all's well... sort of

Well, Elliott went back to the orthopedist on Tuesday morning. Dr. Lashgari told me that he had shown Elliott's x-rays to another doctor for a second opinion and that they agreed that it was likely nothing more than nursemaid's elbow. The splint came off and he is fine. We do have to be careful though as it will likely happen again, especially when Elliott is learning to walk... if we are holding his hands and he stumbles and/or falls, we could yank it out again. ~**sigh**~

I got a call from Pacey's school while I was at Elliott's appointment on Tuesday morning, apparently Fifths Disease has been going around the center and landed on Pacey's face. For those of you unfamiliar, Fifths Disease shows up as a lacey rash 4-20 days after cold like symptoms. Once they have the rash, they are no longer contagious but I still had to pick her up and take her to the doctor to confirm it. Fortunately, we already had an appointment scheduled for that afternoon so away we went. Dr. Ginsburg looked at her face and checked her legs, the next place the rash could show up... sure enough, yesterday it was all down her legs. On top of that, she woke up yesterday morning coughing and hasn't stopped. So, the aroma of Vick's vapor rub fills the air... ahhh!

Also yesterday, Elliott had his 4 month check-up... all is well - he is lean and long, 20th percentile for weight and 90th for height. We decided to add cereal to his bottles in hopes of him keeping it down. His acid reflux is still pretty bad. I gave him his first cereal bottle this morning. He liked it but had to work hard, as it made the formula pretty thick. So far so good, only a few little spit ups, no major blows...yet...

I have decided to return to work... my first day back will be Monday, January 26th - the last day of the marking period. We will have 2 days without students that week, so I thought it would be a good transition for me and the class. Not bad, I guess - I was able to be off half of the school year - can't really complain. We have made arrangements for our friend Becky Young to watch Elliott 2 days a week. She has 2 girls, Elyse and Lyla. Elyse is Pacey's age (6 days apart) and Lyla will be 2 in March. Lyla was a fussy spitty baby, just like Elliott so Becky has been there and, lucky for us, is willing to go there again. The kids will be with either Mom or Eric the other days. We are still trying to work out the details, but Eric may be able to work and alternate schedule to be home some - stay tuned.