Spinach & Cheese Ravioli

New recipe? Nope. Baby food. Although some spinach & cheese ravioli sounds pretty damn good. I've had a hard time introducing new finger foods to Grant. I figured once we got over the hump that was the cereal puffs everything else would be easy. Wrong. Silly Mama. What has ever been easy when it comes to feeding this child? He'll eat some carrots, but not green beans. Fruit? No ma'am. In it goes and out it comes. If I want the fruit to stay in his mouth I have to hold my finger against his lips and he'll reluctantly chew. He'll eat the pureed version but not the pieces. So, when I was in the grocery store Thursday after work I swung through the baby aisle. I have a baby food problem. Since Grant has started "solids" I don't think I've left a store that sells baby food without buying some. This time I saw the ravioli. It said it's for a toddler but really that's just a guideline right? The ravioli is smaller than the kind I would buy for me and Husband and it seems mushier too. I had less than no hope that Grant would eat it willingly so I only bought one package of it. Well guess what? Miracles do happen folks. He loved it.

First he squished it in his hands. A guy's gotta check things out, yes?

After proper squishing it did actually end up in his mouth.

And then, much to my surprise, more of it went in his mouth.

Before I knew it he was happy about his ravioli!

Then the biggest shock of the meal came when the ravioli was almost gone. Brodie came to check things out. Brodie never comes to check things out when Grant is involved. Because Brodie is still waiting for us to bring him back where ever he came from (I, for one, am rather glad he's not going back there). Upon seeing Brodie, Grant leaned forward and started saying "Babababab! Ba ba ba ba!" Which leads me to believe he's trying to say Brodie's name. Then Grant hung his hand in the air to touch Brodie and I waited for him to run away. He didn't.

He actually licked the ravioli off his hand!

And Grant quickly realized that if he threw ravioli on the floor
Brodie would stick around for clean up duty.

Always the easiest way to clean up! (I promise the tray was washed
very well before we let Grant use it again. I'm not that bad!)

Hmmm...they might just become friends after all.

Captain Destructo

My favorite thing about weekends is watching Grant play. I'm jealous that the women at daycare get to see him waddling around that room and the playground all day while I sit in my cubicle. Last weekend, pre-ER visit, I decided to bring out some blocks I've had since before Grant was born just to see how he would play with them. If he would play with them. If? Please. When I dumped the blocks out of their storage bag his eyes lit up like I had just dumped out gold in front of him.

No encouragement was needed. He immediately started picking them up, tossing them, and grabbing some more. Putting them in his mouth gnawing on them. Carrying them to some other place in the room and then going back for more. He loved them. 

One thing Grant doesn't seem to like is order. I knew if I stacked the blocks he'd have fun knocking them over. What I wasn't expecting was his complete objection to me stacking the blocks in the first place. I had to distracting him just get them stacked.

And when I finally got them stacked and moved away from them...

No ma'am! Neatness will not be tolerated!

Crazy! Even when I tried a "messy stack" he had to destroy it.

He had fun though and so did I. Sometimes it's just the simple things :)

How I Spent My 4th of July

No cook out. No fireworks. No fun. We spend our 4th of July - Grant's first 4th of July - in the ER. Again. In the past 10 months, we've not been strangers to the ER. Although it's been a different one each time. This marks Grant's third trip to an ER. This time it was Wake Med's Children's ER, who knew they had one just for kids? I didn't, but it's nice to know.

It all started with a pimple. We thought it was a pimple. We'd noticed some small ones on Grant's back in the vicinity of his butt. Friday I noticed one rather large one in the middle of his butt cheek. By Sunday it looked like it was threatening to take over. I joked with my sister that I thought it was so big it might have a face. So, with Husband's help, I popped it thinking it would be much better in the morning. Not so much. We popped it again early yesterday morning and after nap time it was just as bad if not worse. And it was presenting a problem with Grant's mobility and attitude. Husband called the pediatrician's office and left a message with their answering service. An urgent care that does pediatrics was recommended.

First 4th of July - at urgent care
(All pics taken with my phone. I promise I did
not bring the camera to the doctor's office.)

Urgent Care couldn't do anything about it. At first they were just going to give antibiotics and left an ER trip up to us. But upon a brief second exam they said it would be better to take him to the ER and have a surgeon look at it because it may have to be cut and drained and they couldn't do that at the urgent care. So we loaded up and headed to the ER.

The ER wasn't busy. We didn't even have to wait, which was nice. Immediately after checking in they took us back to get Grant's information and we went right to a room after that. They gave us a tiny hospital gown to put on Grant. Ok, I never knew a hospital gown could be cute, but it's kind of adorable on a tiny person.

It didn't take too long for a doctor to come take a look and he knew immediately that he'd have to open it. He told us that it wasn't a pimple but an infection. One that antibiotics alone wouldn't take care of. So in came a nurse who called for reinforcements because she had to get blood and start an IV. Remembering our first experience with Grant and an IV, we were not looking forward to this. One nurse held him down (and was quite good at positioning himself so Grant couldn't move) and the other started the IV. It wasn't pretty but once it was over, Grant was ok. And he did pretty well not playing with it.

