First off, Jama is doing fine. There was no stroke. The whole incident was some sort of blood pressure drop related to medication she was taking. The doctors are working on the problem, and in the meantime she's back at home without long-lasting effects. Praise God!
Shane's developed a highly predictable routine. It's very nice being able to read and anticipate what he's going to ask before he asks it. He normally wakes up from a nap/bedtime, eats, plays his heart out, and then starts to get fussy when he gets tired. Then it's nap time. This lasts anywhere from 15-40 minutes with a long nap normally happening mid-day. He wakes up around 7 am every morning (on his own or from us needing to take him to day care) and then he falls asleep after eating his last meal some time after 8 PM (usually before 9 PM). The fact that Shane sleeps through the night is incredible. He's very happy and just an all-around pleasant child. A first time parent couldn't ask for a better first child.
When awake, Shane has discovered rhythm and his mouth. The rhythm shows in how steady he can bounce from foot to foot. The discovery of his mouth shows in the shower of spit that the boy is constantly blowing bubbles of. He soaks his clothes! Sometimes, I mistake his spit bubbles as the sound of pooping or a loud fart. Just today, Carrie thought we had a goat stashed somewhere! The boy is really growing nicely (over 16 lbs/double his birth weight before four months!)
I've managed to rediscover Oblivion for wasting what free time I have. There's a German fan-mod called Nehrim I'm playing that totally reworked the game. It's amazing that someone managed something of this scope in their free time.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Jama...
I just got a quick call from Mom. She's in an ambulance with Jama. They think she had a stroke. Mom, Megan and Kathleen are all down in Beaumont visiting Jama and Aunt Zanne (who's going through chemo). If you read this, please pray for my Jama!
UPDATE: Kathleen just called and gave me a few more details. Jama was sitting down in the kitchen and complained that she was feeling dizzy. Ka gave her a glass of water thinking Jama may be dehydrated. When that didn't work, Ka started thinking it might be a blood sugar issue and poured some juice. That's when it happened. Jama opened her mouth and started arching her head back. She was completely non-responsive. Jama didn't wake up until the ambulance was there and they started to give her oxygen. Even then, she wasn't completely coherent. I'm still waiting to hear more....
UPDATE v2: It sounds like it was some sort of blood pressure issue. Jama had to stay in the hospital all day Sunday and she's supposed to get out Monday. She's doing well from what I hear, so that's good news!
UPDATE: Kathleen just called and gave me a few more details. Jama was sitting down in the kitchen and complained that she was feeling dizzy. Ka gave her a glass of water thinking Jama may be dehydrated. When that didn't work, Ka started thinking it might be a blood sugar issue and poured some juice. That's when it happened. Jama opened her mouth and started arching her head back. She was completely non-responsive. Jama didn't wake up until the ambulance was there and they started to give her oxygen. Even then, she wasn't completely coherent. I'm still waiting to hear more....
UPDATE v2: It sounds like it was some sort of blood pressure issue. Jama had to stay in the hospital all day Sunday and she's supposed to get out Monday. She's doing well from what I hear, so that's good news!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Baby's first fever
Not fun. Shane has his first fever.
Carrie checked Shane's temperature when I was driving home from work and he had a 99.8 or so. I figured he might have had a cold or some other sort trifling illness, but his temperature went up to 100.5 around 8 PM and then when we checked at 10:00 PM it was 101. We called the doctor at the first 100+ reading and were told to give him some infant Tylenol. Of course, there has been some sort of recall on Tylenol products so when I went to Giant there were none on the shelves. The girl behind the pharmacy assured me that the CareOne I got was the exact same thing, but the medicine hasn't seemed to have dropped my son's temperature. We just got him to lay down asleep (hopefully for the night).
Carrie called the doctor again at 10 PM and was told that we ought to have him seen by someone. Carrie and I talked and my opinion is that we should check his temperature again in an hour and go to the urgent care if his temperature is still going up. If it stays the same or drops (now that he's asleep) we're going to hold off until his 8:15 AM appointment (unless of course he wakes up crying and his temperature is up...then it's urgent care time).
This whole scenario started off with me thinking "it's good for Shane to get a small cold to build up his immune system some," but it's turning into less of a "it'll help him grow" to a "let him get better ASAP."
