Will this EVER end!!

Well all was well this morning and Parker was playing and happy so things were looking up. I fed him solids (baby squash, baby applesauce and baby mixed grains) and he seemed to do just fine with it. Obviously something didn't settle right because about 15 minutes after feeding him he threw up all of his food! I shouldn't have been surprised but 7 days later I really thought he'd be over this or at least not STILL throwing up! The throwing up happened right after I had changed him into regular clothes for the day (of course it did!). I cleaned him up after he finished eating, changed his clothes and then asked him if he wanted to go play in the playroom. (when he does want to go play in the playroom he reaches for the playroom door and signs please) He didn't do anything and started acting tired and a little grumpy which at this point in the day usually means he wants to nurse. So I asked him if he wanted milk and he signed "milk please". So I got all ready to nurse him and he just lay there not attempting to nurse at all. So I sat him up in my lap and figured he had decided he really wasn't hungry afterall. He instantly sank into my arms and acted like he was going to fall asleep for a nap. A few seconds later I find my shirt (and his) drenched in vomit once again! He was so tired after this happened that as soon as he was done throwing up he just lay in my arms with his eyes closed! I couldn't leave him and myself soaked in vomit for his nap so I had to sit him up and change both him and myself. Did I mention that James went back to work today since Parker was seemingly better?? It is much easier to clean up vomit from yourself and your child when there are 2 people there to help instead of just the person covered in throw up and the baby equally covered in vomit! Anyway so I got both of us changed and sat down at the computer to check my e-mail, facebook, etc. Almost immediately after stting down at the computer, Parker had fallen asleep in my arms. He is actually still sleeping in my arms now at 12:30 and he fell asleep at 11:15 so he's already slept for an hour and 15 minutes! :) Unfortunately for me, my behind fell asleep about 45 minutes ago, I'm starting to get a leg cramp and I'm starving! Oh well...I don't dare try to put him in his crib and risk waking him up enough that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep! Poor baby NEEDS his sleep much more than I need to be able to feel my behind or leg and certainly much more than I need to eat! Oh the joys of motherhood...

Parker illness update and 1 year check-up info and stats...

Well today unfortunately ended up being MUCH more eventful than was wanted or hoped. Parker did very well until we changed his wet diaper at 10:45am. When James opened the diaper we saw what looked like blood in his urine! We were terrified and James instantly went to the Internet to find out if we needed to be seen somewhere right away or could just wait and bring this up at his 1 year check-up that was already scheduled for 3:45 that afternoon. He essentially found out online that it was most likely a urinary tract infection and that we should be seen that day because medication is almost always required to clear it up but that it wasn't urgent that we be seen right away or anything. It made sense to us that we would have a UTI considering his major lack of urination the past few days. We were not however looking forward to him having to get antibiotics but knew we'd do whatever needed to be done to get our poor little guy well again! The rest of the morning/early afternoon went well (Parker slept through most of it) so that was nice for us! :)

The next major event of our day was Parker's check-up. This didn't go nearly as I thought it would! :( At first it was fine, they got his height measured, stripped him down to be weighed and we headed back to the room. Shortly after we got back to the room Parker let out a VERY intense, long cough, followed shortly by none other than MORE THROW UP!! I was starting to wonder if he was EVER going to get well by this point! I feel like this whole week has been a case of 1 step forward, 2 steps back! I was once again the one holding him and was thus covered in vomit for I think the 4th or 5th time since Saturday! Luckily the nurse was very kind and allowed me to wear some scrubs home so I didn't have to wear my yucky clothes anymore! The nurse made notes for Dr. Duff about everything that had happened in the exam room while waiting to be seen by him so he'd know what was going on when he came in.

When he got there he told us that he didn't think that Parker was getting sick again but that a lot of times when babies have gone through this intense illness like Parker has, their little tummies can become almost bloated and very sensitive. He assumed that the throw up was just due to the cough being so strong coupled with the bloated, tight belly. We were RELIEVED to hear that we weren't going to have to start all over with the pedialyte/water regime!

We told Dr. Duff about the "bloody urine" and showed him the diaper, (yes we brought it with us in a ziplock bag so he could see it). Then after he looked at the diaper he explained that he didn't think it was blood due to the fact that it was a brownish/orangish color instead of more of a pink or red. He used some fancy medical term for it that neither James nor myself can remember now but I did find it described in more non-medically terms so I'll copy and paste that info here:

"Newborns and young infants may have wet diapers that appear either orange or pink-tinged. This can be a frightening thing for new parents, because it looks very much as though the child may be bleeding or have blood in his or her urine...However, this may be a sign that some babies, especially older ones, are dehydrated. If the baby isn’t having at least six wet diapers a day, this suggests fluid intake may be too low. When children are not getting adequate fluid they may “hold” their urine and produce darker urine with a higher level of uric acid. If you suspect a child is dehydrated, you should seek medical attention."

