Drinking out of a straw already!

Big Boy Crawling!

Roseola

Dane was scheduled to have his second surgery (and hopefully, final) on Wednesday last week. We drove down to Children's Memorial that morning only to be sent home on finding out that he had a fever of 102. He'd seemed fine the previous days, so we were shocked. Once we got home, we headed over to the pediatrician, who took a look at him and sent us to urgent care for chest x-rays! This was not how we were picturing the day going! He ended up having clear x-rays, but was still very out of it. Listless, whiny, very tired...it just wasn't our usual Dane! The next couple days, he kept up a fever of around 104 to 105, which was scary. We also took a look at his top gums, and lo and behold!, a tooth was also starting to pop out. Finally on day three, his temp was gone as quickly as it had shown up, but in it's place was a nasty rash. And now we knew what had caused the temp. Roseola is a super common infant/toddler virus that causes very high temps for a couple days and then a rash, which lasts for up to 48 hours. Since it can only be diagnosed once the rash shows up, toddlers often spread it before they know they have it. He must have picked it up at the gym's childcare! Finally, though, our little guy is back to his happy, perky self, with one new tooth and no worse for the wear. We were also able to reschedule his surgery for the 2nd of June, which will make our moving month very cramped. But then, we'll be moved, Dane will be done with surgeries and Mark will be done with nightshift and we can just focus on getting to full term with Dos. Dane will have a new little sis to share his bright perspective with!

My little model

I started working on hooded towels as gifts for pregnant friends and their little ones, but decided that I will also sell them on Etsy. Hence, I needed someone cute to model them...and I knew just the ham to do it:)

Bathtime with Dad

Dane is definitely missing his nightly baths with Dad, as Mark's on 12 hour night shifts for these two months. But on the weekends, he still gets some time to goof off with Daddy in the tub. He is the funniest little guy, sometimes just laughing for no reason (that we understand). He's great, and we fall more and more in love with him and his personality every day.

Nutritional benefits of four-leaf-clovers?

On a walk this week, we decided to plop down on Wheaton College's lush lawn to hang out for a bit and also to keep helping Dane become accustomed to touching grass. It seems to be confusing for him, and most of the time, he just sits where we've placed him, unwilling to touch more of it than necessary. His reaction on our stop was no different than normal, but this time, when handed a four-leaf-clover, he decided to get something out of the moment, and popped it in his mouth. Probably to see if they were good for him. This is following the line of thinking that managed to get a heart button, a piece of a business card, a seed pod, and most recently a lady bug swiped out of his mouth. Most of the time, I come out the victor in those cases, but as he's getting stronger, I've sometimes lost. At least it wasn't with the lady bug...

Anyway, we had a good time making him laugh and seeing him observe the world around him. He has such a goofy streak, and we continue to enjoy trying to capture those happy moments on film (or at least in pixels) for the years to come.
Can you just hear the shriek emanating from him? And notice the clover...
Sharing his find.
Tasting his find.
Deciding it wasn't that great.
But Dad is definitely hilarious.
Trying it again, this time with a mouthful of clover...
Oh yeah, that hit the spot:)



Mark, why are we giving him ANOTHER clover?
Don't make me touch the grass!
Much happier with the barrier of mom and future sibling in place.

Bye Bye Bottle!

Dane has finally bid his Dr. Brown bottle adieu! It has served us well, from being the first bottle he ate well out of when he was a tiny 4 pounder, to helping him make the switch to solid foods with the oatmeal/formula smoothie, to being the first bottle he learned to hold himself. We also have many memories spent with the bottle. Those first few weeks when I washed a bottle 4 or 5 times a day. Late in the night, I'd get up to give him his bottle and stand at the sink in our first apartment in Wheaton, washing all the little components. I had lots of time to think those nights, and remember feeling like that stage would never end. Then, as he got a little older, we both grew to cherish the last feed before bed, when Dane was his laughiest and cuddliest. We would sit on the couch with the lights low and feel totally comforted as he sucked down his dinner and then let out monster burps, shocking us at first and then making us laugh at the little one we'd created.

The recommended age to switch is around a year, but Mark has seen many cases at the hospital where children as old as 2 are still dependent on it. We're so thankful that the switch has been pretty easy. The next step will be weaning him off the night bottle, which will mean 14 hours between eating for him. We'll see how that one goes!