Three Month Photos

So here they are!  Aaron's 3 month photos!  And as I post this, he is 3 1/2 months old already!  Time sure flies!  Finally starting to feel better after his hospital stay and recovering from RSV and an ear infection.  Poor kiddo has had a rough couple of weeks.  Anyway, enjoy the photos!
http://gallery.me.com/bhaylett#100263&bgcolor=black&view=grid

RSV, a nasty little bug

We had our first stay in the hospital this week due to complications from RSV.  Basically a nasty cold bug that takes a long time to get over.  It causes lots of secretions, snotty nose, cough, sore throat, headache, etc.  How do I know?  Because I now have the nasty thing myself.  Oh the things we do for our kiddos.  So here's how the story unfolded:
Aaron had a cold since Saturday, including stuffy nose and cough.  It just kept getting worse so we took him to the pediatrician on Tuesday morning to make sure he wasn't developing something worse.  They diagnosed him with RSV and an ear infection and sent us home with nebulizer treatments and amoxicillin. After a day of those treatments, they didn't seem to be improving his breathing, despite nasal aspirations of his snot with a bulb syringe. He spiked a fever at 101.8 and was just  burning up.  After calling the pediatrician, we decided it would be best to take him in to the ER to have him looked at.  So we spent 3 hours in the ER, having yet another nebulizer treatment and x-rays to be sent home to monitor him.  Aaron slept in his car seat most of the night...for what little he did sleep.  The next morning, he was still working really hard to breathe.  We went in to see the pediatrician and after another nebulizer treatment and no change in his oxygen levels, that it would be best to go to the hospital for observation.  We arrived at Blank around noon, and were soon told that we would be staying over for observation to make sure that Aaron didn't need oxygen over night.  I think the best thing we experienced at the hospital was the awesome nasal aspirator they have!  That thing sucked so much snot out of Aaron's nose that he was able to breathe and sleep fairly well for the first time in 3 days!  Our sleep however, was not restorative so we are planning on catching up this weekend.  We hope.  So they discharged us 24 hours later.  Aaron is still feeling a little crummy, with quite the cough but is feeling a lot better.  We got to see a smile and he's starting to babble again, which we didn't see for at least two days.  Currently, he's napping and I should be too.  Thankfully Grandma Connie came to help out through the recovery process.  We didn't realize how sick the little guy was until we ended up getting it.  Hoping to recover quickly and all of us can be on the mend.

Happy Birthday, Aaron!

He is 3 months old today!  How time flies!  We had a visit with our new pediatrician in Ankeny, Dr. C.  She is AWESOME!  Gives tons of information, guidance on vaccinations, support...I just love her.  Aaron did a great job too, considering he hadn't had a real nap all day.  Yah, buddy!  Here's the stats:

24 1/4 inches long (60%), 13lbs 5oz (50%), and 16 3/4 inch head circumference (65%).  So...pretty average.  We talked about trying some pear juice to help with bowel movements.  Going to try 2 - 1oz bottles throughout the day of straight juice to see if that helps.  We have to try to incorporate this on top of his feedings, as we don't want to just give him empty calories.  Could prove challenging with the timing we deal with for medicine and the fact that he is pretty full after a bottle of formula.  The doc said he is growing well, everything is looking good and he was quite bright eyed for her.  Even gave a little smile.  She was glad that we are scheduled to see the Pediatric Gastroenterologist, which is next week.  She agreed that the bowel problems are of concern, especially now that he's 3 months old.  Hopefully they will be able to tell us some good news.  There are many possibilities, some of which are scary.  But I will not dwell on them now, as we don't know anything yet!  :)  Aaron also had some shots today.  I felt bad because I am altering his vaccine schedule which means more sticks.  But, I also have to tell myself I'm doing what I think is in the best interest of my child.  So every month until he's 7 months old...2 sticks at the doctor's office.  Hopefully he doesn't figure out the correlation by then or he is going to hate me.  I wish I could say he did great with shots but this time...not so much.  He SCREAMED!  I used to think he screamed before.  I was wrong.  Poor kiddo took 20 minutes to calm down enough just to eat a bottle, which significantly helped him relax.  Then the car ride home put him to sleep, which is what he is still doing almost 2 hours later.  Hope we don't have much/any reaction.  Last shots we were just a bit more sleepy and a little fussy but not too bad.  Crossing our fingers.
Aaron also had his 3 month pictures taken on Saturday.  He did a great job, despite still feeling a little crummy after having a little bug on Thursday/Friday!  Pictures will be available soon!  Here's a peak to tide you over.

Balance, does it exist?

Today I had a mini-conniption fit.  Had to look up that spelling on dictionary.com (Shout out to them).  Life is BUSY and it is not easy to juggle everything.  I felt I had a pretty good handle on things prior to the arrival of our little monster and thought that it wouldn't be too bad to just incorporate him into our current functioning. HA!  Boy was everyone else right and I was wrong.  I've neglected friends, especially one in particular who is in great need of support and friendship, I've neglected the gym (but keep paying for it), I've neglected school work, I've neglected work (and I just started back), and I've neglected the relationship with my husband.  Finding a balance between everything seems damn near impossible.  How do I get to the gym and feel good about myself, while still getting in time as a couple, spending as much time as possible with my child who is essentially being raised by daycare (this obviously bothers me), putting in enough effort at work to be a benefit for my families, putting in enough effort in school to graduate and finally get my master's degree which I may or may not use, AND still have enough time for socializing and friends?  We are slowly getting into a more predictable routine but honestly, if I want to get in everything every day, I need 40 hour days.  Anyone know how to slow the turning of the Earth's axis in order for this to occur?  I'm open to all options at this point.  Oh, I forgot about housework...keeping the house clean?  Impossible!  I know, we live here, but when I live here and feel the litter that has snuck into my sock and is covering the stairs...something NEEDS to be done.  Okay, so I'm planning to work on that balance in the next month.  I don't expect miracles.  My life is significantly different than it was 3 months ago.  So I need to start with one thing and try to get that worked back in before I move on to another.  A week and half ago I started working again after 10 weeks off.  Not so sure about this forty hours per week business.  It seems absolutely daunting and at around 3pm every day, I want to leave so I can go pick up Aaron and spend a few hours with him before he goes to bed at 7pm.  Not to mention all of the candy and CRAP food that is around, which along with the limited, tight-fitting wardrobe, does not help the self image (enter lack of gym activity here).  BUT, I have bills to pay, families who need support and a team that is counting on me to get my work done.  So I have to choose what I'm going to try to increase my focus on in the next two weeks.  School?  Work?  Aaron?  Ben?  Gym?  Social life/friendship?  After realizing that I really lost focus on a certain friend in particular who really needs my support, I'm planning on working on re-establishing our friendship and supporting her through her challenges.  I know that it's not going to be easy but life changes and as it changes, I need to learn to roll with the punches and get the most of out each experience.  I'll let ya know how it goes.  Wish me luck!