cared. It just means I get to eat my dinner in peace :-)

Haunted by cheesecake

Well, the cheesecake I ate last night was a bad idea.

Nicolas had a very restless night. He seemed to sleep ok, but was very restless and squirmy all night. I certainly didn't get much sleep. He had a lot of gas all night/morning. I even got up around 4:30 to feed him a little to see if that would help him sleep better. He did for a little while, but continued to squirm. I slept in the rocker for about an hour and then Luis slept in it for about an hour after I came back to bed. Easier than having to continually go into the nursery to help pacify the little guy. So, I think we are all pretty tired this morning.

Today was music class at Daycare and Nicolas loved it. Mary Lou (one of his teachers) said he didn't take his eyes of Kathye, the woman playing the music. Nicolas was kind enough to save a "code brown" (poopy diaper that requires a change of clothing) for me as soon as we got home.

He is "talking" more and more these days. He is also really enjoying playing with his toes/feet.Tomorrow is his 4 month birthday and checkup. Hopefully he won't cry too much when he gets his shots.

Bed, shmed

Today we went to Kayla's christening. We were all dragging a little this morning so we were a little late to the ceremony, but Nicolas was a very good boy in church. He was very quiet except during one of the songs when he decided he was going to join in and sing for a bit. But, he was smart enough to know to stop singing when everyone else did :-).

The reception after at the Shafman house was a lot of fun. Nicolas got to see his friends (Kayla, Emma, CJ, Ava, Andrew) and had a great day. He even took a nice long nap on Kayla's floor.

Daycare, Day 2

Today was Nic's second day at daycare. He woke up bright and early at 4:15 and I nursed him and put him back to bed until about 6:00. We woke Luis up about 6:15 to help with a poopy diaper. Since we know how much Luis likes the poopy diapers, we try to save them for him to change. No call from the daycare which means he did fine eating. I am sure Nicolas is adjusting better than I am. He was happily playing in the bouncy chair when I picked him up.Although it had only been an hour and a half since he last ate, I nursed Nicolas when we got home. He nursed about twice as long as usual and then after a 15 minute break he was back at it. Not sure if I need to send more milk in his bottles or if he was just soothing himself after trying to adjust to his new environment. The pediatrician did say he may nurse and cuddle more as he is adjusting, so I am going with that explanation.

Tomorrow he spends the day with Vo vo (grandpa).