The results are in...

Well, it turns out my pee adventure was all in vain. We no longer need a urinalysis. The blood word that was taken yesterday came back. Brian has MONO. I know I should not be excited about this very serious condition. However, I have to take some happiness from the fact that I am NOT CRAZY. A low grade fever for three weeks is NOT normal in an infant. Thank you Aunt Sarah for helping me know when to push for a diagnosis :)

Since there is nothing they can really do for mono, all we can do is wait it out. At least now we know what is causing the fevers.

What I Hate About Today

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be negative, but rain puts me in a bad mood. I know it's good for the grass and flowers, but I don't like getting wet unless it's by choice. I also recognize that it was my fault for wearing flip flops, but it's not very nice of the weather to make me switch back to shoes when I have been wearing flip flops for two weeks. Because of the rain and my choice of footwear, my feet are still drying out from my most recent trip to Children's Northern Kentucky Satellite. And yes, I said most recent...as in we have been there 3 times in two days...and we are going back later. Just as soon as my son pees in a bag. I am not a happy camper.

You are probably wondering about all of the trips to Children's...and about the pee bag. Don't worry I am going to tell you all about these things. And about Shawn's broken cell phone...and my lost cell phone.

Let's start at the beginning...our first trip to Children's yesterday. This was a good trip actually. It was Brian's LAST physical therapy appointment. He has graduated!! One more thing we can check off the list. Thank goodness.

After physical therapy I called Brian's pediatrician's office to complain to the nurse again about his consistent low grade fever. She finally agreed that Brian should be seen and blood work should be drawn. So, at 5, we went to the doctor. Dr. Price looked in Brian's ears, listened to his chest, checked his throat, and there were no issues. After some discussion, Dr. Price agreed to do a CBC and urinalysis on Brian. It turns out that Dr. Price doesn't actually do any of this though...you have to go to Children's. Our second trip of the day.

Brian did pretty well having blood drawn. He fussed and cried a little, but I think less because of the pain and more because he was not allowed to move his arm. Now, the urinalysis. One might wonder, how does a baby pee in a cup? The answer is...they don't. Instead a little bag with adhesive strips is strategically placed to collect the sample. Lovely. Luckily, Brian could not have cared less about this. We decided to wait there to see if he would go. I nursed him, and we waited for probably half an hour. No pee. So we were sent on our way with the cup for the sample, and a baggie attached to my ten month old.

I fully expected pee when we got home. Nope. We ate dinner. No pee. We got ready to go to Verizon to get Shawn a new phone. No pee. But, lucky us, lots and lots of poo!! So much in fact that the little adhesive strips stopped doing their job. I thought we could just clean off the poo and leave the bag on there, but without the adhesive strips, we had no choice but to remove it.

All the way to Verizon I talked about how when we got home I would just let Brian spend some time without his diaper and catch some pee in the cup when he went. Shawn told me I was crazy. I knew it was a crazy idea, but I really didn't want to go back to Children's to get another bag in the morning.

At Verizon we were told it would be $180 to replace Shawn's phone (which has a cracked screen because he dropped it) with a low end model. Are you kidding me? The nice salesperson made it quite clear that if we had purchased insurance on the phone, we would be able to replace it for free. Thank you Mr. Verizon salesperson. That makes things much better.

When we got home, I stripped Brian down, and kept the specimen cup close by. Do you know that in 45 minutes of nakedness, the child never peed? Usually all I have to do is open the diaper and he pees all over me, but he decided to be stubborn. And I had to succumb to the fact that I would be returning to Children's in the morning.

We arrived at Children's around 11 this morning. We had to wait for them to bring us a new bag, and I asked if we could just hang out to see if he would go. They put us in a room and I got the wonderful privilege of putting the adhesive bag on my wriggling, rolling 10 month old. I nursed him. We waited a good 45 minutes. No pee.

I already mentioned it was raining. A lot. So I took Brian out to the main doors thinking maybe the water would encourage something. Nope. It was about this time that I realized my phone was missing. I asked the desk if anyone had turned one in. Yeah right. I took my baby out in to the rain so I could search the car. Not there. By this time I was panicking because like I said, we had just been to Verizon and I knew it would be $180 to replace the damn thing. So, in the rain, we went BACK into Children's to search. Thank goodness we found it in the chair in the waiting room. I checked one more time to see if the bag was full. It was. Of air. GRRRR!

