Cold Spaghetti

We were such a happy, bouncing family in the doctor’s office yesterday. Will, still sore but improving; Kate, happy and talkative; Paul, reading books in the waiting room; Me, holding our bouncing baby girl. We told Dr. Milvid of our awful weekend… the vomit, the diarrhea, the dehydration. She asked if Kate had shown any symptoms, because, “it can be awful with one so little.” We said “no” — and Kate, babbling and bouncing, complied.

Until last night.

The vomiting and subsequent discomfort, push of fluids, and lack of sleep are all manageable in that Mommy-can-handle-anything way. What is not so manageable is when a child begins to vomit up buckets of bright yellow fluid.

Bright. Yellow. Ask: Did Kate eat Tweety bird?

Apparently, vomiting bile wasn’t nearly as disruptive to Kate’s mood as it was to mine. She has remained okay and is currently sleeping with her Daddy on the sofa. She still will not take a bottle, but will at least chew on it if I am not around, so she is getting a little Pedialyte in this manner. The goal is to keep her just hydrated enough for the virus to pass through her system without IV therapy. Bright Yellow puke, although traumatic, does not trump IV insertion for level of parental (and child) trauma. Please send positive thoughts our way that this fun holiday bug will be promptly exiting our happy home.

Ho Ho Ho!
To celebrate the completion of grading papers (until finals come in on Thursday), as well as Will’s better post-nap mood and semi-health status, I dressed up the kids and took them out for playtime!

Will: “Dere dey go, Mommy! Up in the sky! Reindeer!”
My instinct for when to get the shot is faster than my ability to focus… damn.
Getting both of the kids looking in the same direction with semi-pleasant expression is a serious challenge!
I love Kate’s little face all scrunched up when she cries… is that so wrong?? (She was upset because Will took away the leaf she was trying to eat.)
Turns out that the flash wasn’t hooked up quite right for all those outside shots (above). I got it worked out for the ones below… and played with a variety of flash shots and camera settings.
Getting artsy-fartsy…
Finally… a setting and flash I’m more happy with!
Wittle-bitty-elf-ears.

The Little Man is basically recovered from his primary infection… unfortunately, his tummy didn’t get the hint.

Along with the squirts, he couldn’t keep anything down all day yesterday… poor guy. Somehow, we managed to keep him hydrated enough to get through the day. Today has been better, he’s kept down Gatorade and popsicles. He seems normal and okay, just cranky.

Paul surprised me with two very early Christmas gifts this year: an incredible lens and unbelievable flash for my camera. We’re talkin’ the real deal. He sought advice from several amateur and professional photographers… and to all you advisors out there, I say Thank You!!!

I may never use an automatic focus again. I also may never take this lens off of my camera. I got to try it out today when I brought Will to meet my Dad at the golf course to hit balls. It was late afternoon and the light was incredibly challenging — full on horizon sun — it was really fun to play with the lens and flash to see how to deal with the light.

I can’t do much more for about another week — but it’s a definite that I’ll be annoying everyone this holiday season!!

See more on coldspaghetti’s shutterfly page.

The good news: it’s not a hernia. He doesn’t need surgery. *BIG sigh*

The not-so-good news: it’s still swollen, he still hurts, and the cause is likely an infection.

Omnicef, the antibiotic that Will is currently on for his ear infection (which is now completely cleared), is the line of treatment that the doctor would normally recommend. Since Will is already on it, we’re keeping with it. The bad part is that the whole thing is caused by the pretty awful diarrhea that is happening as a result of the antibiotic. We’re doing our best with frequent changes and butt paste (zinc oxide is amazing) but until he’s rid of the runs, healing is going to be slow.

I am going to take the kids to my parents this weekend. I’ll be able to put Will in a bath (one day we’ll finally have a bathtub… or at least a second full bathroom!) and Paul can catch up on work around the house. Poor Little Man!

Poor Will.

The Little Man is on antibiotics for a raging ear infection. We have to hide the stuff in his oatmeal, lest he taste it and gag until he vomits (have I mentioned that taking medicine, no matter how “tasty,” is NOT one of my son’s strong suits?) The antibiotics have caused diarrhea. The diarrhea has caused a sudden and severe step back from our potty-training process. Additionally, the diarrhea has caused sores, which has further pushed back potty-ing since Will now fears anything that may result in the taking off of his diaper. The kid is seriously having a rough week.

