My last post about Maine was pretty E heavy. Mostly because he’s a toddler and is big about experiencing everything and sharing opinions about it. Baby G on the other hand, mostly goes along with whatever we’re doing. For every one of those memories about E, baby G was there too. Usually in someone’s arms or sitting on the floor watching everything that was going on.
There were a few very distinct G memories though, and so I thought I’d share them in their own post. I’ve already mentioned that G was feeling a little off during the week, and as a result, that surrounds most of my memories of him. We were constantly trying to either figure out what was going on, or trying to treat it. I’m not exaggerating when I say that we were minutes from bringing him to the ER (Tom had already called to verify they had a pediatrician on staff) when we abruptly changed our mind and decided he was fine.
He had a low grade fever that was just borderline enough that it could easily be explained by teething, or was possibly the start of a larger virus. We’d touched base with his doctor who told us to watch him, bring him in if things got worse or lasted 3 days, and to specifically look for signs of an ear infection. That was the only thing that really concerned me, because if he did have an ear infection it would only get worse, and he’d need some antibiotics. The biggest sign is pain while lying down, which is what we thought was happening. It was two hours past bedtime, and he would not go to sleep. We’d lie him down, and he’d start screaming his head off. So we made our decision, and I picked him up to get him ready to go to the ER to check his ears. And then as soon as I got into the living room where all the people were, he was happy and giggling. Lie him on his back, and he was super calm and not crying. So obviously not an ear infection… just a lonely baby?
If being in the middle of things is what he wanted, he got it. At one point we just loaded him in the stroller and took him to town with us to get ice cream, way after bedtime. I was sure he would fall asleep at some point, but he just looked around and took everything in. Super happy. I went from being on of those people who may silently judge parents that have their children up late at night, to being the one out with a baby when he should have been in bed.
We do think he may be teething (I know, I KNOW), because we can see a white toothish spot on the bottom of his gums, and he chews on his hands all day long. So we spent a lot of the week giving him cold pacifiers out of the freezer, feeding him soft foods, and alternating Motrin and Tylenol to help his mouth and keep his fever down (sounds suspiciously like last year in Maine…). So as long as we were on top of that, he was mostly happy during the day too.
As a side effect from the crying or whatever virus he was fighting off (we’re still pretty sure SOMETHING was going on), he ended up losing his voice halfway through the week. It was the saddest little thing. He’d cry or try to babble, and this soft hoarse sound would come out instead of his normal sounds. A little bit funny, a lot sad.
One positive and non sick related memory is that baby G got one step closer to being mobile while we were in Maine. He’s not close to crawling, mostly because he’s too heavy and his arms are too weak. But moving - that I’m sure he’ll figure out one way or another. He is so ready to take off after his big brother. So while we were on vacation, he tried out some belly scooting! The floors were hardwood, and super polished, so it was pretty easy for him to slide on them. Place a book or toy slightly out of reach, and suddenly he’d be propelling himself towards it. Spinning in circles, moving about a foot in any direction, we started getting used to entering a room and seeing him somewhere we hadn’t left him.
I actually love babies that find inventive, non-crawling was to move, so I really hope G ends up with some ridiculous have scoot to get around. Either way, I’m sure it’s coming soon!
I think G enjoyed his first vacation and time away from home, and would do it again happily. It might take a while before we’re brave enough though!
