Life As We Know It: December 2010

December:
Austin got his second ear infection this month on December 6. He went back to the doctor and weighed 19 lbs 11oz. Justin's dad came and stayed with him and luckily he wasn't acting like he was feeling too bad. Then on December 20 we were back at the doctor with the same symptoms - fever, coughing, runny nose, eyes draining, etc. Ear infections. Again. I just knew we were in the works for tubes. This time he weighed 19lbs 7oz, so he had lost just a little bit of weight. I was really hoping that he would get better in time for Christmas, and it seemed like he was going to. But on December 23, he was sent home from daycare yet again with another fever. Back to the doc, ear infections again. When I say that this boy was a sad, pitiful sight, I am not exaggerating. He looked so awful, with red, swollen eyes, snot constantly pouring out of his nose. Thankfully he didn't act like he felt bad, he just looked bad! His first Santa pictures didn't turn out too great, partly because he was sick and partly because the dumb camera broke at the mall and parents were forced to use their own camera's to take pictures with Santa. Thank goodness I had brought mine!! He wasn't too scared of Santa but he also wasn't a huge fan! He just kinda sat there like "What the heck am I doing and who the heck is this guy?!" We went to Justin's parents for Christmas Eve, and luckily with the excitement of present opening for the first time ever, he seemed to forget that he was sick and enjoyed the evening. We woke up Christmas day fully expecting to go about our normal Christmas day plans - go to Justin's parents for breakfast and stocking opening, then to my grandmother's for lunch with my family. When we saw Austin and how awful he looked and seemed to feel, we knew our Christmas plans were squashed. I debated on calling the doctor, but decided to give him another day or so. Justin and I were in tears because our baby's first Christmas was completely ruined. It hurt so badly to see him so miserable. We had so much fun the night before, putting out all his presents and playing "Santa" for the first time, and it broke our hearts to know that he wasn't going to get to fully enjoy it. Once he finally woke up and went to see the Christmas tree, it was nice to see him get excited about new toys, even though you could tell he was only halfheartedly into it. I had to at least put him in his My First Christmas outfit, and Justin's parents came over to bring the rest of Austin's presents and spend time with us, since our Christmas was completely ruined. I'm just thankful that Austin is too young to remember but I will hate having to tell him that he was so sick on his first Christmas. He went back to the doctor on December 27 and weighed 19lbs 12oz so he had gained some of that weight back, but we were still battling ear infections.

Busted eating oatmeal raisin cookies!

11 Month Picture

His first Santa visit!

Opening his first present on Christmas Eve!

His new telephone!

Hello?!

His firetruck was his favorite present by far! Thanks Gran Gran and Papaw!

Austin's first Christmas loot

Checking out his presents Christmas morning

January:
Thankfully, the ear infections were behind us and we did not have to get tubes!! Austin's first birthday was on January 4, which was kinda surreal. It was such a walk down memory lane for me that day, because I looked at all the pictures from when he was born, read my delivery story and just tried to remember everything about that amazing day. I sang Happy Birthday to him at 6:08pm, the moment he entered our world. We had a party for him on January 8, which was very small with just family and a few close friends. He had a BLAST!!! We had a late afternoon party and served chili and chicken and dumplings. The kids all had a great time playing together, especially once Austin opened his gifts and he had brand new toys! He was a trooper all day and had so much fun. It started out as a hectic and stressful day for me, but ended up being wonderful and very fulfilling. He loved his cake and everyone had so much fun watching him dig into it. I will definitely say his first birthday was a huge success! He had his one year checkup, where he weighed 19lbs 7oz (lost some weight again after the last sickness) and he was 29 1/4 inches long. So he had gained about eight pounds in a year and grew eight inches. Fortunately, he is a very healthy boy when we're not suffering from ear infections. We started whole milk, which was an easy transition luckily. It took him a while to want to drink it cold but we finally got there. He said "gimme", started trying to click his tongue, got out of school for his first "snow day", said "bye bye" to one of his toys after it turned off and said "bye bye" to him - it was the cutest thing ever! He got bit on the cheek by a kid at school, which made this momma about fly off the handle! I was very angry at first and very upset, and let's just say the scar is just now unnoticeable, almost six months later. But more on that biting thing later. He stood on his own on January 15, which was the coolest thing! Then he got his first stomach bug on January 22. It started on a Friday and when I picked him up from daycare, I was told that he had thrown up in his crib during naptime. It was an isolated incidence so we didn't really think much about it. On Saturday, he started having diarrhea like crazy. He seemed to feel great, but was just pooping a lot and going through outfits from all the blowouts. We had plans to take him to the grandparents for the day and after calling them to warn them about what was going on, they said they could handle a little bit of pooping and to still bring him over. We picked him up later that day and he had not stopped pooping and had even thrown up once. We were still thinking this was just craziness and that it would pass soon. Sunday came along and the pooping never stopped. He never really ran a fever, but it was obvious at this point that a stomach bug was involved. That night right before bedtime, he was sitting in my lap on the hearth of the fireplace. All of a sudden, he projectile vomited everywhere. I mean, everywhere. It was the first time I had ever seen him throw up, not to mention my first experience with PROJECTILE vomit. Wow, is all I can say. I looked down at the mess and saw what looked like curteled milk. We knew then that he had run fever at some point and that it was most definitely a virus. We got him into the bathtub and cleaned off, ready for bed. As I was putting his diaper on and getting him dressed, he puked again. Back the bathtub we went. Luckily, that was the end of it for Austin, but he stayed home again on Monday. Justin came home during lunch and then he started puking. We talked to Justin's parents, and they had been puking. Great, so now we are figuring out that the virus was contagious. I'm thinking I'm the lucky one here, which never happens! Until I wake up at 2am that night throwing up. So what started as a stomach bug at daycare became a bug that infected all of the Vinson's! We were all miserable and sick, but luckily for the grown ups it didn't last as long as it did for Austin. Austin started nodding his head yes and shaking his head no, which has been pretty cool to see him find a way to communicate with us. Plus it helps to know the answer to things when we ask, rather than wondering!