He took a little nap and then they came in to set up. We stayed in the room until they sedated him and then we stepped out. Partially because there were 3 doctors and a nurse in there, partially because we both had to go to the bathroom, but mostly because we really didn't want to see them cut into our baby's bum. The waiting room was right outside the door so I headed there after the potty. A very sweet girl named Erin - who, I believe, is there to talk to nervous parents - saw me and immediately came over to see if she could get me a drink. I was about to say no thank you when she started naming off a bunch of stuff so I asked for a pepsi. She brought two because she saw Husband with me, I thought it was very sweet of her. They said the procedure would take 15-20 minutes and it didn't even seem to take that long. The doctor came to tell us that it was over and went fine. Husband asked a few important questions: Will need antibiotics? How often should we change the dressing? Can he have tylenol and/or advil while taking the antibiotics? Are there side effects to the sedation? I asked the doctor: Will he have a scar? Seriously, that's all I could come up with. The doctor looked at me, not for the first time that day, like I was an idiot and basically said that of course there would be a scar. Then he seemed to find his sense of humor and told me "He'll never be a butt model".

We were allowed back in the room in just a few minutes and Grant was really out of it. They said it was important that he recognize us but I really didn't think he did. I think he was only recognizing the fact that he had been through a lot that day and was really sleepy and groggy. Not too long after that he took a little nap. He had spiked a fever right before the procedure (102) and the nurse said she was going to get him some tylenol. He must have been asleep about 30 minutes when she came in with the tylenol. She said she was going to give it to him rectally...silly me, I thought it would be liquid. You know will bring you out of nap real fast? Having a tylenol capsule shoved up your butt hole. That'll do it. Grant didn't cry but he gave her a look like "You could have bought me dinner first". But he did come around real fast so the nurse suggested trying something to drink. I had a sippy cup with me so I dug it out of my bad.

It was very much accepted which was a good sign. He eventually drank the whole thing and we even had to refill it. The fever was slowly coming down and I had food with me so they allowed him to "try" to eat. He wolfed it down. We were discharged around 6:30 and Grant was in a pretty good mood. And by the time we got home he was ready to play.

Like nothing ever happened.

Today brings much improvement. The fever hasn't returned, Grant's appetite is present and accounted for, and his mood - except when being told "No" - has been great. Changing the bandage sucks. Really bad. Grant screams and tries very hard to crawl off the changing table. But I'm getting quicker at it so at least he doesn't scream for long anymore. He even had a bath to clean the area. So far so good. He has to have a check-up on Thursday. Next year, I think I'll just stick with the cook out and fireworks.

Sleeping Baby

What is it about a sleeping baby? My sleeping baby. When I see him lying there so peaceful with his little bum stuck in the air...I breathe a sigh of relief at the break that the nap provides. But I'm also struck with this weird desire to snatch him out of that crib and lay him down in our bed so I can cuddle with him. Grant and I used to nap together when I was on maternity leave. Sometimes after he ate but also sometimes in the very early morning when I just couldn't wake up yet for the day. Then, seeing how well that worked, it sometimes happened at night too so that the four of us (I'm including Brodie here) could get sleep, even if it was poor quality sleep. But now that the little man is sleeping better and we seem to have our bed back...I miss the cuddle time. How can I not miss it, look at him!

Tell me you don't want to cuddle with him.

Of course, there is the other side to consider. Grant always woke us up whenever he felt like it (hungry, wet/poopy diaper, or just because it was 3:00 a.m.). But he sure doesn't seem to like it much when we have to wake him up: 

Good morning!

Oh yeah? What's good about it?

Look at that hair. What the devil are we going to do
about this boy's hair??

Eye Infection: The Sequel

Ugh, really? Again with the eye infection? If that is what was really going on. Who knows anymore. We've got Grant on some allergy medication which has helped with some sinus issues he's had going on. He would wake up in the morning and we just couldn't see how it was possible for him to breathe out of his nose. He's been an absolute booger factory. We were told by the pediatricians office to use the allergy medication hoping that would clear up the yellow nastiness coming out of  his eyes. But, no. Not working. Wednesday they called in another prescription for eye drops. Let the good times roll.

Grant had his allergy meds Wednesday night right before his bath. Then after the bath I wrapped him tight in his shark towel so he couldn't move his arms and we went at him with the eye drops. He hadn't had a great evening anyway but that sent him over the top. And he was so tired from his evening hissy fits that he fell sleep on the changing table before I could unwrap him and get a diaper on him.

Sleepy shark burrito

Having had our wrestling match over the eye drops and cancelling the bedtime story due to sleepiness, I got Grant into his PJ's and set off for the kitchen to get a bottle ready. He wasn't happy about being left behind but I knew he'd be ok for a few minutes. He didn't cry long so I figured he'd occupied himself by wrestling his blanket or gnawing on the side of the crib (which apparently makes a wonderful teether - yuck). I was wrong. No bottle needed...or even wanted.

Poor little devil. He was, as I've heard it said, "wore slap out". He never took his bottle. I tried but he was o-u-t. He slept all night. And woke up the yesterday morning with eyes so crusty that he could barely open them. However, by yesterday afternoon very little had come out of his eyes and they were almost clear this morning. Perhaps Grant has beaten round two of the eye infection? Husband and I are ready to be done with the eye drops. It is so heartbreaking to pry open your baby's eye lids - that he has squeezed so tightly shut - while he seems to be literally screaming for you to stop. But as many times as he's been sick in the past 10 months, at least it's never been anything more serious. Never anything that medicine hasn't been able to help with or get rid of, no matter how many times it came back. We can be thankful for that.