Year End Wrap Up Part Six: ATX, RSV, XMAS

Without a doubt, December was a CRAZY busy month.  When last we did the Year End Wrap Up, we'd just returned from a great weekend in Nashville where we saw family and attended a good friend's wedding.  The next week was spent doing laundry and packing for our next trip.  However, I wanted to make sure that we set aside some time to do a Clay-centered activity, so two days before we went to Austin, we planned to meet some play group friends at the Aquarium.  The only problem was I couldn't find my wallet when it was time to go to the aquarium so we left about 45 minutes late (it ended up being in a purse that I'd used earlier in the week; I'd grown so accustomed to being without a purse that it didn't dawn on me that wallets are often times found there).  It ended up being fine, we were able to still have lunch with playgroup friends and then Clay and I got to tour the aquarium on our own.  It was pretty neat because it's the aquarium I grew up visiting so it was tres cool to share with little man!

FISH!

Clay was able to reach out and touch an octopus or at least a replica of an octopus's "arm".  He didn't want to let go so we spent a little bit of time there.

The very next weekend, we packed up Clay in his brand new, big boy car seat and headed for the ATX (also for a friend's wedding). 

Clay's last picture and last road trip in his infant carseat.

Clay in his new, big boy carseat!

Granny graciously and generously agreed to fly from Lubbock to Austin so that Jim and I could both attend the wedding.  As soon as we got to Austin, we picked up Granny and headed to Chuy's (ahhh, LOVE that place!).  After gorging on delicious Mexican food, we got checked into our posh room at the Stephen F. Austin hotel in downtown and got ready for the wedding.  We made sure that Granny and Clay were good for the night and headed out to watch Jim's childhood friend, Mitchell Moses, get married.  The ceremony was very nice, it was performed by the bride's uncle which made it extra special.  They also had all kinds of family traditions (using the same ring pillow that his brother and parents had used, wearing a great grandmother's ring, etc.) woven into the ceremony which made me cry a little thinking that one day Clay may use something from our wedding in his own ceremony (no pressure, sweet boy).  After the wedding and reception we headed back to the hotel for what we hoped would be a good night's rest.

Before I continue, it is important to note that at this point, Clay was on his fourth consecutive weekend of traveling and he'd been in three different time zones in a period of 5 or 6 days - oh and he welcomed several new teeth during this time period as well.  This meant that the days leading up to the wedding, my baby who had been sleeping through the night, had started waking up multiple times throughout the evening which also meant Mama was beyond sleep deprived.  So, we get back to the hotel about midnight to find both Granny and baby sleeping soundly.  Woo hoo, score, happy dance - mama gets to sleep.  Yes, that's what you'd think but thanks to our next door neighbors, I did not leave that night (the first night in 10 days that my child slept through the night) well rested.  Instead, I left that night with a strange story.  Short version:  Jim and I get ready for bed and then quickly drift off to sleepybye land.  Shortly there after Erin is awakened by neighbors arguing.  Arguing goes on long enough for Erin to know that neighbor girl talked to a guy at her company's xmas party, neighbor girl's drunk boyfriend got mad and called her names, they went back to their room and he broke up with her.  At this point Jim wakes up (and neighbor girl is screaming and crying highschool style) so Jim calls the front desk - all the while Erin is thinking, if you wake up the baby who is actually sleeping through the night, I am going to come through the wall and I'll give you something to cry about - spoken like a true parent, right?!?)  Boyfriend leaves, security comes, girls promises to keep it down.  A little time passes, girl calls friends, crying starts up again, and we get to relive the argument over and over and over and over again.  Boyfriend calls neighbor girl, he is three sheets to the wind, doesn't know what happened, she rehashes the event with hope in her voice only to find that upon hearing the story boyfriend thinks that he was right to break up with her and the screaming and crying begins yet again.  So, Erin calls security and their second visit to  neighbor girl's room convinces her to leave.  At that point I got about 3 - 4 hours of sleep before we headed back home.  Oh well, no rest for the weary.  Fortunately, our drive home was uneventful.

The next day, Miss Claire came over to play for the day!  We always have so much fun with her.  She really is a very easy baby; I was pretty lucky because their schedules were very similiar but just different enough that neither of them needed anything at the same time.

This was the second time that Claire stayed with us and it was the second time she'd had her picture taken with Clay where he was clad only in a diaper.  I think her expression is definitely questioning why this baby is always "naked" when he is around her. 