...so essentially, Parker was dehydrated so he had a higher level or uric acid in his urine which caused the color to change. Parker had a wet diaper at about 2:45pm that didn't have the brownish/orangish tint to it so Dr. Duff said he wasn't concerned about it since Parker had been taking so much more fluids than he had been. He did say that if it happened again we would need to bring Parker back in along with the soiled diaper so that they could check everything out and make sure he was alright. Anyway, now on to the fun part of the stats from his appointment...

2/26/09 one day after Parker's First Birthday! :)
Head Circumference: 46 1/2 cm (50th percentile)
Height: 29 3/4 inches long (50th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs. 3 oz. (1 percentile)

Yes you read that right...Parker has dropped to the first percentile so he almost didn't make it on the charts for weight! Obviously his illness played a major role in this but at least he threw up in the office AFTER he had already been weighed! I can't imagine how little he would have weighed if he had thrown up before being weighed and having nothing in his tummy at the time of the weighing! He weighed 18 lbs. 11 3/4 oz. (10th percentile) at 9 months so he weighs 8 and 3/4 oz. LESS than he did 3 months ago! He is exactly 1 inch longer than at his 9 month check up and his head is exactly 1 cm larger than at 9 months. I think his stats will be much different when we go back for his 15 month check up...provided he finally gets and stays well!!

FINALLY mostly well baby boy! :)

Parker slept last night from about 7:45 until about 5:45 this morning. He usually sleeps 11-12 hours at night so 10 hours wasn't quite as long as usual. He also however usually only takes about 2 thirty minute naps per day and yesterday he slept almost the whole afternoon so I think he just got so much sleep yesterday that he was finally somewhat caught up from the yucky virus he had. He was wet when he woke up (finally) and hadn't had any diarrhea or vomiting during the night which was the first time in several days so we were relieved about that. He nursed and when he finished he was chattering away and smiling and acting like his regular self again! :) After he nursed I noticed that his diaper was wet again!! So after going 8-12 hours between having a wet diaper he went about 15 MINUTES in between this morning! When it was obvious that he wasn't going to go back to sleep we took him downstairs and he happily played in the playroom. He even crawled around and cruised around the furniture like crazy which is something he hadn't attempted since getting sick! He still has a nasty cough and we think he's been swallowing mucus sometimes when he coughs but the nausea seems to have diasappeared! We just praise the Lord that he is feeling so much better and that we didn't end up having to take him to the hospital despite his several close calls! I feel completely well today and James amazingly never got it! We thank you all again for your kind words and prayers during this time! I can't tell you how many times I cried for my poor baby boy this past week so I really needed the encouraging words and prayers that's for sure! Oh and later today Parker has his one year check-up! He is supposed to get a round of shots but we are going to wait until at least next week to do those! There is NO way I could see him go through that today now that he is finally feeling better! They will weigh him and measure his length though so I'm excited to find out how big he is! He's been eating a lot better lately so I don't think his weight will be too affected by his vomiting earlier in the week, (especially since it's now been several days since he threw up at all and he was VERY inactive while he was sick (which is MUCH different than the normal Parker that doesn't sit still for a second), so he wasn't burning nearly as many calories during the day like he normally does). I'll try to do a stat update from his appointment later tonight! :)