So now my son is peacefully napping with a bag attached to his, well, you know by now. How he is napping with that attached to him is BEYOND me. He must be sleepy. Hopefully he will have peed in the damn bag when we wakes up. Because then, I get to remove the bag, drain the pee into the little cup and drive it BACK to Children's for our FOURTH time in two days. In the rain.

Let's just hope the results of these tests are better than the day I've had.

Zoo Pictures

Here are Brian's Zoo pictures from our first visit and our visit to Tunes and Blooms on Thursday. Some were posted on the blog, most were not. Enjoy :)

Zoo Pictures

The Skinner Girls

Katie Scarlett was one of my first students. A class of 13 girls. 14 if you count her sister, Tara Lynne, who was with us much of the time. The girls came with their Mom to see Brian when he was a newborn. On Friday, we got the chance to hang out with them again. My what a difference 10 months makes!

Brian is 10 months old

Here is the link to the 9 month pictures...

9 Month Pictures

I say it every month, but it's hard to believe he's already 10 months old! Just two more and he'll be a year :(

We went to the Zoo again on Thursday, so I hope to get those pictures up on Snapfish over the weekend. We also got to hang out with the Skinner girls today and I hope to get a post up showing the difference between the three kids from when the girls first met Brian until now. They've all grown!! But for now, I'm going to bed :)

Today God Laughed at Me

Some people wonder whether or not God has a sense of humor. I don't. I know he was laughing at me today.

This morning Ruben came in from his morning potty break completely green from our freshly mowed grass. I told Shawn it was no big deal, I would just quarantine him in the kitchen until Brian's nap, and then give him a bath. Unfortunately for Ruben (and Mommy), nap time never came today for Brian. As hard as I tried, he just would not go to sleep. So, I made the decision to give Ruben a bath and let Brian "help." As traumatized as Ruben was by having a 10 month old scream in delight as I tortured him with his least favorite activity on earth, the bath went quite well. Brian was entertained, Ruben was clean, and I was pretty darn proud of myself. I figured it was quite the accomplishment given it wasn't too long ago that I wondered how I would shower each morning with no one here to help me! I was so proud that I emailed Shawn to tell him about the achievement.

Then God laughed at me. I guess I was too proud. Next time I will be more humble. Here's how I knew he was laughing...

Brian and I were downstairs switching the laundry around and I noticed a large wet spot on his jeans. Assuming that he had gotten wet during the Ruben bathing process, I pulled him over to me and started to remove the jeans. Big mistake. The wet spot was not just a wet spot. It was the saturated area where poo had leaked out of his diaper, and through his jeans. We're talking lots and lots of poo. Monumental amount really.

So I ran upstairs with him to the changing table to start the clean up process. Now, Brian doesn't stay still these days when he gets his diaper changed. It's a fight on a good day. Today it was a colossal struggle. By the time I had removed all articles of clothing from my child there was poo everywhere...his two onesies, his sock, his shoe, his jeans, his changing mat, all over his trunk, back and legs. Everywhere.

So, as I'm sure you've guessed, Brian got a bath today too. Ruben did not help :)

Rash or Reaction?

I've been talking about how sick Brian has been for a couple of weeks, and on Friday I realized, he still wasn't much better. So, I called the doctor and they called in a new antibiotic since the first one didn't seem to be doing the trick. Before I gave him a dose of the new stuff, I stripped him down to avoid getting the medication on his clean clothes and I noticed a rash starting to form on his belly. I figured it was just diaper rash, so I gave him the new medication, and we both went to my room for a nap.

Brian and I slept for almost 3 hours and he was drenched in sweat when he woke up! I figured his fever was breaking when I realized how sweaty he was, so I snuggled up with him and let him keep sleeping. When we finally got up and got to his room for a diaper change, I realized the rash had spread. So, I called for Shawn who noticed it was on his face as well.

Mom, Shawn and I spent some time on the Internet last night trying to decide if the rash was an allergic reaction, or something viral. We decided it was viral, but to be on the safe side, Shawn and I took him back to the doctor this morning. This was the THIRD sick visit in THREE weeks. When my kid gets sick, he apparently goes all out!

Anyway, after consulting a book on rashes, the doctor decided it was viral as well. She said to make sure to point out that he had this reaction the next time he needs an antibiotic and to watch him really closely is amoxicillin is prescribed again. It would not be a huge surprise if he were allergic, since I am also allergic to that drug.

