time to do something about that rat tail

ryan has been ready to cut sullivan's hair for some time, but i just haven't had the heart to do it. his baby hair, why would i do that?!? but the way it was growing just wasn't acceptable either. a little tuft at the very nape of his neck had grown into a full rat tail. it was curling over his collar and stretched quite a ways down his back when it was wet in the tub. i always found a reason not to trim it, but this particular day the stars were aligned. sully was sitting on my lap reading a book and on his dresser were his nail scissors and some floss he had pulled out of a bathroom drawer. that was all i needed! so while he was distracted, i tied a little floss ribbon around his rat tail and for a moment he looked like a little colonial baby. i wish i had taken a picture of that but the camera was no where near and i'm sure he would have pulled it out. i knew i only had a little time until he lost interest in his book so i held my breath and...snip! the job was done.


here is the lock of hair, ready to go into a bag and into his baby book.

the finished product. i think i did a pretty good job! *sigh* he looks like such a little boy now. oh well, it will grow out.

sick baby

during grant and ginni's visit, sully was not feeling well. he had a little fever and was not eating a lot. by sunday he seemed to be doing better and we chalked it up to a virus since both ryan and i had also been sick.

then wednesday and thursday rolled around and his fever came back. nothing alarming, but enough to need a little tylenol to bring it down. then friday, after he woke up from his nap he was burning up. i took his temperature and the thermometer said 104. 104, could that be right?? it was an ear thermometer, and i thought if it were to be inaccurate it would be on the low side. so i checked his other ear. 105! his cheeks were flushed and he had been pretty lethargic all day. i decided to call our new pediatrician who we haven't even seen yet. eric and colleen swear by her and i thought maybe she'd be able to get us in, even if it was 3:30 on a friday. the receptionist said she was booked but asked about his symptoms and i told her about his fever. she said it sounded like he needed to be seen and would call us back after she talked to the doctor. not five minutes later she called and said i could bring him in within the next half hour or so. i was so relieved not to have to bring him to urgent care!

by the time we got there sully's fever had gone down a little but was still at 102. it turned out that he had an ear infection and was also teething, which was not helping the situation at all. she prescribed an antibiotic and suggested we keep him on tylenol/motrin to keep the fever down and ease the pain of his gums. dr. webb said he might have a fever through the weekend, but it should be done by monday and if it wasn't, to call.

a sick baby is a good reminder of what it is to have a newborn again! up constantly through the night and needing so much attention. poor little guy. the one upside to it though was that he was very snuggly and content to lay on the couch and watch a movie. those of you who know him know he doesn't do either of those things! so it was nice to hold him on my lap and relax since i wasn't feeling well either. poor ryan was the healthiest of us all so he got the brunt of the baby care, particularly the middle of the night wake-ups. by sunday, he was exhausted.

here are some pictures i snapped, and just reviewing them i realized that in all the pictures he is rubbing his ear. poor sweetie.


here he woke up from a nap so hot i didn't even want to take his temp. we stripped him down and gave him some motrin and waited for it to kick in.

watching a little 'surf's up' with daddy. :)

see, he just doesn't look well, huh? through the weekend he took two naps a day and hardly ate anything at all. strawberries were the only thing he would accept.

sad face for my sick baby. it was just as miserable for me and ryan.

a very unflattering picture, but notable since this hasn't happened since he was a newborn. he woke up from a nap and didn't want to do anything but lay against my chest. this picture was taken on monday, the worst day. his fever had kicked up in the night and now he wasn't eating OR drinking. then, when we were in the playroom, he slipped and bit his tongue. he couldn't stop screaming and there was blood EVERYWHERE. later you could see the wound and it was deep; a cut the size and shape of a tooth creating a little flap on his tongue. i'm sure it was so painful and only added to the discomfort of his mouth. the teeth coming in aren't the next ones in line, they are the ones after that and they look like big teeth! two on top and one on the bottom. i had a meltdown after this incident and at one point i was holding a crying sullivan while ryan was holding a crying me. it was quite a sight. ryan called the doctor and she said that he is still feeling terrible and it is not uncommon for toddlers to refuse food and water until the antibiotics really kick in. sure enough, by the end of the day sully had eaten a decent dinner and drank some milk. phew.

i am now happy to report the sullivan is healthy and back to terrorizing everything in his path. :)

a twist on meal time

sullivan is getting more independent everyday. today, he refused to eat applesauce unless he was doing it himself. he wouldn't even let me touch the spoon to readjust it in his hand. finally i threw up my hands and said, 'fine!' this was the result.

morning at the park

yesterday we went to a big park down the road, between our house and eric and colleen's. most days we have a lot of fun, but today was not one of those days. within two minutes sully pooped and we had to do a car diaper change, which is never fun. and then i thought we were in the clear. sully was into playing with his ball and we were running around the basketball court.

and then he got distracted by this tree, and i noticed my arch nemesis in the background...a drinking fountain. sullivan is obsessed with them and a few days before this we had a tantrum meltdown when i took him away from one in the village.

here is the meltdown after i finally gave in and let him splash around in the fountain for a few minutes. he looks up at me with such hopeful eyes and reaches his arms out....i mean, who can resist that?

hurray, something to distract him from the drinking fountain devastation! a sweet man came by with a schnauzer named sammy. i think sullivan really liked petting a dog that was smaller than him. :)

after a few minutes sammy had to leave and you would have thought i had ripped sully's blanket from his hands. he chased after the dog for a few steps before collapsing into a wailing heap in the grass. 'somebody needs a nap,' sammy's owner said. truer words had never been spoken. i collected my weeping lump of baby in my arms and we headed home.

grandma ginni and grandpa grant come for a visit

last weekend grant and ginni came for a visit and we had a really nice time. our whole household was a little under the weather so it was pretty amazing to have grandparents to wake up with sully, change a few diapers, take over during play time, etc. ryan and i even got out to a movie! such a luxury these days.

we showed them around a little bit, and one of the outings we did was to san luis obispo. we ate lunch at a pizza place then walked around by the mission. there is a nice little fountain with statues there, and of course sullivan could not resist the water. we pulled out all our pennies and let him throw them in.


here he is asking grandpa for more pennies. whenever he wants something, he reaches his hand out and says, 'bah!' amazingly, he didn't even try to eat any of them.

after we ran out, ryan fished for more from the fountain.

sully was kind of squirmy when we took this shot, then we realized that the bear was pretty hot. sorry bud!

we walked around a little while after this, and on our way back avoided walking past the fountain. eagle-eyed sully, however, spotted it over grandpa's shoulder and cried all the way back to the car. such a water baby!

and thanks again grant and ginni! next time we will all be at 100% and the we'll REALLY show you around. :)