UPDATE: Shane's little fever thing is all over. Carrie stayed home Wednesday and took little man to a short Dr's appointment. The doctor's orders: just give him a little infant tylenol if he needs it. Baby's first fever was no big deal. Shane was a little fussy the next two days and then he acted fine when I took a sick day to watch him on Friday. It's now Saturday and the merry midget is bouncing behind me in an attempt to rattle his brain as usual (he loves that bouncer).
Carrie checked Shane's temperature when I was driving home from work and he had a 99.8 or so. I figured he might have had a cold or some other sort trifling illness, but his temperature went up to 100.5 around 8 PM and then when we checked at 10:00 PM it was 101. We called the doctor at the first 100+ reading and were told to give him some infant Tylenol. Of course, there has been some sort of recall on Tylenol products so when I went to Giant there were none on the shelves. The girl behind the pharmacy assured me that the CareOne I got was the exact same thing, but the medicine hasn't seemed to have dropped my son's temperature. We just got him to lay down asleep (hopefully for the night).
Carrie called the doctor again at 10 PM and was told that we ought to have him seen by someone. Carrie and I talked and my opinion is that we should check his temperature again in an hour and go to the urgent care if his temperature is still going up. If it stays the same or drops (now that he's asleep) we're going to hold off until his 8:15 AM appointment (unless of course he wakes up crying and his temperature is up...then it's urgent care time).
This whole scenario started off with me thinking "it's good for Shane to get a small cold to build up his immune system some," but it's turning into less of a "it'll help him grow" to a "let him get better ASAP."
UPDATE: Shane's little fever thing is all over. Carrie stayed home Wednesday and took little man to a short Dr's appointment. The doctor's orders: just give him a little infant tylenol if he needs it. Baby's first fever was no big deal. Shane was a little fussy the next two days and then he acted fine when I took a sick day to watch him on Friday. It's now Saturday and the merry midget is bouncing behind me in an attempt to rattle his brain as usual (he loves that bouncer).
Monday, March 21, 2011
Productive
So I've been productive instead of playing. Dishes, cat crap, baby stuff, recycling, trash...what has parenthood/marriage done to me? I keed, I keed! In general, I've found that as I've gotten older I would rather sacrifice some time beforehand rather than be forced to rush into something later. A younger me, would've totally preferred to procrastinate the work stuff as long as I could to fit in more of the fun stuff.
Time to kill some time before rinsing off the baby stuff....is that Shane waking up on the monitor? He's a noisy sleeper sometimes so it's hard to tell. I really hope not, because I plan on going to sleep myself soon....
Time to kill some time before rinsing off the baby stuff....is that Shane waking up on the monitor? He's a noisy sleeper sometimes so it's hard to tell. I really hope not, because I plan on going to sleep myself soon....
Shane's new trick and allergies
Shane's discovered that he can lift up his legs in a reverse situp and grab one with his hands. He's making all sorts of baby noises the whole time he's doing it too. He's also learned that once his feet are straight up in the air, he can roll up onto his side. It's pretty friggin cute (as Carrie would say!).
The little runt finally passed out so I get some free time now. Carrie was feeling sick from eating, get this, CHICKEN! I didn't even know that was possible. Carrie had a headache and she said she started feeling congested too, so I can't help but wonder if it's some sort of allergic reaction to something. Supposedly, they are people out there with chicken allergies. Wouldn't that be horrible? Chicken allergies and peanut allergies would have to be the two worst allergies I could imagine (especially with my diet). Care-bear went to bed around 8, and she seems like she's down for the night.
I've managed to develop an allergy to something myself. I suspect the cats. My nose has been bothering me for a while now, and I really started to sneeze my brains out the past week. Poor Shane must've startled awake a dozen times from me spraying the floor with what felt like my brains coming out my nostrils. I took an antihistamine on Sunday at my Mom's and it felt like someone stuck a vacuum cleaner up my nose. There were no sneezes for the next five and a half hours or even the sensation of snot in my nose. That tells me that SOMETHING is making me have a reaction, it's just a matter of finding out what. Unfortunately, the medicine wasn't of the non-drowsy variety and it kicked my butt. I ended up feeling less congested sick and more something is up with my head/murky/achy sick. Next time, I'll stick with the congestion.
I have about 50 minutes of freedom left until bedtime. Should I do dishes, grade papers, or play a game? Decisions, decisions, decisions...