Anyway, my poor child looks just pitiful, although he doesn't seem to care one bit. Check it out!

First Trip to the Zoo!

Even though Brian is still sick, and Shawn is too, we decided today that we could not wait any longer to use our Zoo pass! So, we packed up the sunscreen and headed to Cincy. Brian seemed to really enjoy watching the animals, especially the ones that were in close viewing proximity. The first animal we saw was a giant sloth and it climbed to the very top of it's tree (right up next to us) and was sniffing at Brian. Unfortunately we didn't have the camera out yet, but it was pretty cool!

We did have the camera out for the remainder of the trip. Here are some of the shots we took...

How Much Wood Can a Wood Chuck Chuck?

We have found something that Brian has in common with his Mommy! Anyone who has seen the child knows he's the spitting image of Shawn. We often say all he got from me was his frizzy hair. Well, we discovered something new tonight!

I noticed after my shower this morning that Brian had brown specks all over his shirt. I had left him in his bed where he would be safe while I showered. At first I thought maybe he had gotten sick, but decided it wasn't that. I brushed it off of him since we were in a hurry and didn't worry about it at the time. Later when we were driving to meet Shawn I got to thinking about what it could have been. I remembered my Mom saying that I used to chew on my bed when I was little. And suddenly, it dawned on me...the brown stuff on my baby's shirt? Wood varnish from his crib! Great!

I didn't get a chance to survey the damage until tonight when Shawn was home. Even with the glare, I think you'll be able to see how strong our little man's two teeth are. Thank goodness we caught him before more teeth came through! We will be installing a teething rail tomorrow. Shawn joked that even though he didn't like 3rd foods, he's quite fond of 4th foods-WOOD!

Easter is Exhausting

The above pictures of my son are a wonderful depiction of our family's thoughts on Easter this year. We'll start with Saturday evening. We were supposed to go out with my Granddad for dinner Saturday night, however, he was feeling dizzy, so we decided to grab some pizza and head to his house for dinner instead. After dinner, Granddad was feeling dizzy again, so he decided to lie down in his recliner for a few minutes. It didn't take long for him to start feeling sick (and getting sick), so we we realized we needed to get Brian out of there.

My parents were in Arkansas for my cousin's wedding, so we were in charge of Granddad for the weekend. Obviously, Brian couldn't be around him, but we felt that he needed some type of overnight care. We called the nursing home on the property where he lives to see if there was a room available and there was not. We also called a care provider service that we have used before, but with it being a holiday, they couldn't help either. After all of the scurrying to get someone there, Granddad was feeling a bit better, so we made the frustrating decision to let him stay alone as long as he promised to call no matter what time if he started to feel badly again. He looked great when I left him, so I was hopeful he was on the upswing.

He wasn't. At 5:15a.m. we were awoken by a phone call from one of the nurses where he lives. Granddad had called 911 when he was too dizzy to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I found out later that he couldn't find his glasses to be able to read my phone number, so he called 911 since he knows that by heart!

So of course, we jumped out of bed and I threw in my contacts, put some clothes on and pumped some milk for a bottle for Brian. I was in the E.R. before 6a.m. I had to wait to see Granddad because they had just gotten there with the ambulance. When I was finally allowed to go in, I found out that they were running all sorts of tests to rule out a heart attack or stroke. Once all of the tests were in, the doctor came in to tell us that he was reasonably certain Granddad was just inexplicably dizzy, and that if we were okay with it, he could go home.

By this time it was around 9 in the morning, and since we didn't want him to be home alone, we arranged for the nursing home to let him sit in their day room until my Mom could get back from Arkansas. On the way to the Manor, he got sick again, and started to waver in his resolve to stay out of the hospital. In the end, he decided to go to the Manor and wait for my Mom. He was feeling better by the time she arrived, so this was probably a good decision.

It was 10 a.m. when I left the Madonna Manor. We need to be at church at 11:30. I raced home, nursed Brian, took a very fast shower, grabbed a granola bar and banana, and we were in the car. We made it St. Pius by 11:10!

Now, remember, Brian is only 9 months old, so he ate absolutely no candy yesterday. However, I think Easter must just make kids crazy, because he was a maniac in church! There were so many other kids there, and he was vying for all of the attention he could get. I ended up having to take him out for awhile and get him to sleep.

