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we noticed on sunday that daxy was not drinking full bottles. he started smacking the bottles out of our hands when we'd approach. this was highly unlike any previous behavior from our sweet baby who always opened his mouth like a baby bird when he saw a full bottle on the horizon. it was not however until wednesday in the wee hours of the am that i started to realize he was actually ill. at about 4am he developed a fever. (for once when i took his temperature it was actually not the temp it should have been. paranoid? we've thought before he had a fever and when we took his temp, it was completely normal. this is the first time we've seen something with triple digits.)
along with the spike in temperature came the snotty stuffed up nose. dax is not a big booger producer. i've seen lots of kids before who just have incredibly snotty noses, and thankfully dax is not one of those little dudes. so, by 10am wednesday it was starting to scare him when he would sneeze and something would drip out of his nose. he had this look on his face like - get - this - off - of - me! momma came running with the tissues. right now he's just super congested and hoarse sounding, so hopefully the drippy runny stage is over.
a trip to the pediatrician's office yesterday showed all of his blood work as normal (so we know it's nothing bacterial), several red spots on his throat, and the elevated temperature. his ears looked clear, lungs sounded clear, and the dr. felt certain it was a virus that's been going around the area in the past two weeks. he confirmed that he should be better by sunday, and if he wasn't, to bring him back to the office on monday.
we're pretty sure that this illness found its way into our sweet daxy's body by way of his beloved passie on a clip. see, recently - since he's been belly dragging all over town - so has the passie. on sunday he attended our kids town nursery at church, where we're sure the passie saw a good amount of floor action, along with equal amounts of passie on mouth kissy lovins. so, perhaps (just maybe) said passie got a germ or two on it at church and found its way into our sweet dax.
and so we mope. poor baby woke up with a temp of 102.7 this morning. however, he did sleep straight through his last motrin dose. after the first morning's motrin we had him back down to 100 by breakfast time. after he ate he slept and slept and slept. which, we're hoping was like a medicine boost and he'll continue to do snooze some more this afternoon and tonight. yesterday he failed to take any naps (except for 1 one hour power nap in the evening), and did not fall asleep again until 10pm. very unlike the dax we know. a tired, sickly, cranky baby makes for tired, sickly, cranky parents. luckily will has friday off so the dudes will get to hang out together and lay low.
we're all collectively sad not only because dax is sick, but because we missed daxy's half brother's birthday yesterday. we had been planning a trip to see his birth mother and older half brother for a giant birthday celebration. we were all looking forward to getting together, hanging out, and celebrating together. however, with super sickly dax all fevered up and contagious, we knew we just could not make it. it broke our hearts to text daxy's birth mother to let her know we'd not be able to head over, and we hated that the first time we had to cancel a visit was for something that was going to be so special. (i got a text back this morning that they had a magician with bunnies and monkies! drat to missing the monkies - who has ever got to pet a baby monkey!?) hopefully we'll be able to make it up to them with a visit over the labor day holiday weekend when sweet baby daxy is feeling much more festive!
a baby on the move is a whole different being from a baby who peacefully lies still in one general area. we knew our lives were going to change when dax started moving around, we'd even joke about it sometimes - but we were just not prepared for how quickly he'd get going once he did finally get going - and what all he'd be into.
it seems that the tried and true statement about kids not wanting to play with their toys, but only with the box is forever reigning true. dax wants to play with anything but his toys. and even worse, it's not that he does not want to play with toys, but he wants to play with things that are not safe for little babies to play with. he's like a magnet to destruction. it seems like all day long i am saying this same phrase over and over and over again - "no, mommy's". no matter how many times it's uttered dax just looks at me, cracks a smile, and keeps playing with whatever i am telling him not to. he is obsessed with the following:
- laptop cord
- power strip
- telephone cord (that was nailed to the base board until he ripped it up, flinging a nail across the room)
- large books (oracle) from the bookshelf
- keyboard (from any computer, except the one i let him use)
- phone cord (yes, my work phone has a cord - how very 80's of it)
- dogs (especially the one that is not so understanding of his too rough grasp)
i feel guilty to constantly be saying "no, mommy's", but even when i pick him up and point him in the other direction he simply drags himself right back where he wants to be. nothing can distract him. it's like all hands on deck - mission must be accomplished - must - get - this - laptop - cord - disconnected - from - said - laptop - and - into - my - mouth! he is one persistent little guy. i honestly admire his dedication to the task. it's hard for him to drag himself over to an area and raise up to grab things that aren't his (things we've so nicely baracaded and tucked away), yet he does it over and over again, and with mad skill.
we've put up more baby gates to help to keep him contained (and safe) while i work upstairs. it's easier for us to put (friendly) the dog up here in the office with us now with this new gate in place, and it helps keep dax in the room. this morning he decided he would use the gate as a toy and he ran his passie over the gate and screamed to hear it echo in the stairwell and foyer. he knows how to rock it. will says he was like a prisoner screaming "attica - attica"!
he used to be able to hang out in the walker (what we call his car) and drive around the down stairs while i cooked dinner. however, that is probably no longer an option since we saw him standing up in the walker and leaning to one side to reach for an antique chair as he lifted one of the wheels off the ground. game over.
if you put him on the floor in the kitchen he will immediately head to the dog food and water dishes. they must have "baby come here" written all over them. right now he is only safe when i am cooking while he is in his jumper. some days he is kinda jumped out by dinner time, so i have to wait until daddy gets home and can play with him before i can actually cook. we're considering another pack n'play for down stairs, but i hate to keep him cooped up in a netted play yard.
hopefully we'll soon find some creative things to keep daxy interested, occupied, and contained so he will be happy and safe while still on the move.
it's the end of the world as we know it.
it's the end of the world as we know it.