The little runt finally passed out so I get some free time now. Carrie was feeling sick from eating, get this, CHICKEN! I didn't even know that was possible. Carrie had a headache and she said she started feeling congested too, so I can't help but wonder if it's some sort of allergic reaction to something. Supposedly, they are people out there with chicken allergies. Wouldn't that be horrible? Chicken allergies and peanut allergies would have to be the two worst allergies I could imagine (especially with my diet). Care-bear went to bed around 8, and she seems like she's down for the night.
I've managed to develop an allergy to something myself. I suspect the cats. My nose has been bothering me for a while now, and I really started to sneeze my brains out the past week. Poor Shane must've startled awake a dozen times from me spraying the floor with what felt like my brains coming out my nostrils. I took an antihistamine on Sunday at my Mom's and it felt like someone stuck a vacuum cleaner up my nose. There were no sneezes for the next five and a half hours or even the sensation of snot in my nose. That tells me that SOMETHING is making me have a reaction, it's just a matter of finding out what. Unfortunately, the medicine wasn't of the non-drowsy variety and it kicked my butt. I ended up feeling less congested sick and more something is up with my head/murky/achy sick. Next time, I'll stick with the congestion.
I have about 50 minutes of freedom left until bedtime. Should I do dishes, grade papers, or play a game? Decisions, decisions, decisions...
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Happy St. Paddy's Day!
Happy Saint Paddy's!
Carrie left me with the boy to go grab some more ingredients for a corned beef dinner. The boy's snoozing so babysitting is easy!
Today was "Kilt Day" at work. Every Saint Patrick's I pull out the tartan, step into the kilt hose and blow some middle school minds. It's funny how overt the kid's reactions are (even the ones who try to hide it). You would think more middle schoolers would've figured out that their voices carry when they yell. I also find it so ironic that most of them are amazed that a man would wear a "skirt." My school is very diverse so they've all seen head-coverings, shawls, saris, you name it....but a kilt? A large segment of the population has a much closer heritage to Ireland than any of the other culture-based clothing, but they all go ape when they see it. I start all of my classes with a quick kilt/St. Paddy's day history lesson to help get all of the questions out so I can move on to math and science. "No, it's not a skirt. It's a kilt....or you can call it a 'man skirt'" and "No, it's not a purse. It's a sporran....or you can call it a 'man purse'" and much of the like. I also do a quick lesson on the fact my kilt isn't of the Irish-variety. It's my clan tartan. That brings another line of questioning and it kills more time, but it shows the kids are actively interested and learning.
Then there's the leprechauns. They always follow the Irish around to cause trouble on Saint Patrick's Day. One year, they stole all the chairs from my classroom so the kids had to stand. Another year, they changed one of the school water coolers to be full of kool-aid (we were in trailers and had no water fountains). This year, they must've been nice because they knew I'm busy with a new baby. There was leprechaun poop (skittles) and they deleted a large test so I had to give the kids a smaller one.
The boy's fidgeting. Time to check on my son!
EDIT: We ended up inviting our neighbor, Ken, over for corned beef, potatoes and beer. It was a great meal! Thanks, Carrie!
Carrie left me with the boy to go grab some more ingredients for a corned beef dinner. The boy's snoozing so babysitting is easy!
Today was "Kilt Day" at work. Every Saint Patrick's I pull out the tartan, step into the kilt hose and blow some middle school minds. It's funny how overt the kid's reactions are (even the ones who try to hide it). You would think more middle schoolers would've figured out that their voices carry when they yell. I also find it so ironic that most of them are amazed that a man would wear a "skirt." My school is very diverse so they've all seen head-coverings, shawls, saris, you name it....but a kilt? A large segment of the population has a much closer heritage to Ireland than any of the other culture-based clothing, but they all go ape when they see it. I start all of my classes with a quick kilt/St. Paddy's day history lesson to help get all of the questions out so I can move on to math and science. "No, it's not a skirt. It's a kilt....or you can call it a 'man skirt'" and "No, it's not a purse. It's a sporran....or you can call it a 'man purse'" and much of the like. I also do a quick lesson on the fact my kilt isn't of the Irish-variety. It's my clan tartan. That brings another line of questioning and it kills more time, but it shows the kids are actively interested and learning.