Clay thought that Claire needed a little excitement with her lunch, he army crawled over to the highchair and pushed her back and forth (so that back and forth was maybe an inch or two this way and and inch or two that way but it's still pretty funny!)

The next morning Clay woke up feverish and with cold like symptoms.  He still seemed like himself so we just did our typical cold remedies (increased fluid intake, cool baths to reduce fever, cool mist humidifier, and lots of cuddles).  The next day he still had the same symptoms was still like himself, didn't seem to be wheezing per say but he did sound a bit Darth Vader-like so we headed to the doctor where we quickly learned that Clay had RSV.  RSV is a respiratory virus that is pretty scary in babies because it really wreaks havoc on their ability to breathe which means babes often end up on the hospital.  Fortunately for us, that was not the case.  Clay was able to get on breathing treatments 4-6 times a dayand we just continued treating the symptoms that we could.  We also elevated his mattress to help with congestion, and I slept in his room so that I could monitor his breathing more effectively and be there to help him get to sleep.  He got an awful cough that would wake him up and keep him from sleeping so the only way he could really get much rest was to sleep in my arms.  Because Clay was still sick and RSV is highly contageous, I had to miss my friend Kelly's baby shower (it was especially disappointing because Clay was going to dress up since it was in honor of one Miss Meaghan Musgrave who could potentially be a future girl friend).  The good news is that he only had about two days where he really didn't seem like himself and for the most part, the treatments were working.  That is until Saturday morning, Clay was napping in my arms and his breathing started to sound like wheezing (one of the tell tale signs of RSV and one that you're supposed to really watch for because it means that baby is really struggling to breathe).  I wasn't completely sure though, so I called our doctor (who thank God has Saturday hours).  I tried to describe what I heard and the nurse finally asked if his breathing sounded like air passing through a sponge which it totally did.  She had us come in right away so that they could see how much oxygen he was getting.  It turned out he was wheezing but his breathing wasn't labored and his oxygen levels were great.  We were told to just keep on keeping on but to definitely call if we had anymore concerns.  Luckily, we didn't have to call back.

The next week was the week before Christmas; we'd originally planned to go to a few playgroup parties, visit Santa at North Park and take in all of the holiday treats that North Park has to offer.  However, Clay being sick meant that we needed to just stay in and get better (and not take our ickies to anyone else).  With the doctor's stamp of approval, we packed up later that week and headed to Lubbock to celebrate Clay's first Christmas! 

We ended up getting on the road a day early.  The only person who knew this was Poppa.  We drove to Abilene and spent the night and then drove the rest of the way the next morning.  When we got to town, we showed up at Schlotzsky's, where Granny and Poppa were having lunch to surprise Granny.  She was shocked to see us there half a day early so that was a fun treat for all of us!  We spent the rest of the day running errunds and getting settled in.

The next morning I woke up not feeling like myself.  I'd felt a bit run down over the last week but just chalked it up to sleeping in a rocker while holding a baby who was getting on the mend.  However, I've had enough ear infections in my life to know when I had one so I headed over to the doctor to learn / confirm that I had a double ear infection and massive cold / bronchitis.  Which basically meant that I had RSV (adults get RSV but because our respiratory systems are more developed it tends to look like a cold.) So yes, fun way to feel for baby's first Christmas.  Oh well, guess it made it a bit more memorable.  Also, another good thing was that we were with loads of family who wanted time with Clay so it was okay for me to spend stretches of my day sleeping and trying to get better.

I woke the next morning (Christmas Eve) feeling a little better so Granny, Jim, Clay and I headed to the mall to see Santa!  Clay was still recovering and we were pretty close to nap time but he did great.  He didn't smile too much at Santa but he also didn't cry or freak out.

What's up Santa?

Okay, let's get a good picture for Mama!

I'm done.

DECORATING COOKIES AT AUNT RACHEL AND UNCLE DAVID'S (also Clay's first time to their house!)

Daddy and Cousin Lauren get Clay situated in his highchair.

Mommy tries to help the eager beaver with the frosting but he keeps trying to eat the the cookie (uh, first time mom says choking hazard and no added sugar until he's 1.... and yet she is the one who thought it'd be a good idea to have a baby decorate cookies)

Not happy that the cookie got taken away.

Uh, apparentaly tears and the coaxing of veteran moms and dads wins out over Mommy's inital intentions.

Clay's masterpiece for Santa!

Okay peeps, it's pretty late so I'll sign off for now but stay tuned; we've got a visit to Santa, letters from Santa, Christmas Eve, and Christmas morning to go!