Spooky

Spooky
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

We've had a couple of 6- (and even one 7-hour) stretches of sleep through the night out of Ben; then we'll have a night like last night, where he fell asleep at 7:30p and woke up at 11:30p, 3:30a, and 7:00a. Well, what can you expect from a 5 week old?

Lookin' damn cute in his costume, that's what. Tess was a princess again this year, although she kept changing her mind. I bought her Belle outfit online at Disney shopping before Ben was born, so she was going to be Belle, end of story. One look at the costume and all talk of being a witch (again) or a black cat was forgotten.

Happy Halloween!

He's not heavy...

He's not heavy...
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

At least Tess is sweet with HIM. With us, not so much...

I know it's natural. She's testing our every limit. She no longer plays on her own for very long (unless it's at the upstairs sink). She wants us to play with her every spare second. She asks 30 times a day, "when will Daddy be home?" then when he gets here she pesters him so that he can't relax. She's not much fun to be with right now.

I've lost my cool on more than one occasion. E is not the kind to ever, ever raise his voice, so he is perplexed by my outbursts. But some days, after dealing with her attitude all day, I can't listen to another second of it.

On top of it all, everyone (except me) has been sick. I thought being sick while pregnant (as I was for 2 weeks in July, losing my voice for 3 days), would render some immunity to little Ben, but alas. He is sniffling, snorting, and coughing (!) along with Tess and E.

Tess reached some sort of boiling point last night. She had such a severe headache she was screeching in pain. At first she refused to take any Tylenol, but finally she couldn't stand it any more. Five minutes after taking it, she was collapsed on the couch, fast asleep, at 7:30p at night. She slept through the night, believe it or not.

She was much sweeter this morning. Hopefully we've turned a corner.

Two and a half weeks

Two and a half weeks
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

...and all is well. I've actually been out of the house on my own; Monday night I made it to Stamp Club. Luckily it was a small, coming-and-going group, so I made my 3 cards, placed my monthly order, and was outta there in under an hour.

'Cos I gotta rush home and kiss those chubby cheeks...mmmmmwwwahh!

Back at the hospital

At the hospital
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

Looks like he's on a beach vacation, doesn't it?

The idea of scrapbooking Ben's return to the hospital -- for bililight treatment of serious jaundice -- helped me keep my sense of humor throught this ordeal.

He was very sluggish on Thursday, our first full day home, and when I noticed his eyes were yellow, we made an immediate appointment at the pediatricians.

Sure enough, his bilirubin level was 20 (15 is cause for treatment, 25 starts possible permanent damage), so we rushed him through ER Thursday night where they had a room waiting for him.

I was on my own Thursday night/Friday morning, as we didn't have overnight arrangments for Tess; Friday night/Saturday morning E was able to come in and help, that was a vast improvement for my own recovery.

We stayed all day Saturday as his level Saturday morning was still 13.9; it dropped to 11.1 by Saturday afternoon and we felt better about coming home.

The good news is, I had a wonderful day nurse on Friday who kept me on track with nursing, reminding me every 3 hours when it was time and generally keeping my spirits up.

She also taught me little tricks and tips for boys -- like folding over the top of their diaper so they don't pee right out of it, that boys nurse more "efficiently" than girls (so far, very true), that her own son hit a level of 22 and just graduated from high school 13th in his class.

So good to be home.

Big sis

Big sis
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

So far Tess has been very interested in Ben...I think the age difference helps. She is REALLY curious about nursing ("why does milk come from there?" and other Deep Thoughts) and loves to help out and hold Ben.

Near the end of each hospital visit, she got a bit squirrelly, "bad" behavior, talking back, but we took it for the stress it was. Those pediatric rooms are mighty small and boring.