Belly Drag
daxton did something down right amazing yesterday. after work i was playing with him in the floor and he saw something he wanted (a sock) across the room and he went for it. he used his elbows to just drag himself right across the floor to it. for a few minutes i just sat here (jaw on the floor) in utter amazement and then when it dawned on me what had just occurred, i lunged for my phone to make a video for all of the daxy fans. it never fails, whenever he hears the beep of the video camera begin to record he freezes (mid frame) as if to tell me i did not have his consent to video tape this event - and like that - the belly drag was done.
shortly after this stunt daxton fell asleep and took a long nap, so i had kind of forgotten about it until we got ready to put him to bed last night. will and i took him in his room and got him changed up for night nights and read him a story. he was kind of energized by the "kissing" book (which tells you about multiple ways to kiss - and then you give him a little demo - butterfly kiss - doggy kiss - monkey kiss etc.), and so he was all of the sudden no longer interested in bed time. i laid him on his tummy and got out the ball. he rolled the ball with daddy and the dog and when they stopped rolling it back, he decided to go get it himself, dragging himself across the floor! will could hardly believe his eyes.
today, he's continued on with the act of the belly drag, dragging himself over to punch buttons on my laptop keyboard, dragging himself over to play with the wheels of my desk chair, dragging himself over to tickle my foot, and on and on. at one point i had to get up and close the door to the office for fear he just might drag himself right out into the hall and right down the steps! i am afraid little fella is on the move!
it's been nine months since daxton was born.
it's been nine months since this sweet boy found his way into our lives.
it's been nine months since our hearts grew exponentially with a love we never knew.
dax has turned into a wiggle worm. he's into everything and there is no stopping him! it's become very difficult to change his diaper on the changing table, and as of this week we've moved to the floor to keep him from pulling all of the tissues out of the box, pulling the lamp down on his head, getting into all of the diaper creams and hair butter, and rolling over and attempting to completely dive off of the table. yesterday when i was cooking dinner i heard the clacking sound of one of the cabinet door locks and when i went around the island i saw dax in his walker with the lock in his hand getting ready to shove it in his mouth. we instantly had to lock all of the cabinet locks, instead of leaving them hanging like they've been for the past year.
we've got two bottom teeth! his little chompers are totally adorable. he uses his teeth to crunch his yogis, cereals, and rice crackers. its the cutest thing to hear a little crunch n' munch sound coming from his baby cheeks. so far he's working hard to pick up tiny snacks off of his high chair tray, but things mostly get stuck to his palm, and when he tries to put them into his mouth they fall into his bib. tonight he was able to get two pieces of cereal into his mouth on his own and we clapped and cheered for his success! the doctor wants us to just keep trying solid foods, so we're going back to trying some mashed banana, avocado, green beans, and mango. he loves them in the baby food - but so far we have not been able to get him to eat plain mashed up regular food without making an awful terrible face which results in spitting it out.
dax has some favorite new toys. daddy's old droid, an old wireless phone, and an old remote control are among the electronics he loves. he favors anything with buttons and a hard black case. it's funny to see a baby with a smart phone, but he'll play with it for an hour by pressing on the apps, scrolling the screen, and chewing on the otter box case. he also loves to see himself in videos and pictures. he adores my phone just to see his own sweet smiling face. he looks at me, looks at the phone, and just smiles and smiles when he watches his own iphone videos.
he's got new tricks up his sleeves. he loves to click his tongue. it's adorably funny to hear (except when he has a mouth full of food because then you have said food all over your shirt)! he loves to run his fingers across the measurement lines on his bottle. its just like he is strumming a guitar (or a wash board). everything goes in his mouth now! he loves to steal the wipes from his diaper area during a change and put them straight in his mouth. if you take that one away he'll grab the package and grab another one! he loves making funny faces and bouncing his head from shoulder to shoulder. he knows he's silly and he cracks himself up. when he's really being a goof ball he'll stick out his tongue. he also loves grabbing his feet. his latest trick is to lean forward (while standing (holding your hands)) and bend down to attempt to grab his feet. sometimes he ends up getting into a sitting position just so he can get a better grasp.
dax is doing an awesome job sitting up these days. he's worked very hard to work to pulling himself up from the floor using his little toy lion as a brace to get him into a sitting pose. he's so happy and smiles a giant toothy smile when he gets into the sitting position and looks around. we've been using the boppy (finally a good use for that thing!) to help prop him up and it's helped with the tumbling crashes too. now when he sits unsupported he's a lot better about using his arms to catch himself. he's still into kicking his feet - he loves to hear the kicking sound on the hardwood floor or my office chair mat. while he's not crawling, he has been pushing up a lot farther when he's on his tummy and when you put him on the floor on his tummy he automatically goes down in an all fours kind of position. of course, that is where it ends and he slowly slides down and gets around by rolling around, but it's still cute.
every other "word" out of his mouth is "dadadadadadadadadada". he loves to scream dada all the time! he calls the doggies "d" or "dg" and still loves to roar like a dinosaur. he is especially talkative when he's in his walker or his jumperoo. he's very content to scoot about or jump up and down and shout out to the dada's everywhere about how much fun he's having. he also loves to make a "yeargee", "hayeeee", and "oooog" sound. he also loves to let out shrill squeeling sounds, especially when you're some place quiet! put them all together and you can just imagine what it sounds like in here!
it's so fascinating to watch little fella grow and change. it's amazing how fast he's picking up on things and just what a little sponge he is! we cannot wait to see what this next month holds. we can already tell that month 9 is going to be an exciting one!
it's been nine months of 1719 diaper changes.
it's been nine months of 1623 bottles for a total of 59.5 gallons.
it's been nine months of cuddling, rocking, and loving on our boy.
it's been nine months of the purest joy you'd ever know.
