Non-stop development!

I've really been wanting to post about Hudson's development for a while and just haven't found the time thanks to this out of control nesting instinct that has kicked in (just as an aside...where did this come from?!? I've already cleaned and reorganized our closets, built the crib and dresser (well, made Ryan build the crib and dresser...), and rearranged the furniture in our house. The baby isn't even due for 9 more weeks, but I'm OBSESSED with getting this house ready). Anyways, Hudson is blowing us away with his development and his cuteness.

-I've been really wanting to post the video of this, but I can't figure out how to shorten it. Hudson's most exciting accomplishment lately has been spelling his name! For a while, he would see an 'H' and say 'H - Hudson'. On Oct. 2nd, I was sitting on the couch with him and he just looked at me and said "H-u-d-s-o-n". I was in total shock! I made Ryan run in and see if we could have him do it again and did. Then he would do it all the time (in a cheerleader voice H-u-d, S-o-n). Our nanny would tell him to tell another kid his name at the park and he would just spell it. We didn't teach him this, but we just write his name alot when we draw. Apparently he was paying attention!

- He can count to 10 (this isn't new though)

- He knows all of his colors

- He knows most of his letters, but just not in order. If you point to a "Q", he'll say "Q", but he can't say his ABCs yet.

- He knows most of his shapes.

- He LOVES to hug and kiss the cats. Thankfully, they allow this

- "Oh dear" has been replaced with "Oh Gosh!" in his vocabulary. Between this phrase and his hair style, I'm not totally convinced that he isn't 89 years old!

- He walks up and down the stairs. No more scooching down on his bum!

- Sometimes when we wants Ryan's attention, instead of saying "DAD!", he'll say "RYAN!". It cracks me up!

- Since his language is picking up, we need to watch what we say. Ryan and I don't usually ever swear (unless we're watching a Steeler game!), but I do say "Oh crap!". Unfortunately, now Hudson does too.

- He likes this new soap that my mom bought him. He opens it in the tub, sniffs it, and says "Mmmmm...good!" (It's coconut scented). I have a video of this too, but just need to get it uploaded.

- When he farts, he says "toot!". Then we have to remind him to also say "Excuse me".

- He has different voices when he's talking about something big and something little. If it's big, he'll say "BIIIIIIIG truck!" and when it's little he'll whisper in a high pitched voice "little truck".

- When he's really excited over something you're about to give him, he immediately says "thank you!". Most other times you have to remind me to say it.

- Nothing much new with sleeping or eating. He still wakes up about 2 times a night. And he still eats nothing much more than crackers and yogurt.

- Some of his favorite toys are: legos (yes, the real little kind that our nanny accidentally bought him while he was sick. Some of the pieces are the size of a tic tac!), balloons and balls (to kick), crayons/things to draw with.

- Some of his favorite books are: Bounce One Baby (which he calls "Baby Jump"), Bathe One Baby, any Spot book, Peekaboo Blueberry, I love you through and through, Goodnight Moon (where he loves to point out the "firetruck", aka fire place).

I'm sure there's so much more that he's doing, but it's slipping my mind as I think about cleaning our garage....

H1N1 made its way to our house

I can't believe I actually had to type that. Hudson, who has yet to really have any type of illness, was diagnosed with H1N1 yesterday. I've gotten lots of emails and facebook messages from people asking about how I knew he had it, how he's being treated, etc., so I thought I would share all of my newly learned H1N1 knowledge to educate all of the other moms out there worried about this virus. (Warning: this is going to be pretty long).

So, I guess it really all started Saturday morning. We were in Pittsburgh visiting my family. My little brother Joey, who is 14, was saying that he wasn't feeling well. He really napped all day and ended up having a fever. We actually didn't see him for much of the weekend after Saturday morning since he was laid up in bed. The entire house (my mom, stepdad, other brother, myself, and Ryan) were extremely vigilant about germ control. Anything that Joey touched (blankets, pillows, etc) went straight to the wash. We had bottles of Purrell all over the house. In addition to Hudson, my 10 month old niece was also there, so we were trying to protect them.

On Monday, Hudson had some diaherra before we left Pittsburgh. We leave at his nap time and he usually sleeps for the entire trip. But this time, he woke up at Breezewood (almost the half way point) and was saying "belly hurt". When we got home, he seemed fine. On Tuesday, he was fine other than his lack of appetite. He also had a mild cough. At midnight, he woke up and Ryan went to lay him back down (this is an everynight occurance...he never sleeps all night). Ryan brought him into our room and asked me to feel if I thought he felt warm. He was definitely running a fever. I didn't want to take his diaper off, so I just checked his temperature under his arm. It was 100.7. He was coughing more and more and it was really raspy. I started to get freaked out (remember, he's never been sick), so I called the on call pediatrician. She was clearly unhappy about my anxiety. I explained that I was worried since we have two high risk people in the house (Hudson, for being under 2, and me, for being pregnant). She said that 100.7 is barely a fever and if he's breathing okay, there's nothing to worry about (easier said than done!). The rest of the night was spent trying to comfort him and worrying.

On Wednesday morning, he was burning up and I took his temperature rectally. It was 103. He was really lethargic. I called the pediatrician again and spoke with the nurse practitioner. She told me that this is just something going around and to make sure that he doesn't have 1. rapid breathing 2. lack of thirst or 3. a temperature above 104. I mentioned again that I was pregnant and asked if I should take precautions. She recommended calling my OB since many pregnant women were being treated with Tamiflu.

