Dana Daily

Seth's First Halloween. I didn't have any particular costume in mind for Seth, so when I saw this owl for $10, I took it. He looks super cute, no? Sal refuses to dress-up. Sarah was more than a little wound up. I was just being silly. One of the girls got the mustache and teeth from her class party. Emmy met her quota already for Halloween related pictures.

Sarah and Emmy had their Halloween parties at school today. Sal, Seth, and I joined them for Mass, but then I had to come into work. One of the moms sent me a few pictures of them dressed up for the Halloween parade. It was a pretty nice day, no rain and not freezing, so the kids were able to parade around the neighborhood, rather than up and down the school halls. Here they are, Emmy as Olaf and Sarah as Maleficent. I'm pretty sure Sarah chose Maleficent for the red lipstick. Not even kidding.

Sethy's first tooth popped on October 18, and it took almost a full week for the second one to make its appearance. I know it wasn't there yesterday. In addition to this on-going ear infection, he's on Bactrum now, he's also teething. It hasn't been a fun (almost) two months for him. For us though, he's still pleasant and he's still sleeping really well. He's woken up a few nights here or there, but only one time per night. We're spoiled. I was able to move up his evaluation with an ENT from November 17 to tomorrow, and I'm really hoping for some information. I know he's going to need tubes, but I hope they can do something for him between now and surgery. This on-going ear infection has me really concerned. The bactrum is antibiotic number 5.

      Sarah, 3rd Grade, 8 years             Emily, 2nd Grade, 6 years             Seth, Daycare, 7 months

My little Sethy Wethy pulled himself up in the bathtub today. I grabbed him so I could get a picture.

Seth's second tooth is trying to pop. I actually thought we'd be able to feel it today, but so far nothing yet, just a very sore looking gum. I've been giving him Motrin since he does seem to get some relief, but he is still (understandably) a miserable baby. He threw me a bone though when he started saying mum mum mum mum while he wails. I was holding him on my shoulder when I asked him, "where's Mama?" He pulled away a little bit, gave me a slobbery smile, and giggled. He knows. Seth is also showing an interest in walking. He takes steps with A LOT of support. He picks his foot up, sets it down, picks it up, sticks it out in front of him and sets it down. Then he picks the other foot up, sticks it out in front of him and sets it down. He has the rudiments of walking down pat, and he's only going to become even better and more in control of his moments over the next few weeks. Sarah didn't walk until 13 months. My instinct tells me he'll be ...

. . .where'd you get those peepers? This is the bulletin board at Seth's daycare. There's my happy boy. Love.

Dr. Bhat's recommendation is that we meet with an ENT to determine whether or not tubes are the way to go. I already know the answer to this. Our appointment is November 17. We'll be meeting with the same doctor who clipped Seth's tongue tie.

One ear infection, four antibiotics. This is the story of Seth's life as of late. He was on amoxycillan in early September. We saw definite improvement, but apparently the infection wasn't knocked out completely. Within a few days, he seemed to be relapsing. It was a Sunday and in a parental misstep, I took him to MedExpress. They prescribed Zithromax, which he took just fine, but again it wasn't enough to knock it out. By the time I got him back to the pediatrician his ears were severely infected and Dr. Bhat couldn't even believe he wasn't screaming in pain. She put him on Augmentine. He had his last dose on October 14. On October 15, I took him in for a re-check. His ear drums were red and there was fluid behind them, but it wasn't infected. That was Thursday. When he woke up Saturday, I knew it was time to see the doctor again. Since I had a First Communion class with Emmy, Sal ran him out. When they were seen, Seth's temperature was 101 and both e...

This is a very unnatural smile for Emmy, but don't you just love how thrilled Sarah looks. I laugh every time I see this.

What an exciting time for Seth. He was waking in the middle of the night, just once per night fortunately, over the last week and I could only attribute it to the all the new tricks he's doing. He's army crawling, but he's fast and occasionally I do see him up on all fours and rocking. I also caught him trying to pull himself up to standing. The crib mattress must get lowered this weekend. Seth's lower gums are bulging and I can see the outline of teeth. I'm sure one will pop within the next couple of days. Seth just has so much going on and every day I'm reminded that he's not my squishy baby anymore. He's growing up. I love this picture. You can just see his excitement. "Yeah, I'm 8 months old, YEAAAAH!!!" I talked about some of his milestones above, but here's more 8 month tricks and skills that Seth is doing: He's been a great sleeper from the beginning, but he's definitely on a schedule now as far as naps and bedtim...

Sethy can push himself up from laying into sitting. Sal and I heard Seth talking to himself in his crib this morning so Sal went up to see him before leaving for work. Seth was sitting up, waiting for someone to rescue him, and Sal said it's the second time he's found him that way. He's thinking it was either yesterday morning or the night before that. Another milestone reached. In this picture, Emmy was keeping Seth occupied while Sarah and I got ready for school and work. She whisper-shouted at me to come see and this is what I found. They were both happy as could be.

