on a dreary day...

...cole was sick. poor baby- last night as i was getting him ready for bed i noticed he felt a little warm, so i (tried) to take his temp. there's NO way this kid will sit still for a rectal reading, and he's too little for an oral reading so i tried an axillary reading. seems he doesn't particularily care for having a thermometer tucked up into his armpit either... he screamed bloody murder! anyway, we made it to the 'beep' and it came back that he had a temp of about 99.5, so i gave him some motrin and off to bed he went. he wasn't feeling too perky, i guess, because usually he's awake enough when i lay him down to roll over, sit up, babble to himself for awhile, etc.; instead, he just laid there, didn't even roll over. he looked at me, let out a very tiny "nigh-nigh" and that was that. i thought maybe he had a slight fever due to teething (those nasty molars!!), but when i got him up this morning, he was burning up. it's pretty standard for him to get excited when i come in to get him, and to try to run around in his crib so i'll "chase" him. great fun, apparently. that wasn't the case this time- he just laid there with bright red cheeks and glazed eyes...

(my baby with a fever... and completely dazed)

...and the screaming ensued when i tried taking his temp again. this time, it was 102; more motrin on the spot. i know this is mean, since we all know how it feels to try to navigate yourself around when you have a high fever, but i couldn't help giggling when he stumbled around then eventually gave up trying to get to where he was going and just laid down on the floor. i called mom- i know the basics, but was curious as to if there were any secrets or little tricks she learned from having four kids about how to reduce a fever. not really, she said. he had a pretty low-key breakfast of dry cheerios and diluted juice, which he seemed to enjoy. mid-morning, i wanted to see how his fever was doing, since he felt a little cooler, but there was NO way i was going to fight tooth-and-nail with this little man (who is quite a bit stronger than he looks, btw) every time we had to take his temp, so i bundled up the kids and headed to pamida to see if they had any tympanic (ear) thermometers. they did... normally i wouldn't spend over $25 on a gadget that can be concealed in my palm unless it did everything, including grow money on trees, but this was a special situation. one to three seconds for a reading, in the ear, no disposable sheaths required, lighted screen for nighttime readings... should be a piece of cake. kind of. oh, the thing works wonderfully, but even after playing with the buttons and getting demos on madison and mommy, cole still had a fit when i took his temp. a much shorter fit, but there was still plenty of struggling and screaming. and whadaya know- it really DOES take three seconds or less! this was about 2 hours after his motrin and his fever was still at 100. he had a light lunch (read: snack) and is now sacked out in his crib. so far, it's only the fever, nothing else except a very slight runny nose, which may or may not be the side effects of the crying from his run-ins with the thermometer. oh, this is sad- i hate how his tiny little body is so hot. mom, i now understand how you might have felt when we were sick as kids! i'd do anything to make it better in the blink of an eye... if it were possible. i'm hoping he takes an extra long nap to fight whatever bug he's got. i don't think he's sleeping very deeply, since while i was rocking him he said "please" in his sleep and every now and again i hear him mumbling who-knows-what in his sleep.


hopefully madison doesn't get whatever he has... she's finally over the yucky stuffy nose she had for awhile. whew.

this may be why she wakes up at night- the paci's always falling out. actually, she'll half suck on it this way until it eventually tumbles out of her mouth. silly girl- she looks like the godfather enjoying a stogie. at least, that's what comes to mind!
anyway, hope everyone is enjoying the gray, rainy day (unless you're somewhere other than wisconsin, in which case your weather might possibly be a bit more cheery). at least it's rain and not more snow!