It was a nice evening, so we decided to take a walk down the street and get the poor kid a burger (his favorite thing in the world). When suddenly, he informed us that he couldn’t walk… or sit… or bend at all… because his penis hurt. During a diaper change 30 minutes or so earlier, we’d noticed that the tip looked a little red. Will overheard our discussion. We thought that his complaint “my penis hurts” stemmed from our conversation and was not unlike the other complaints we regularly hear about pain tragically striking random toenails, elbows, and locks of hair. Usually, the point is to annoy us to the edge of sanity, where we forget the whole burger thing and go right for pudding. When his complaint took on a sharp edge and brought on tears, we perked up and investigated.

GOOD GRACIOUS. The poor kid’s penis is huge. As I find the whole infant mutilation thing unsettling (no offense to those with religious convictions) Will is not circumcised. In addition, well… let’s just say he’ll never need a sports car to compensate for anything. And for Will, that means a decent amount of space to be sore. His whole shaft is swollen, lop-sided and round. And it hurts. It even looks like it hurts. Enough to make him cry if he sits or puts pressure on it.

I called the doctor. Her feeling was that it may be a reaction to the combination of acidic diarrhea and antibiotics, causing his penis to swell. We gave him Tylenol (hidden in oatmeal, of course) and put him to bed — after convincing him that the covers wouldn’t hurt his poor little “pee-nus.” The plan is to check it tomorrow and if it isn’t back to normal, bring him in to be seen.

Meanwhile, I am trying to find that helpful, reassuring information webpage that says it is perfectly normal for a 3-year-old’s penis to swell like a boudin sausage for no apparent reason in less than 30 minutes. So far, no luck. It’s not the easiest thing to research, either. Just consider the terms you have to use. By now, I must have popped up as a suspicious weird-o on some FBI sting list. Wonderful.

Will turned 3. We had a party. By request, it was a pirate party, yar.

I did my creative-Mom thing by: sending out pirate-themed invitations, putting up a “get your pirate on” station on the porch for party-goers to pick up their gear (eyepatch, do-rag and stickers) and choosing their pirate-name. I was Pirate Holly Barbarella. Others chose from things like Barnacle Breath —, — the Rope Slasher, Reeking Flora —, and Jelly Legs —. Some names were simply obvious:
A few nights before, I stayed up WAY late cutting out foam and felt to make this game:
The Birthday Cap’ain was in to it. He stood, flag in hand, ready to tell passers-by to “shiver (his) timbers” or “walk the plank.”
Kate, on the other hand, was just thrilled with all the excitement and flew around the house all afternoon.

I made the Ahoy Matey banner, used the Happy Birthday banner from last year, and got the pirate pendants and flags used on ebay. We bought the disposable helium tanks because apparently there is a helium shortage in the area and stores are not able to rent balloons or sell inflatables.
We had lots of help from my Mom and Dad, who picked up the cake and food (even buying extra “just in case!”) and put time and effort into helping us set up.
In addition to making the pirate game (a hit, at least with the parents, who jokingly suggested I plan pirate parties professionally) I burnt my fingers off making jewel stickers for the kids to put on paper towel rolls (painted black by Paul) to make pirate telescopes. I also had cool paper ships from Ruby’s Diner with sticker sheets (another ebay find). As I probably should have guessed, the kids loved the pinball machines, Will’s legos and bristle blocks, and random Baby Kate equipment. I did my best to not be a complete control freak… the kids did do the crafts I’d prepared. Even though Will had done both crafts at least 12 times in the past week, he even got involved. Aya made my day by making a totally decked-out ‘scope.
I may have stayed up into the night making cupcakes for Will’s class, but the birthday cake came from a bakery. O’Delice, a bakery a short walk down Magazine, supplied the beautifully-appointed sugary treat… and oh my goodness. One could find religion in something that good.The big finale was a treasure hunt. While we were going to have a step-by-step find the clue arrangement, we ran out of time in our preparation and instead did the direct approach to treasure hunting: “Do you all see a treasure chest??” It took about 4 seconds for them to point out the one and only chest clearly visible in the room. We opened it up… and helium balloons popped up with the kids’ goody bags, coloring books, and bubbles inside.Will was showered with wonderful gifts from party-goers, family, friends, and neighbors. Too much to mention… although much in pirate theme… legos (Granna and PapPap), t-shirt (Gwen, Mario, and Clare), book (Emily and Skip), puppets (Amy, Kevin, and Brayden), and more… musical instruments, tub toys (pirates), Melissa & Doug birthday cake (Nana), tool set (Grandpa George), and puzzles (Aunt Julie).

He had a GREAT birthday thanks to all the caring and thoughtful people in his (and our lives!)