This little lady turns 7 today. What a blessing and gift she is to our lives. I wanted to take her picture this morning, and she insisted that Seth be included. She's a pretty awesome big sister, and Sarah grudgingly admits that sometimes she's not a bad little sister either. We got out of the house in record time today to make sure we had plenty of time to run to Dunkin' Donuts since that's where Emmy decided her classroom birthday treat should come from. She was the first one in her class to arrive this morning, and was thrilled when her teacher wished her a happy birthday right away. She's a little bummed that there's no birthday crown in second grade, but she was happy with her sticker. We went to Eat n Park for dinner, her choice of course, and the wait staff sang Happy Birthday and presented her with grilled stickies a la mode at the end of our meal. Clearly, she was loving ever second of it. Seth could not figure out what was going on - his little...

Seth had his InfantSee eye appointment today with Dr. Delserone at Bittner Vision on Ferguson Road. It's the same office where I took the girls, and even the same doctor. I held Seth on my lap while Dr. Delserone looked into his eyes. He wasn't the most cooperative patient, but she said he is able to focus on objects, followed her light appropriately, and his eyes seem to be in all-around good health. She said that unless we suspect any issues, she wouldn't expect to see him again until just before he starts Kindergarten. I'm going to keep right on praying that he inherited Sal's vision and not mine.

We had a pretty lazy weekend. Last week was one of late nights and early mornings so we were beat by the time the Saturday rolled around. It didn't help that Seth started waking very early in the morning. He was hungry, but he was also ready to play. I think we're in a period of transition again. I think I see teeth just below the surface and he's been drooling like crazy. Plus, Seth's becoming much more efficient at army crawling and getting where he wants to go. We've also caught him up on all fours and rocking. He'll be a full-fledged crawler before too long. On Saturday we started cleaning up the yard since growing season is over. We emptied the urns and tore up the vegetable garden. We bundled Seth up and took him outside for some fresh air while we worked. Next year he'll want to "help," no doubt. The Browns beat the Ravens in overtime today, and even Seth seemed surprised and couldn't take his eyes off the game. Don't worry Mom...

Seth's exploring. He's been army crawling for a couple weeks now, and it's so cute to watch.

Today when he woke up, I gave him apples rather than formula and mixed the Augmentine in with them. He ate the entire bowl and kept it down, as far as I know. He was fine when I dropped him off at school this morning. I don't know what not giving him a bottle first thing in the morning did to his eating schedule/routine today, but I'm sure he'll be fine. He's not that sensitive to a routine or schedule. I gave daycare a call just now, and he's doing just fine. He was actually napping.

Shortly after Seth's well visit in mid-September, I noticed his eyes looked a little watery and his nose was running. To be on the safe side, I ran him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with an ear infection. Dr. Tucker put him on amoxycillan with instructions to come back in two weeks for a re-check. Around Day 8 of 10, I noticed he seemed to take a turn for the worse. He had been improving, but seemed to backslide. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and the office was closed so I took him to MedExpress. The doctor confirmed that his ear was still infected, and in fact, didn't look like it had been treated at all. We got a prescription for Zithromax and went on our way. Seth finished the five day regimen and knowing that the Z-pack would stay in his system for another five days, I didn't worry too much. He didn't seem greatly improved, but it takes time for meds to work sometimes. Then Monday happened. I got a call at 2pm from daycare saying that they just felt like ...

Dr. Bhat recommended that, see post on full visit summary here , we introduce meat. She wants Seth eating three meals a day; breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and dinner should include a meat. I also asked her about yogurt, and she said she prefers to wait until 9 months before starting dairy and other table foods. While I was at Walgreens, I picked up a 2-pack of Turkey dinner and Seth loved it. I also found some chicken and apple, as well as chicken noodle. These are still Stage 2 food since he is just now sitting well, and not a crawler, although that is certainly coming soon. Why do I feel like a first time mom when it comes to feeding this child. Sheesh.

Applefest came to my hometown again this year. Historically, this is also the weekend we've celebrated Emmy's birthday with my parents. My mom baked Emmy a cake, and if you can believe it, she gets seven candles this year. Aside from celebrating Emmy's birthday, which she would say was the highlight of her weekend, we had tickets to Mary Poppins  at the Barrow-Civic Theater. Sarah was on the edge of her seat for the entire performance. Emmy was ready to go back to Grandma and Pop-Pop's house before intermission. She was up way too early in the morning and refused my suggestion that she go back to bed for a little while. It was a fun performance. As always the talent never ceases to amaze me. It's a volunteer ensemble, local talent in a small talent. And, it's always good. (I found out next year's show is The Little Mermaid ). We spent the night and Sal and I took the futon on my parent's three-season room. It almost felt like we were staying i...