So I called my OB who was APPALLED that the pedi didn't test Hudson for H1N1. She said that it was important to know for my well-being as well as his. She was calling me a prescription for Tamiflu in and told me that if I started to feel sick at all to start taking it. I told her I would call the pediatrician back and ask them to test him. We were able to get an appointment for that afternoon.

Before leaving for his appointment, he was burning up and was due for another dose of motrin (which had been helping tremendously). But I decided to let the doctor see him and then I would give him the motrin. When we got there, his temperature was 104.4. The doctor checked his lungs, ears, and nose and said everything else looked okay. She explained that she was going to give him the rapid flu test which only tests whether or not he has influenza and does not differentiate between the different types (i.e. it wouldn't tell us if he had H1N1 or another kind). That said, she explained that any positive rapid test is assumed to be positive for H1N1 since it's too early in the season for the other flus to be presenting themselves. The test for H1N1 takes 4 days to provide results at which point it would be too late for either of us to begin Tamiflu. She then did the rapid test which is a swab WAY up into Hudson's nose. Within 5 minutes she came back and said it was positive. She was going to write Hudson a prescription for Tamiflu, but explained that it could be hard to find at a pharmacy since Hudson would need a liquid form which was a bit rare.

After calling around to a few places, we were able to find it at Hopkins. They closed in an hour, so I rushed out to get it for him. Well, I get to the pharmacy and realized that I forgot the prescription at home. So I called the on duty pediatrician and explained the situation and asked her to call the prescription in while I waited. She asked if Hudson had asthma and I told her no. She asked why his doctor prescribed Tamiflu then. She said Tamiflu was reserved for patients with compromised immune systems and that they weren't just giving it to any child who had flu symptoms. I told her I was pregnant and she said that was why it was prescribed. I couldn't believe that Hudson would be left to suffer had I not been pregnant!

I called my OB back and told her that Hudson's test was positive and she said that it was best for me to start Tamifu right away. So, I got the Tamiflu for both Hudson and myself. Since Hudson has the flu, he will take it twice a day for 5 days. Since I've only been exposed, I will take it once a day for 10 days. It was pretty amazing to see how all of the doctors were really more concerned with me than with Hudson (and I wasn't even sick!). Of course, it made me nervous, but also relieved. I would rather it be me who was at risk than Hudson.

Last night was another rough night. Hudson still had a fever and was really congested with a nasty cough. He's been sleeping all night in our arms since he needs to be upright or else he gets too congested. Of course, I'm exhausted now which isn't helping the whole prevention of me getting sick. I've been coughing more and more and feel like I have chest/back pains. I go to the OB tomorrow, so I'll be checked then.

I just wanted to put the whole story out there so that other people can understand what symptoms to look for and why their doctor may not test/treat the flu. We're all praying that this passes soon.

My apologies....

....for not letting you know that we all survived the weekend apart!

Friday morning, Ryan and I were doing some last minute packing, relaxing, and enjoying a Starbucks. We were planning on leaving as soon as we got everything together. We were ready around 11:30am. I was so excited about the trip that I wasn't even dreading saying goodbye to Hudson. When the time came to leave, he told us "buh bye" and waved, gave hugs and kisses, and we left. There were no tears (from me or Hudson!).

Ryan and I had a fantastic time in Cape May. We spent LOTS of time by the pool, reading. The beach was a little too windy. Plus the hotel had an "adult pool" which was basically a large bath tub - the water was SO warm. In addition to relaxing, we ate....TONS. On Friday night we hit up Martini Beach for dinner. On Saturday, we went to Mad Batter and 410 Bank St. On Sunday, we went to George's and The Ebbitt Room (where we also celebrated our engagement 5 years ago). We did a little shopping and some walking on the beach. We watched our beloved Steelers hand a game over to the Bungles, which was all the less exciting given that we were watching the game with a deaf Bungles fan who kept shouting things at us even though we couldn't understand him. We were lucky to be joined by another Steelers couple....who happened to be Carnegie Tech grads! Small world!

On Saturday afternoon, I asked Ryan "is it bad that I'm not missing Hudson?". I mean, being able to dictate your own wake up time (which, unfortunately, was still 5 or 6a), eat a warm meal in a restaurant, have adult conversation, and relax is pretty easy to get used to! By Sunday night though, we were at dinner talking about how we missed Hudson and I finally broke down and started to cry. I was quite proud of myself for making it that long!

Hudson, on the other hand, didn't seem to realize we were gone! Mom Mom and Pop Pop kept him busy. Much to my relief, he didn't even ask for us until Sunday. One of the best parts about leaving him was that the return trip was so much more exciting. Usually, you're bummed when you leave vacation. But this time, I was so excited to come home and see him. Hudson, however, did not feel the same way. He was napping when we got home. I ran to the store and he woke up while I was gone. Ryan was holding him and when I came up to say hello, he started to scream and cry. I couldn't even look at him without him shouting "No!". Apparently, our cats taught him their lesson of being mad at Mommy and Daddy when we leave. It wasn't until Monday night that Hudson allowed me to hold him. Of course, I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm, but it was better than him crying for us while we were gone.

Here are a few pics from the trip:The Congress Hall Hotel


The view from the pool

Me and my belly on the beach

Posing at the spot where Ryan proposed 5 years ago


The baby and the lighthouse