Sick Baby Boy Day 5! :(

Well today was Parker's 5th day of his nasty stomach virus! He woke up at about 4:30am with some VERY NASTY diarrhea. We cleaned him up, he nursed and then went back to sleep until a little bit after 7 this morning. He was very wimpery and nothing really made him happy this morning. He nursed at about 7:20am, had a little bit of rice cereal at about 9:30am, nursed again at about 10:30am, and 12pm. He then fell asleep at about 12:15pm and slept until about 2, then nursed from about 2:10 until about 2:15 and then fell asleep again. James and I had been trying to keep track the best we could of his urination but it has been so difficult has the past 5 days have really been a blur due to the intense illness. We realized at about 1:30pm while he was napping that he hadn't had a wet diaper since he first woke up at 4:30am so it had already been about 9 hours since he had urinated! We didn't want to wake up and other than the lack of urination, he seemed to be doing quite a bit better, had been asking for and drinking water frequently and was eating as well as could be expected and keeping everything down. James went ahead and called the pediatrician's office and left a message with the nurse to see what they thought we should do. When 3:15 rolled around, Parker was still not wet and we had still not heard back from the pediatrician I told James that we should probably just call back and mention to the receptionist that he hadn't urinated in 11 hours and then see if that would get some response in regards to what we should do. Apparently as she told one of the nurses this, she stated that Parker should be seen in the office for that so they could evaluate him. They apparently had a cancellation at 4:30pm that was with our actual pediatrican, (by this point we had been to the pediatrician's office 2 other times and hadn't yet been seen by Parker's actual pediatrican b/c the first time we went it was on a Saturday and only a couple of their office's pediatricians work each Saturday b/c they rotate working on Saturdays, the second time we went they said Dr. Duff had an appointment at 7:30 which is later than Parker's bedtime plus with the drive back to Wamego by the time we would get back home it would be 8:30 at the earliest which is VERY late for him and he obviously needs as much sleep as he can get being so sick so we saw a different pediatrican that had an appointment at 1:45pm that same day instead of at 7:30 with Dr. Duff who is our pediatrician). Of course we made the appointment and then about 15 minutes later at about 3:30pm, (11 hours later!) Parker FINALLY urinated! We were shocked that it took SO long for him to urinate especially considering that he had A LOT of water to drink, as much breastmilk as he wanted and some rice cereal. Poor little guy apparently lost more fluids than we even realized from all of his vomiting and diarrhea. Oh and for those of you who are thinking that James and I are JUST paranoid first time parents, that's at least not entirely true. Dr. Duff told us that we SHOULD be coming into the office when he is going so long without urinating and that that is just what parents need to do. He even went so far as to say, don't just call the office, we want to physically see you in the office if this happens again so don't be afraid to call and make an appointment. This really made James and I feel a little better about the fact that we had been to the pediatrician's office 3 times since Saturday. Saturday's appointment was the day that he first got it when he threw up 4 times in 4 hours so that time obviously warranted the visit. It was at that visit that we were told if he doesn't urniate at least once within 8 hours that he needed to come back to the office to be seen, (on Monday he hadn't so we went back on Monday), and then today he went 11 hours without urinating so all of our trips were ligitament which we felt much better about. Anyway we came home from his appointment and Parker had a tiny bit of bread, a little bit of rice cereal and a little bit of banana baby food. After he ate he seemed to be feeling a little bit better so we decided to let him open his present he got in the mail today from Uncle Chris, Aunt Kristi, Cousin Kaleb and Cousin Olivia. He really liked it and was even smiling and dancing at it!! The first smiles we had seen in 5 days!! The smiles and dancing really made us hopeful for our day tomorrow! Thank you all for you thoughts and prayers! We really appreicate it and are SOOOO glad that it sounds like our baby boy will soon be back to normal! :)

Sick Baby Boy Day 4! :(

Thankfully I don't think this post will be quite as long as the others and I'm hoping to finish it right now while James attempt to feed Parker a LITTLE bit of rice cereal to see if he keeps it down.

Day 4: Tuesday February 24, 2009

Well this day started out VERY early for us! I'll start with the end of day 3...after going to bed at 7:40 Parker woke up for some reason at about 10:45pm. We're not sure what exactly caused him to wake up but after a short time of rocking, he went back to sleep. Then at about midnight, he woke up again...this time the reason was obvious. We went in to get him and found that he had ONCE AGAIN thrown up! He had made it SO long without throwing up that we had thought he was finally feeling well enough to keep food down but I guess we were wrong. The last time he had had breastmilk was 2:40pm the day before since he had refused it before going to bed so it was the rice cereal that he had thrown up. Even with trying to transition him into the rice cereal, it was still too much for his poor sick tummy! :( We cleaned him up and I rocked him back to sleep. He then proceeded to wake up about every 2 hours after this, so he woke up at about 10:45 pm, 12am, 2am, 4am and was then up for the day at 6:15am! He clearly still felt just aweful! :( When he woke up at about 4, I got the pleasant surprise of feeling exactly how he felt...I threw up! I won't go into all the details of my illness but I ended up throwing up at least 6 times yesterday, (hense the delay in writing the Parker updates), but am feeling a lot better today. Still have an upset stomach but haven't thrown up since yesterday morning and am going to attempt to eat more than 1/2 cup of jello today...wish me luck! I spent most of the morning and early afternoon sleeping since I felt so terrible so I don't know exactly how Parker's morning went but from what I was told, he was pretty wimpery and still felt aweful! James was able to give him a bath (more for our benefit than his...he really stank and we could hardly stand to hold him). He said he wasn't real happy about being bathed but it was alright. Sometime between about 2pm and 6pm (don't remember for sure when since things have been such a blur around here), Parker had some diarrhea. He took about an hour and a half long nap in my arms from about 2:30-4pm. When he woke up, he acted like he felt a lot better! :) He loves reading books and pointing at the pictures and feeling the textures if it's a touch and feel type book. Before when we would read these books to him he'd just sit there staring off but he was actually feeling the different textures and chattering away in his happy baby voice! He even CHOSE to take drinks of water from his sippy cup! Before he had been refusing the water but now he would not only take drinks, but he would reach for his cup and sign "please"! What a blessing that he was finally acting more like himself and choosing to drink, (and drink a lot), instead of rejecting it like he had been. At about 6 he started acting grumpy and tired and just kind of sick acting in general so we decided to take him up and get him ready for bed. He ate for a little while but wouldn't rest and go to sleep. We ended up taking him back downstairs and put in a Baby Einstein's DVD hoping that would relax him enough to make him tired and ready for bed. We took him back up at 7pm, he ate again and finally fell asleep at about 7:30. Oh and a tip for parents with a sick baby...Baby Einstein DVD's are WONDERFUL!! I am not a fan of TV or videos for children as young as Parker but recently got some Baby Einstein DVD's through a lady selling them on Craigslist. We decided to put one in the other day when he started getting grumpy and felt super sick and he instantly quieted down and watched intently. There have been numerous times since then when he has been grumpy and really sickly acting and he calms down and is able to rest and be content when he's watching them. I'm sure this wouldn't work for every baby but it sure seemed to do the trick for Parker! Well we're going into sickness day 5 so hopefully I'll have the update for that tonight.

