Adventures in Calgary

Today was Jake's first trip to the children's hospital. He's been sick all week with a cough and a fever. I'd taken him in to the doctor on Tuesday but he seemed to be getting worse instead of better as the week went on. We went back to the doctor this morning only to be sent to the hospital for further evaluation...the doctor was worried he might have pnemonia. Turns out is a respiratory virus and a bacterial ear infection. Hooray! (Not really). Poor little man is a snotty coughing hot mess. And now we've got 10 days of antibiotics ahead of us just as Dad is heading off on a week long work adventure. I'm somewhat freaking out but trying my best to take it all in stride. What's the worst that could happen right? Right?

Molly is going on day 12 (in a row) of sleeping through the night. Jake has improved as well. I think it's been almost a week and I've already had 2 12 hour nights and 2 nights where he only woke up once to do a quick feed and then back to sleep. His afternoon naps are still a bit dodgy...today he woke up after an hour and cried for 30 minutes before falling back asleep for the last 30 mins of his nap. But all in all, this is a very happy place right now. We even got to watch a movie without any interruptions last night and have a nice quiet sit on the porch tonight. It all feels very civilized.

We've been working with Molly for a long time now, trying to get her to sleep through the night. Our most recent attempt is the sticker method. If she sleeps well, she gets a sticker. If she gets 5 stickers in a row, she gets a prize of her choice. So far it seems to be working. We're getting more nights of good sleep out of her than we ever had. I just hope we can keep it up long enough for her to make sleeping a habit.

Jake started off too good of a sleeper, hence part of the failure to thrive. But ever since he learned to stand up, he's become more restless and is having more and more trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. My doctor suggested it was time to start sleep training. But it is sooooooo hard. Jake doesn't cry often but when he does it is so loud and insistent. Last night almost killed me listening to him cry on and off for almost the entire night. I just hope that I can stay strong enough to not go to him and make this process even longer.

In other news, Jake has almost completely stopped eating purees. Some time last week he started gluing his mouth shut whenever the spoon would come near and only eating puffs or cheerios which he could feed himself. I looked to my doctor again for advice and she said babies often just make the switch to wanting more 'real' food that they can feed themselves. So now I just have to figure out what he'll eat on his own. Today? Blueberries, chunks of banana and cheerios for breakfast. Toast, roast beef and green peas for lunch. Carrots, blueberries, toast and a teething biscuit for dinner.

Oh and I think Jake is teething again. His nose is running like a tap and his bum is getting redder by the day. I hope it won't be as bad as the first tooth that came in.

Jake has started to wave and clap his hands. He's crawling up a storm. And he's pulling himself up to standing whenever he gets the chance. Good times. Good times.