Cold Spaghetti

I highly suggest you try it… what a surprise treat! (You know it will be good when it comes from Mrs. St.Denis, who, like my Mother, is a chef extraordinaire.)

Will “helps” everyone decorate the Christmas tree while Granna finishes Thanksgiving dinner. (I made mushroom gravy and finished the stuffed portobello mushrooms for Emily, Paul, and I that morning.) This is about when we began to reinforce the “one finger touch” rule with Will.  

Will and Uncle Skip hang out on Thanksgiving! 

While waiting for Thanksgiving dinner, Will plays in his “cowboy jacket” — a birthday gift from a our neighbor, Chris. Will *loves* the jacket and once he has it on, is not friendly to the idea of taking it off.  

We discovered the essense of being a parent tonight as we scoured the city of Mobile for ANYTHING related to Rolie Polie Olie.

Little man was really rough today. We had a hard time controlling his fever and getting him to drink (forget eating) was equally difficult. We did okay forcing medicine, although any and all techniques (nose holding, plungers, chewables, dissolvables, hiding in drink or food, and more) are basically for not. The kid is good. Through his tears, he kept asking for “Olie”… which was hard because we could not deliver. (At home, we have Olie episodes recorded on TiVo.) So, when we got back to Mobile after the prenatal appointment in Pensacola, while Will took a much needed nap, we went on the search for Olie.

First stop: Toys’R’Us. Five employees in three departments… no Olie. *Nothing* Olie. They even have pictures of Olie up on the wall in the video department… but no Olie. Yes for JoJo, Koala Brothers, Thomas, Bob, Higglytown Heros, JayJay, even Shanna’s Show… but no Olie.

Second stop: Disney Store. (We had to go to the mall to return something for my Mom.) We found stuffed toys of Zowie (Olie’s sister) and Spot (Olie’s dog). But no Olie.

Third stop: Target. (Within the mall.) Nothing.

Fourth stop: Barnes and Noble. Finally! Three books!!! At $15.99/each. We bought one, the official “Rolie Polie Olie” book that started it all.

Meanwhile, at the *fourth* Blockbuster she called, my Mom got lucky… they had *one* Olie video in stock. So, on our fifth stop, we picked up an Olie video. At this point, we were ready to sell our souls for Olie.

Finally, we got home moments after Will woke up from his nap. His excitement over the Olie book was worth every stop. And more. What lengths a parent will go to just to make their sick kid happy!

We are now resolved to find every d*!# Olie thing we can via the internet and stock up.

The stats:

BP: 104/60
Weight gain: zero! (we’re trying to hold weight since I started the pregnancy with more weight than desired)
Baby’s heart rate: ~150
My diet: very good, getting well over 80 grams of protein daily. Need to keep fat intake less than 30% of calories

Other stuff:
Signed off on NOT doing alpha feta protein test
Arranged for 20 week ultrasound right before Christmas (and before Peru)
Placenta is on the front of my uterus… need to make sure that it didn’t attach to my scar. Hopefully, the uterine muscle will have stretched enough by 20 weeks to tell. Otherwise, we’ll have to do another ultrasound in early March to be sure.
Enjoyed wonderful early dinner at Petrella’s Italian restaurant — a tiny local joint in the strip mall across the street from the Birth Center.

It was too easy this afternoon. I should have known right off the bat that it was too easy, I was lucky, it wasn’t always going to be like this.

Will saw right through the “medicine in the chocolate milk” tonight. While he was content to hold his milk (“my milk!” he told us over and over again), he was not so interested in drinking it. We tried a “big boy cup” (ie: a regular glass) and got a few sips. We went to a sippy cup, without regulator, and got a few more. Then we went to the straw, where we got the most. Then back to a regular sippy cup with regulator, which crashed and burned.

So, we then went the old-fashioned route: spoon forced into the mouth. Will has developed a great technique for holding liquid in his mouth until the convenient moment when he can spit it out. So, that didn’t go over too well.

*sigh* Well, he *did* drink half of the milk… and maybe some of the medicine went down via the spoon… we’ll have to catch him when he is thirsty at meal times. Better luck tomorrow, we decided. And Will went off to bed.

Any and all techniques of getting a toddler to take medicine are appreciated!

Today is Will’s second birthday. However, we are dealing with some firsts:

– Will’s first “real” illness: an ear infection in his left ear. Mom’s intutition was right on… I am *so* glad I insisted on keeping him home from school until I spoke to the pediatrician… and I am *so* glad she suggested bringing him in for an appointment! Go me for trusting my instinct that something felt wrong.

– And likewise, his first prescription! For amoxicillin… the same thing I am on right now. For Will, it comes in the pink bubble gum flavor, 2x a day.

Today is Will’s 2nd Birthday!

Which he greeted this morning with a runny nose and congested chest. Last night was just about the most restless night Will has had in a long, long time. He spent most of it in bed with Paul and I, sniffling, tossing, and turning. Poor little guy.

So, no school for Will today. I called the pediatrician this morning and she felt that coming in to get checked out was a good idea. So we’ve got an appointment in an hour.

All snazzed up and ready for his first ever birthday party!