On a more pleasant note, today is Parker's 1st birthday! Not exactly how I thought he'd be on his first birthday but at least he is starting to get better and not SUPER sick still!

Sick Baby Boy Day 3! :(

Well first I want to appologize for just now getting to write the Parker illness updates. I unfortunately caught Parker's illness so was feeling VERY under the weather yesterday to put it mildly! The details of day 3 and 4 are quite lengthy so I'm going to do them in two different posts so I don't spend forever on the computer all at once while James takes care of Parker on his own. Anyway, on to the details of Parker's illness on days 3.

Day 3: Monday February 23, 2009

Parker went to bed at about 6:45pm on Sunday night but then woke up at about 3:15am. When we went in to get him, he had some diarrhea in his diaper and was very upset. He had NO tears as he cried and his mouth and lips looked really dry! We were really concerned because it has been a huge battle to keep him hydrated! He was refusing water and Pedialyte so the only water he was getting was through breastmilk and he was having that for only short periods at a time and not very often because if we did it too frequently he'd throw up. We were really concerned that he had finally become dehydrated and thought once again that we were going to have to take him to the ER to get IV fluids! :( We went back and forth about what to do as far as taking him to the hospital or not. We didn't want him to have to go through that undoubtedly extremely stressful event unless he really HAD to! He was acting really lethargic, but it was 3am and he had been very sick for the past 2 days by this point so it made sense that he was lethargic. The lack of tears coupled with the pretty dry mouth were what really concerned us. Anyone who has been around Parker when he cries knows that he quickly gets great big crocodile tears, (we even frequently have people talk about his great big tears), so when there were NO tears, we knew he had very little hydration. Anyway, we decided to see if he would nurse since it had been so long since he had had so little to eat the past two days. We let him nurse for 5 minutes and then I rocked him back to sleep. We figured if he had the water from the breastmilk that would at least help since he was refusing both the water and Pedialyte. At 4:40am he was finally back to sleep and in his crib. He woke up at 7:30am and we let him eat for 7 minutes instead of 5 since he had been keeping his 5 minute feedings down. He ate again at 10 for 7 mins and fell asleep shortly after this feeding. While he was sleeping we realized that he hadn't urinated since he had the diarrhea at 3:15am which meant he only had until 11:15 to pee before we'd have to take him to the pediatrician. Thankfully it was Monday so he could just go to the doc instead of the hospital if/when it had been 8 hours since he urinated! We called and the earliest we could be seen was 1:45pm so we decided to just go ahead and be seen then. I checked Parker's diaper at 10:50 and it was still dry. We checked it again at 11:15 and it was FINALLY a little bit wet! So some time between 10:50 and 11:15 he had gone pee! By this point we were REALLY wishing that Parker wouldn't push the limit SO far with the pee! It's like he would go the full 8 hours before he'd pee, (not that it was his fault, poor little guy...it was just stressing us out and making us really worried for him). We went to his pediatrician appointment and he FINALLY had some tears return while we were there. The doc did a lot of tests to make sure he wasn't dehydrated and said that he wasn't dehydrated yet but to keep an eye on him and come back if he got worse. Oh, they didn't weigh him at the appointment he had on Saturday but at this appointment they weighed him with his clothes and shoes on and he weighed 19 lbs. 4 3/4 oz. (for anyone who's interseted in knowing how big he is). We decided to let Parker nurse for as long as he wanted when we got back from the doctor's office since he hadn't thrown up since 3:00pm on Sunday and it seemed like the throw up was a thing of the past. He nursed at 2:40 for 15 minutes and seemed to feel a lot better. Then at 5:30 we decided to let him have a tiny bit of rice cereal which he was also able to keep down. At about 6:30 we took him upstairs to give him a bath and get him ready for bed. Usually he loves bathtime so we thought it would be a nice relaxing way for him to end his day...This was however not the case this time. As soon as we put him in the tub he started crying, signing "all done" and reaching to get out of the tub. We decided not to push the bath thing and took him out and decided to just get him ready for bed instead. Poor baby didn't even want a bath! :( So we went to nurse him and he just layed there wimpering and refused to nurse! This was very unual because he had been VERY eager to nurse in the past. We called the pediatrician's office to ask about this but it was so late in the day that we never recieved a call back. I ended up just rocking him to sleep without having nursed since he was refusing to do so. He was in his crib asleep by about 7:40pm. This was the end of day 3. They told us at the doctor's office that this usually lasts 6-24 hours! Poor Parker had already had it for triple the typical "max" amount of time. We did go to bed feeling hopeful since he still had finally made it over 24 hours without throwing up. Hopefully I'll get around to typing the day 4 update sometime later today but I make no promises with the intense sickness going on around here...

