First real day of work today / Mercer's new trick

I know I cut Thursday's post short w/o finishing up on Thursday's events. My dad & step-mom, Charlie, came for a visit. They were passing through from visiting my grandma in North Carolina. Mercer was not feeling his best -- as mentioned -- he's been sick. But, they loved him all the same and Charlie told us that if they were seeing Mercer at his worst -- then he's an angel!

We feel so bad for the little guy. He has still been having trouble breathing and we had to put him on a nebulizer (a breathing device to open up his bronchial passages). The poor little guy has just been miserable. He coughs, then lets out a baby moan. Oh - it's like a dagger going through my heart!

Ever since Mercer's been feeling a little down -- we have been keeping things low-key... including dad & Charlie's visit. We basically hung out here. Dad & I picked up lunch to bring back home and ran an errand (I was trying to make "baby formula freezer pops" to ease the agitation Mercer was undoubtedly feeling in his throat... but he didn't like the cold. Maybe if I keep trying it he'll get used to it?). Here's a couple of pics. Look how tired Mercer's eyes are in this picture with my dad. Poor, sad, pitiful little baby. ugh!

Friday - low key again. I should've been cranking on projects to finish as it was officially my last day of maternity leave, but since neither of us were feeling well, I spent may last day holding and comforting our baby.... which is a nice way to spend it, honestly. Saturday was pretty chill too, as we didn't even walk to the square for the farmer's market & breakfast as is our routine. I did get a chance to start working on the painting detail on the nursery walls and ironed / hung curtains. It's looking really cute. Only 1/2 of the room is done... there's still a lot of detail painting on the other walls.

Today, I went to work, Todd took Mercer to the doc for a follow-up visit from Thursday, then took Mercer to daycare. The pediatrician seemed to think that overall, he's doing better. He does have some fluid build-up in his ears, however, that she's been watching since Thursday's visit. Although Mercer doesn't act like he has an ear infection, she said that it's definitely developed into one. We have to give him an antibiotic for the fluid and do the nebulizer for another couple of weeks for the breathing 'til we go see her again. I don't know how I feel about him on antibiotics already... the person who recommended this doc said that she liked her b/c she's not quick to medicate with antibiotics. I suppose she did wait on this instead of having him start on Thursday? ugh. so many decisions. We just want him to be healthy!

I bought a book about Children's health care, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. Guess I need to get to cracking the pages of the book ASAP.

Time to go / time for a nap (as baby's cough continues to wake him (and us) at night).

C

oh yeah... work went well today (only got through 1 month of emails, but I didn't freak out / have to bolt out of there to pick little M up... so I guess it was ok).

and Mercer's new trick: Todd laid Mercer in the playpen on his stomach to nap. A little later, he was on his side. Shortly after that, he was on his back. He rolled over! (maybe because he was wearing his Orange Met's Onesie? Red & orange makes people (and kids) more active! Todd put him in it because they were watching a game on Sunday night together.

PS -- you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them... you'll notice that Mercer is grasping Charlie's finger during feeding and that he's lost one of his sock monkey slippers. (He FINALLY noticed those things / stared at them / but isn't really reaching for them or grabbing them yet.) Also - you can see the detail of the fish and bubbles on the nursery walls. I was so hesitant to start the detail b/c I thought I'd hate them, but actually, I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out. It's taking forever -- so I don't want to have to do this again for a really really long time!