We left Mass after Communion (which I HATE doing), but I considered myself lucky to have been able to attend Mass at all! We then had to run to the store to grab applesauce and ice, run home to get Easter baskets for my nieces, the cookies I made with Kate and Jennie (thanks girls!), and some other food items for lunch at Shawn's sister's house. We made it Easter lunch a little late, but well before many of Shawn's family members.

Brian got many, many Easter baskets at Heather's house. I'm not from a family that gives presents for Easter (outside of the child's home), so this is new to me. It seemed to be a bit too much, but when in Rome, right? :) Brian definitely enjoyed visiting with everyone and it's always fun to get the kids together. I wasn't really in the mood for a party because I was so sleepy.

We left Heather's around 4, and did some housework when we got back home. My family came over around 6, and we headed down to Brio for dinner. Dinner was good, but it was sad that Granddad couldn't be there. By then he was resting comfortably at my parents' house and feeling much better. Shawn had a drink with dinner, which he never does, so that just goes to show how long our day was!!

When we got home around 8, Brian was conked out, so we put him into bed in his Easter clothes. He was up around 9, and back asleep on Shawn's lap by about 9:06p.m. That's when I snapped the pictures at the beginning of this very long post. We realized that he had not yet had his antibiotic, so we decided we had to strip him and give it to him. Brian is really not a fan of anything new, so it hasn't been easy getting him to down his medicine. Hence, the nakedness. Thank goodness we went that route. Brian ended up puking buckets after we gave him the dose. I will spare you the details, but I will tell you that Shawn was covered!!

So we ended the day by cleaning up puke. Not my idea of a great ending to Easter, but what do I know? I am sure many parents around the world ended the day in much the same way, only they were cleaning up puke because their kids over did the candy intake. So, it probably won't be the last time.

On a brighter note, we slept in until 9:30 today. Shawn had taken the day to go to the Zoo. We didn't make it due to the crummy weather, but we got some work done around the house, so the day wasn't a total wash. I hope you all had a better Easter than the Borchardts!

The Wave

Our friend Doug told Brian that he's going to get him a job in a parade to show off his incessant waving. He's right, Brian is quite good at waving. He waves at everyone, he waves to everything. Just now he waved "bye, bye" to the kitchen.

However, his attachment to "bye, bye" got us our first sentence this morning! Shawn brought Brian to me in the downstairs bathroom where I was getting ready, so he could leave for work. He put Brian down on the blanket we keep in there, but that didn't last long. As soon as Shawn was out the door Brian was crawling toward it. Luckily, Shawn was not out of earshot, because we both heard him say, "Dada, bye bye." So cute! He continued to say it for about 10 minutes after Shawn had gone, and even responded, "Bye, bye," when I asked him where Dada was. (And in case you are wondering he started saying Dada finally mid-week!!)

Peace of Mind from Middle Schoolers

I have always maintained that the kids I nanny for make my days a little better. They are my daily dose of sarcasm, they crack me up with the crazy things they do at school and at home, and they are wonderful for Brian. He loves them and misses them when we don't see them. They are adorable and sweet with him and even though they might not admit it (the boys, I mean), I'm pretty sure they love him too.

Last week I was off because their mom was on spring break. So when I picked up the boys yesterday we hadn't seen each other in a week. I knew Brian had missed them because there was a teenage boy in the waiting room at the doctor's office on Saturday and Brian did everything in his power to get the boy's attention. Too cute! Anyway, since we had not seen each other last week, I had to fill them in on the hearing test information when they asked about our week.

At first they argued with me and told me that I had never told them he has hearing loss. Typical 8th graders!

After they got over that, Thomas said, "Well hearing aids really aren't that bad. It could be a lot worse."

I responded, "Really? It makes me happy to hear you say that because I've been really worried about how other kids will act around him."

Immediately David sounded off from the back seat, "Whoa, Mrs. Borchardt, you do not make fun of kids with hearing aids. They can't help it. You would have to be a real ass to make fun of a kid with hearing aid. No one does that!"

He went on to say that I would have to be careful when picking a school for Brian. He named one area school in particular and said, "Those kids are jerks, don't send him there, but anywhere else, he should be fine."

Then Thomas added, "Yeah and Brian is so big he can just pound anyone who makes fun of him anyway." And that was the end of the conversation.