VERY brief Parker update...

I'm EXHAUSTED due to the accumlative affect of taking care of a the very sick Mr. Parker so for tonight I'm just going to write this post to say that I'll write a message tomorrow with details of how Parker's day went today. For the most part is was MUCH better than the past two days! Thank you all for your prayers and kind words...we REALLY appreciate it!

Sick Baby Boy Day 2! :(

Well today was even more exhausting than yesterday believe it or not! :( When Parker woke up (at 5:45 this morning) we went in and his room reaked of the smell of vomit! His hair was all matted down due to vomit that had dried in it during the night! I heard him at one point let out a kind of liquidy sounding cough but then went right back to sleep so I figured he was fine. I assumed he would wake up very upset if he threw up in the night and James and I would know about it...apparently not! :( Poor baby had thrown up last night and was apparently so exhausted from his yucky sick day that he just slept in his own vomit!

Then after we took him out of the crib we changed his diaper (complete with diarrhea sp?) and as we were changing him, he started having dry heaves. I then nursed him for 5 minutes since it had been SO long since he'd had anything to eat. He thankfully kept that down and I proceeded to rock him trying to get him to go back to sleep since it was so early. He would sleep for about 5 minutes and then wake up crying then sleep for another 5 minutes and wake up again crying. This went on for about half an hour to an hour. After it had been an hour since he had eaten I decided to try nursing him again for another 5 minutes since he had kept the first feeding down. He nursed for about 4 minutes and then projectile vomited it out! :( So here we were back at square one just like yesterday! Every 5 minutes we gave him his Pedialyte as he somewhat played but mostly wimpered and clung to me for dear life!

At about 12:00 I decided to try nursing him again since he hadn't thrown up since his feeding he had at about 7:30am. This time when we nursed him, I only nursed him for 3 minutes since he wasn't able to keep his previous 5 minute feeding down. He nursed for the 3 minutes, got VERY sad like usual (because he was SO hungry he wanted to eat more) when I made him stop and then was so tired that I sat him in my lap, patted his back and he was asleep in just a matter of minutes. He took about a 2 1/2 hour nap which was WONDERFUL! I think I needed him to nap as much as he needed it!

He was very grumpy when he woke up and you could tell he was just feeling even more miserable than before despite getting a good long nap in. At about 3 I decided I'd go ahead and nurse him again for 5 minutes since he had kept his 12:00 5 mintue feeding down. Apparently this was a mistake because once again he had MAJOR projectile vomiting of everything he had eaten! After he threw up, he just layed back in my arms with a blank stare on his face, not moving a muscle! He looked like he was literally going to pass out or something! It was at this point that James and I were REALLY getting concerned for his hydration! James called his mom (she's a nurse) and asked her what she thought we should do. After a long question/answer session back and forth between them, she said that we should take him to the hospital right away since he was being so lethargic and acting so out of it. So we took off Parker's clothes he had vomited on and I went and changed out of MY clothes he had vomited on and filled his diaper bag with several changes of clothes. By the time I had changed and was about to head back downstairs so we could leave for the Manhattan hospital, James had come upstairs with Parker and I heard his sweet little voice just chattering away. It was like he had done a complete 180 and acted like he was all of a sudden feeling a lot better! So long story short we think that he was very lethargic both because he was still trying to wake up from his extra long nap and it was taking him a while to get over the throwing up. We didn't end up going to the hospital since he had started acting much more like a normal sick baby. He started playing/wimpering/clinging to me again instead of just laying practically comatose (sp?) in my arms. Thank the Lord!

