Tough Couple of Days

The last few days have been a little tough around here. It all started on Tuesday, when I went to my first "Mommyrobics" class. It starts at 9:30am in the city, and that totally screws up James' nap schedule. The class was a lot of fun though. I am doing it with my friend Jeryn, and I'm looking forward to the next one this coming Tuesday.

Then, on Wednesday James got his 4 month immunizations. He did pretty well with the needles, but he was quite cranky for the rest of the day - not that I blame him! The next morning he was scheduled to see the Dr. for his 4 month check-up. James usually wakes up pretty happy, and he is content for most of the morning. That particular morning though, he woke up unhappy. Ryan had just stepped out the door to go to work, and then all hell broke loose! James just started to scream, and scream, and scream! This was EXTREMELY unusual for him. He was also pulling at his ear, and because he has had a cold for the last week, I wondered if it had developed into an ear infection. I was glad that we were going to be seeing the Dr. However, the screaming didn't let up, and after 45 minutes I called my mom for help. I couldn't hear anything that she said over the phone, but it was enough to know that she was on her way immediately! By the time she got to my place (5 minutes), James had finally calmed down - but was hiccuping, coughing and making that heart-breaking breathing noise after crying hard. My mom also assumed he likely had an ear infection, but his raspy breathing had her concerned that it might be pneumonia. We tried to keep him very still, covered him in a big blanket and she held him in her lap while I drove us back to her house (pulling a 'Britney Spears'). She came with us to the Dr. appointment, and thankfully James remained in a relatively good mood after that big outburst. The Dr. checked him all out. His ears were fine, lungs were clear, throat was fine... basically there was no real explanation for his huge screamfest, except for the possibility that he was really having discomfort from the needles. The Dr. gave him a dose of infant Motrin, and said to keep giving it to him for as long as he seemed irritable. He fell asleep on the way home, and slept for almost 4 hours!

On Friday we had a family gathering, and I don't know what your kids are like, but it seems like all the passing around and attention seems to make James a little upset. So, he was cranky all day Friday too, and his schedule was again totally messed up. On the bright side, he hasn't been doing too bad at night lately, despite all the schedule trouble. He still gets up at least once between midnight and 7:00am, but it's manageable. Anyway... after the gathering he seemed to be in a bit of a funk, and that has lasted most of the day today too. I am looking forward to the weekend of gatherings and going out to be over so I can get him back on his usual schedule on Monday! Poor little guy, it's been a tough couple of days for him!