Then there's the leprechauns. They always follow the Irish around to cause trouble on Saint Patrick's Day. One year, they stole all the chairs from my classroom so the kids had to stand. Another year, they changed one of the school water coolers to be full of kool-aid (we were in trailers and had no water fountains). This year, they must've been nice because they knew I'm busy with a new baby. There was leprechaun poop (skittles) and they deleted a large test so I had to give the kids a smaller one.
The boy's fidgeting. Time to check on my son!
EDIT: We ended up inviting our neighbor, Ken, over for corned beef, potatoes and beer. It was a great meal! Thanks, Carrie!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Reaching
Oh, and lest I forget, Shane's been doing a lot more reaching and grabbing for things. It's funny to see him try sometimes. He can't quite tell depth and will whiff. After a while of whiffing, he'll start to get upset if his daddy doesn't help him out!
He's still babbling! He started to babble along with the preacher yesterday, so we had to go for a walk during the service.
He's still babbling! He started to babble along with the preacher yesterday, so we had to go for a walk during the service.
Almost St. Patty's Day
Shane looks like he was worth a pretty penny on our tax return. Who knew babies could be profitable? We only had to buy furniture, diapers, toys, clothes....well, ok so maybe they're not profitable, but getting money returned instead of chipping a little extra into the pot goes a long way towards taking the sting out of tax season. It totally boosts my morale. I budget my income based on my normal monthly take-home and the "tax bonus" in April/May gets put aside for special projects/investments.
Fatherhood is more pressure than I imagined. I look at my little guy, and I can't help but think I have to not only do a good job today and tomorrow, but I've got to keep it up for the next twenty some odd years. That means I need to do a good job at work to provide for him, curb unnecessary spending, maintain a healthy marriage, and be a good role model all at the same time. I know I'm going to falter (I am human), and even in those mistakes I have to show my son how to react appropriately to error. It's definitely something I think and pray about more often.
I introduced Shane to the ceiling fan this morning. No, it's out of my reach. He's safe. I did lay him down on the bed and turn it on so that he could stare bug-eyed at the movement. It was fascinating for him.
It sounds like he's stirring from his impromptu nap. Time to make a bottle and check in on him.
Fatherhood is more pressure than I imagined. I look at my little guy, and I can't help but think I have to not only do a good job today and tomorrow, but I've got to keep it up for the next twenty some odd years. That means I need to do a good job at work to provide for him, curb unnecessary spending, maintain a healthy marriage, and be a good role model all at the same time. I know I'm going to falter (I am human), and even in those mistakes I have to show my son how to react appropriately to error. It's definitely something I think and pray about more often.
I introduced Shane to the ceiling fan this morning. No, it's out of my reach. He's safe. I did lay him down on the bed and turn it on so that he could stare bug-eyed at the movement. It was fascinating for him.
It sounds like he's stirring from his impromptu nap. Time to make a bottle and check in on him.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Talking baby!
Monday, Shane discovered he could 'talk.' He was cooing, gaahing, and blowing spit bubbles for the better part of five minutes. No camera appeared during this time (of course). It must've been downstairs trying to watch TV or avoid work in general. I tried to get Shane to reproduce his gabbling feat several times (including on the phone with Jama), but he never complied. Eventually, he'll learn what an encore is, but Monday was not the day!
The stinker is 14 weeks old, weighs over 14.5 lbs and is fitting into 6 month+ baby clothes. We Mc's are fiery, but the height must be coming from my wife's side of things. His eyes are still blue, though!
The stinker is 14 weeks old, weighs over 14.5 lbs and is fitting into 6 month+ baby clothes. We Mc's are fiery, but the height must be coming from my wife's side of things. His eyes are still blue, though!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Shard
Prepping Shane's bottle isn't normally a dangerous affair. Carrie and I were in the middle of an SG-1 episode (3 more left!) when feeding time struck. I ran upstairs to make the bottle. Hopefully, it would be ready before anything too interesting happened on our show. SG-1 had other plans. Teal'c started to do something brutal and I raced over to the banister to look downstairs only to lurch to a halt, pinned.
A splinter of wood from the floor must have been poking up. It punctured my shock and my impetus ripped up a seven-inch spear. Cool air tickled my foot through the gaping entry and exit wounds of my sock. I'm lucky that my sock was the only thing stabbed. I put a box over the shard to hold it down and prevent any of the cats from charging headlong into it (They're cats. They're stupid.). Carrie's telling me that it's going to be a pricey fix, but my fingers are crossed for wood glue.
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