So we had to start all over again due to the throw up so Pedialyte every 5 mintues once again and nothing else. We were also concerned because we read that you have to go to the hospital if they don't urinate within 8 hours. He peed at 10:30 which meant he needed to pee at least once by 6:30 and at 5:00 he STILL hadn't peed yet!! FINALLY at 5:10 he peed!! I have never been so happy to see pee in all my life! lol It wasn't very much but considering how little he had to eat/drink that day it was no wonder he didn't pee very much! We are just SOOO thankful that we didn't have to take him to the hospital! If we think watching him throw up and be really sickly here at our house makes us sad, I can't imagine having to watch him get IV fluids and whatever else they would have to do!! So I figured it out if you added up all of the times he has nursed (without throwing up) since Friday night at 7:30 it would be a TOTAL of 27 minutes in the last 48 hours and that's the only food he's had! To put that in perspective, he usually nurses 3 times per day for about 15 minutes at a time so about 45 minutes per day (at least) plus he also has jarred baby food twice during the day, verses an average of 13.5 minutes per day these past couple of days without any baby food! :( I feel SOOOO bad for him and am REALLY REALLY hoping he is done throwing up! I'm not sure our washing machine can handle any more loads in such a short amount of time, I can't handle watching my poor baby suffer anymore and poor Parker DEFINITELY shouldn't have to feel so yucky! Please continue to keep him in your prayers and pray that James and I don't get it or we're really in for it!

Sick Baby Boy! :(

Well today was a VERY long day for us! Last night when Parker went to bed we noticed that he had a very nasty sounding cough that had developed out of the blue. We could tell during the night that he wasn't feeling the best because we heard him cough very loudly and disgustingly into the baby monitor several times. This morning when he woke up we went in to get him and he had his nasty cough and then when I took him out of the crib he just sunk into my arms with his body all limp and lifeless and was blinking really slowly and acting like he was still really tired. This is very unusual for him because once he's awake in the morning he's usually super active and happy. James and I could tell something was up and when I felt his head I told James I thought his head felt hot and that we should take his temperature. Although James could tell Parker wasn't being himself, he didn't believe me at first when I told him that I thought Parker had a fever because I probably think Parker has a fever at least once a week and he never does. Anyway, we took his temp and it was 100.4 with an under the arm thermometer (which means it was really 101.4 because you add a degree to under the arm thermometers). Shorty after taking Parker's temp, he proceeded to throw up on me and a tiny bit on his pajamas. It was unfotunately only about 7:00am and the pediatrician's office doesn't open until 8 so we had to wait until then to call to make an appointment. So James took care of Parker while I went and took a shower so that if they had an opening shortly after 8 we could just dress Parker and go. At 8:00 on the dot I call the pediatrician's office to set up an appointment. The earliest appointment they had was 10:45am so we took it. Parker hadn't eaten for the day yet at this point so we decided I should let Parker nurse and hope that he'd be able to keep it down...which he unfortunately VERY much did NOT do! After only eating for about 5 minutes or so he projectile vomited ALL of the milk he had drank onto me, the chair and himself. After this we went to the playroom and I read books to him and tried to keep him doing calm activities so he wouldn't wear himself out too quickly. He would play alright for a little while and then all of a sudden he'd get really lethargic acting and fussy and just want to be held and cuddled. You could tell he just felt MISERABLE and it just broke my heart!! :( At a little bit after 9am we decided we should go ahead and try to feed him some solids. We figured he wouldn't be able to keep them down but thought it would be better to try so that if he WAS able to keep anything down, he'd have something in his stomach. Well...this experience was very much like the nursing experience! Projectile throw-up EVERYWHERE! At this point we were getting really scared that he would get dehydrated since he hadn't been able to keep anything down and he hadn't eaten or drank anything that he'd been able to keep down since about 7:30 the night before.

In the waiting room at the pediatrician's office Parker had some good drinks of water so we thought we were making some progress and were pleased that he was at least keeping water down! However, on our way to the room to be seen, Parker threw up as we walking down the hall getting watery throw up all over his shirt (and some on mine as well). Luckily we had a change of clothes for him (no change of clothes for me however so I had to wear Parker throw up on my shirt until we got back to Wamego...lovely). We found out at the pediatrician's office that he has a very nasty stomach virus that is going around like crazy. He said they have literally seen hundreds of kids with this and that it is HIGHLY COMUNICATIVE! :( James and I are hoping and praying that we don't get it and that no one we know ends up with it! The worst part of this is that today was my niece's 2nd b-day party and tomorrow Parker was scheduled to be dedicated at church and we were going to have a family b-day party for him immediately following this with his aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents and great grandparents! Now we not only didn't get to go to my niece's b-day party but Parker's dedication and party have to be rescheduled! :(

So you might be wondering what you do for a vomiting child under the age of 1 to keep them hydrated? Well our instructions were to give him 1 tsp of Pedialyte every 5 MINUTES he's awake during the day for the first 4 hours after he has thrown up. Then he could nurse for up to but no more than 5 minutes on one side and not more frequently than every 30-60 minutes. Then from 4-8 hours after he hasn't thrown up you up the Pedialyte to 2 tsp every 10 minutes instead of 1 tsp every 5 minutes. Needless to say, we felt like we were CONSTANTLY giving Parker Pedialyte! Anyway, they must know what they are talking about because he threw up 4 times between 6:45am and 10:45am but hasn't thrown up since then. (which is good b/c the doc said that if he throws up you have to start the routine all over again of the Pedialyte and not nursing) I didn't realize this but apparently allowing your child to drink as much water as they want often causes stomach irritation when they are as sick as Parker which causes them to throw up which is why they say it's better to offer very small doses of liquids very frequently instead. James and I had assumed it would have been good for him to drink lots of water so he'd stay hydrated when instead it would have caused him to continue throwing up making him more dehydrated.