Just like that they gave me something that most of the people in my life have been trying for months to give me. Peace of mind. How great are they?

Hearing Aids

Yesterday was Brian's 9 month hearing test. He was test3e in the booth instead of an ABR like we are used to. They tried the booth at 6 months, but developmentally, he just wasn't ready. Yesterday, he sat like a pro for the test. Both audiologists were really impressed by his disposition and concentration during the test.

It turns out that Brian's hear has gotten worse since his last test. Before he has always tested the mild loss range. Yesterday, he scored in the moderate range. Some of his hearing is still in normal range, but the higher tones specifically, are not. To be considered "normal" a child needs to be able to hear something by the time it reaches 20 decibels. For some of the tones, Brian was not hearing them until 40 decibels.

Our normal audiologist, Kathryn, was out on maternity leave, so we worked with another audiologist named Molly. She assisted on Brian's 6 month booth test, so we were familiar with her. The poor girl broke out in hives as she told me this news. The bottom line is, that for a child with this type of hearing loss, hearing aids are necessary.

Molly suggested that we retest in one month, just to be absolutely sure that this was not a developmental issue and that is truly is moderate hearing loss. She didn't think this was the case though since Brian did so well with the test. So, our next test is scheduled for Cinco de Mayo. I don't think there's a Saint for that? Patty Flores, anything? Or maybe there's a Saint for hearing problems? Ellen? St. Patrick sure helped us the last time, so maybe we'll find a Saint for this :)

I was also concerned about the fact that Brian still is not saying "dada" (usually the first word), so I requested a speech evaluation. Molly recommended an "Aural Rehab Evaluation," which will take Brian's hearing loss into consideration, while evaluating his current speech abilities. We are waiting on a call to schedule this.

On a side note, Brian's cold seems worse today. He was coughing a lot more over night and sounds hoarse to me today. So, we'll be seeing the pediatrician at 11:15. Our first "sick" visit.

Spring Break

The Mom of the kids that I babysit for is on Spring Break this week, so Brian and I have gotten to spend a lot of one on one time together! The weather has been much nicer, so we've spent time outside...looking at the new blooms on our trees, checking out the flowers, and walking Ruben around the neighborhood. Brian loves to ride in the stroller and watch his main man Ruben trot along in front of him. Speaking of Ruben, Brian said his first absolutely discriminate word this past week. Much to his Daddy's dismay, he now says "dah-gee" whenever Ruben is in sight. Still no dada, and mama is not always directed at me, so I guess Ruben gets the honor of being Brian's first word!

Last Friday we visited Totter's Otterville for the first time with Renie and Heather. Brian loved the baby room where he could crawl all over the foam pads and blocks like a little maniac. I'm going to go ahead and blame his cold on all of the toys he enjoyed dining on while we were there. Yes, my baby has his first cold :( He's been running a low grade fever and has more snot coming out of his nose than usual. He's also coughing a bit. It's not a bad cold by any means, but more of an annoyance and a concern given his 9 month hearing test is tomorrow. We're really hoping it doesn't effect the results.

Speaking of doctor's appointments, Brian had physcial therapy yesterday. Elizabeth was really impressed with his continued progess-he's really close to "cured." So, we get to wait a whole month before we go back. We're supposed to just continue his stretches two times a day and the "football hold" as much as possible.

With Brian's increasing mobility, we decided to baby proof a couple of weeks ago. This included installing a gate at the top of the stairs. It's now one of Brian's favorite places to pull up!
Speaking of stairs, he LOVES them! He'll climb them any chance he gets. Especially is Ruben or Mommy is at the top. Dad has also turned into his jungle gym of choice. I know, he's a brave boy being so close to that tush!!















This brings me to the most recent poo story. I was changing Brian's diaper at church on Sunday (he had some how made it to church with a poopy diaper and neither Shawn nor I had noticed) and was trying to be quick about it because a little girl was knocking incessantly on the door. Anyway, I had just put the diaper in the trash and I turned back to Brian as he unfolded his left hand. And, I'm sure you can imagine my horror when a little piece of poo rolled out! Man he's fast!!


Finally, we started 3rd foods this week. The difference between 2nd and 3rd foods is that 3rd foods have little chunks in them-meat, noodles, veggies-whatever. Anyway, they have not been a hit thus far...