croup scares, poop cheers

Baby Harry is officially 2 months old today but there's hardly energy for celebration. we had a scary friday with jude and illness. now mom and dad are battling a bit of it. we pray harry avoids it all together.

in healthier times

First the good stuff: Harry is 10 pounds and 23 1/4 inches long. That puts him in the 15th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for length. As Dr. Claus says 'he definitely has a different genetic make up then his brother.' He is sleeping longer combined stretches during the afternoon and at night, which is great for mom.

peekaboo

Last night was not so great for sleep, probably because I was worried about everything from the weekend. On Thursday after bedtime Jude got up to say he didn't feel good. Sure enough he had a fever with a runny nose. Late Friday afternoon he developed a congested cough and a horse voice. We sent him to bed with his special penguin humidifier blowing away.
About 9pm things got scary. We had just put harry to bed when jude made panicked calls from his bedroom. He couldn't catch his breath. He begged for water but couldn't drink it. Relying on trusty Toddler 411 Book, we rushed him in the bathroom for steam, suspecting the barking cough was croup. We called the doctor after 10 panicked minutes of him screaming and little improvement other than his nose draining. She sent us to the ER. The cold night air helped but jude could no longer speak his airway was so tight. Thank goodness a drink of steroids brought a tiny bit of his voice and his happier spirits back within minutes. But it took a few hours for things to improve enough to go home. On the way home at 12pm, jude says 'daddy, I can answer you now!'.
Happily jude is better today. the doctors asked us to be careful with harry. croup in an 8 week old is more serious. thanks friends for praying the baby stays well.

now for the poop cheers, as promised in the blog title. we started a sticker reward chart to earn thomas trains because our little boy still has not mastered number two in the loo. after lunch jude had a shocked face as he sat down to pee and wow he pooped too. just had to share his quote: "mom. i peed 7, 4 poop caterpillars out of my body." definitely future blackmail here. he also wanted me to cheer each poop that emerged. surprisingly cute memories for bathroom functions.

thanks for checking in with the millers at month two.