Needless to say...it's been a long day! Please keep Parker in your prayers as he recovers from this nasty bug! This is the first time he has had anything other than a minor cold so it was pretty scary for James and I as well. We're just thankful that we didn't end up in the hospital or anything to keep him hydrated!

Parker Pics (10 months 2 days- 11 months 14 days)

Another Parker pic album. This one has pics of Parker from 10 months 2 days- 11 months 14 days. Enjoy. :)

Parker Pics (8 months 19 days- 10 months 1 day)

Here is another slide show of Parker pics for those of you who have not already seen these on Facebook. This album has pics of Parker from 8 months 19 days- 10 months 1 day old. Enjoy!

January Parker Videos

1/3/09 Signing Please

This was after Parker had been signing please for a week or so, (he started right around Christmas time). He LOVED our Christmas tree so he would frequently sign please to go see and touch it. This is just a very quick video of him signing please. :)

1/13/09 Cruising Boy

When I took this video I had been meaning for quite some time to get a video of Parker cruising around his toys because he had gotten very good at it and was frequently very quick while cruising. Here he is cruising around his ball pop table toy.

End of December 2008 Parker Videos

12/25/08 Jump-Up Squeakers
Parker got these fun squeaky shoes for Christmas. We thought he might enjoy using the "johnny jump-up" with his squeaker shoes on. He really enjoyed jumping around! :) This video was taken on Christmas day...Parker was exactly 10 months old!



12/29/08 Trying to Get him Dancing
Parker will dance and dance, and then as soon as the camera is on him, for some reason he'll quit all of a sudden and I can't get it on tape! He did eventually "dance" (which is essentially him just shaking his little baby tushy) for the camera although he didn't dance for long.

A Signing Miracle...THANK YOU!!

Well, Parker FINALLY signed "thank you" today several times at lunch! The strange thing about this is that the sign he did for "thank you" is a sign I've seen him do several times before but he would just do it randomly throughout the day, not at any time related to anyone saying "thank you". It was like he all of a sudden realized that the hand motion he had been doing was similar enough to the sign for "thank you" that he could use it as "thank you" and it would be close enough. Very strange. I'm just hoping he keeps it up! :) Wait to go Parker!

My Little Monkey/Signing "Water"

I know I say this every post lately, but seriously EVERY day Parker has been picking up on new things! I LOVE it!! :) Anway, yesterday (February 14th) Parker signed "water" for the first time!! This was one of the first signs we tried teaching him and he just now got it. :) I was a very proud mommy and you could tell Parker was very proud of himself as well! Later that night when he was taking a bath, he started making monkey noises AND doing little monkey motions! I don't know how to describe the monkey motions but he had his arms bent at the elbow and was taking his curved hand and kind of scratching his tummy while doing the monkey noises. (tell me you know what I mean by this so I don't feel like an idiot!) ;) I sure do LOVE my sweet Parker!

Two more things...

I forgot to mention that Parker has also been signing the word "more" consistently as well as "eat". I thought he had been signing "eat" for awhile now but wasn't sure. It was very obvious several times today that he was signing it all along and I just wasn't picking up on it. He STILL however has yet to sign "thank you". It doesn't seem any more difficult than any of the signs he already knows but for whatever reason, he's not signing it yet. I know he'll get it in his own time or he'll just say it when he's able to talk but I just want so badly for him to be polite and although he signs please for just about everything, a thank you would be nice every once in a while as well. :) On a side note...I sure do LOVE LOVE LOVE my sweet baby boy! :)

Babies and Cars

Seriously EVERY day lately Parker has been doing and/or saying/signing something new! I absolutely LOVE watching him learn and grow and it's been especially fun lately since he seems to be developing and learning new things so quickly! Anyway I frequently point to things in books when we are reading to label them or talk about what's going on in the pictures. I also ask him where certain things are in the book to which he usually just smiles a sweet smile at me and then stares at the object in the book without pointing to it. Well today we were reading a book with a baby on every page. When I asked Parker where the baby was, he instantly pointed right to the baby while smiling at me! :) I asked on the next page and he pointed again to the baby so I know it wasn't just a coincidence! Then I noticed there was a car in the picture with one of the babies and I thought, "hmm...I wonder if he knows "car" too since he has several car toys and LOVES watching cars drive by". When I asked him where the car was, he pointed to it right away! :) I LOVE that he is getting so much more interactive, but seriously, how on earth do I have a toddler already??!! Not even 1 yet and I've already lost my tiny baby boy! That's not to say I don't want him to be a toddler, I just don't know how he got there so quickly!

Animal Sounds

Today when I was reading a book with different animals in it and was making the various animal sounds, Parker tried to copy the sounds of the animals! He didn't attempt to make all of the animal sounds but he made a pig, chimp, and cow sound! Such a big boy thing to do! My baby has really seemed to pretty much turn into a toddler within the last few weeks or so. I still can't believe he's 11 1/2 months old...WOW!!

Something New Everyday!

Parker is to the age where it just seems like he's doing something new every day! Yesterday he finally signed "more"! James was feeding Parker and said that while he was feeding him, Parker repeatedly signed "more" followed by "please" instead of just signing "please" for more food like he normally does! Of course yesterday Parker would only show off his new skill for daddy. Today however, I got to see Parker sign "more" while he was eating! I don't know how it has taken him so long to get that sign but at least he finally got it. Hopefully "thank you" will be the next one he picks up on. :) That's not the only new thing Parker did yesterday...he also said "train"!! We have a pretty nice home, but we unfortunately live close enough to a set of railroad tracks that we hear the train whistle when a train comes through town. Parker always stops what he's doing and you can tell her hears the whistle when the train goes by. We say "train" to him and talk about the train as it goes by. Anyway, yesterday one time when a train went by and James was with Parker, he said to me, "Parker heard the train whistle and he said what sounded like "train"!" Parker apparently really wanted to show off to daddy yesterday since he got to hear both of these firsts before I did...not fair! Anyway, later a train went by when I was with Parker and sure enough, as soon as he heard that whistle, he stopped what he was doing, looked out the window and said "train"! (Well it was more like "tra", but we could tell it was train he was saying). I LOVE watching him learn new things but he is growing up SOOOO fast!!

Two More

Just a quick post to say that this morning I remembered two more signs that Parker does. He signs, "toothbrush" and "eat". Both are things that he loves. I know toothbrush might seem like a really random one, but Parker LOVES to brush his teeth!! If he sees his toothbrush when we are in the bathroom, he'll start reaching for it, and then sign "toothbrush please". He'll usually sign the please repeatedly if he doesn't get the toothbrush right away. Silly baby...but what a great thing for him to love to do! :) I'm hoping he will continue to love to brush his teeth as he gets older. Oh, and I'm sure he'll FOREVER LOVE to eat...afterall, he is a boy! ;)

Signing/Talking up a storm!

Parker has still been doing his signing regularly. Lately, we think he has begun to sign "more", (although it's hard to tell sometimes and he'd still prefer to JUST sign please b/c he knows if he signs it he frequently gets what he wants). He will STILL not do "thank you" no matter how hard we try!! His words are also increasingly sounding more and more like real big people words. He clearly says "all done" while he is signing it and has for quite a while. A more recent thing he says is "cat", (James and I can understand that he's saying cat, though I'm not sure it's clear enough for others to understand).He is also definitely using "mama" and "dada" discriminately, (as in, he used to just say it b/c it was something he COULD say, but now a lot of times if I come into the room, he'll point to me and say "mama" and same with James and him saying "dada")...Melts our hearts every time! I know there are other words he has done, but I just can't think of them now. I'll try to update his blog the next time he says something new, although I tend to get behind on things like this, (I still have a couple of videos from December and several from January that I haven't put on here yet!).

Oatmeal Cereal Incident...

So I strapped Parker into his high chair, set his bowl of baby oatmeal cereal and jars of baby food on the table next to him, and realized that I hadn't filled a water cup for him yet. Now you must realize I have left Parker like this numerous times and he's always been just fine and sat there waiting patiently for me to return. Well I get back and find all of the oatmeal cereal dumped out of his bowl, oatmeal all over his jammies, and he's squishing the oatmeal in his hands! Quite the mess!! I THOUGHT I had put the bowl far enough away from him on the table that he couldn't reach it...I couldn't have been more WRONG!! I started cracking up because you always hear of kids doing things like this, but so far, Parker hadn't really done this yet. I called James, (who was outside doing work on our house), and told him he HAD to come inside and see Parker! I always leave him in his jammies until after he's had his first meal of solids because I would rather him spill on his jammies than his clothes for the day so at least he was in his jammies when he did this. Unfortunately, he naturally did this before I put a bib on him or rolled up his sleeves. It was hilarious so I took a few pictures of him and a couple of his jammies. I unfortunately didn't think at the time to take a video of it...that really would have been great. Enjoy the pics! ;)