Sick Days and Santa Claus

Tyler sure has had a rough couple of weeks. He had just gotten over strep throat and was off antibiotics for only two days when last week Friday (December 18th) he developed a nasty cough and fever. Saturday evening we decided to take him to our hospital's Prompt Care because we noticed his chest was heaving when he was breathing. We found out at that time he had another ear infection in his left, which was causing the high fever (it got to 105 degrees at one point). They also did an influenza test and chest x-rays. The influenza test was negative but the Prompt Care doctor said it looked like he pneumonia. That doctor wanted to admit him to the hospital at that point however Tyler's pedetrician was on-call and decided it was not needed since he was getting enough oxygen on room air. So Tyler got sent home on antibiotics and breathing treatments. We took him back to his doctor on Monday and the doctor said he doubted he had pneumonia but something more like a viral respiratory infection. His left ear was starting to look better so we kept up with the antibiotics and breathing treatments. He was still playful and had a good appetite so he didn't seem too sick at that point. However, over the next two days, we noticed Tyler was becoming more lethargic and less playful. Wednesday afternoon, he woke up from a nap with a coughing fit that lasted over 10 minutes. He was having trouble catching his breath so we rushed him to the doctor's office. They found at that point that he was low on oxygen (about 85%) so he was directly admitted to the hospital. Right away they put him on oxygen then re-tested for influenza, RSV, took more chest x-rays and blood work. All the tests came back negative but his white blood cell count indicated he had a nasty viral infection. Also, the ear infection he had in his left ear cleared up but he now has an ear infection in his right ear. So he was placed on some different antibiotics and steriods to help open up his lungs. We spent the two nights there trying to wean Tyler off of oxygen. He needed it overnight both nights but the doctor today said all he needed to be able to do to go home is take a 30-minute nap without oxygen. He was able to do that so he came home tonight, on Christmas--the best gift we could have asked for! Santa luckily heard that Tyler was away from home and was able to find him at the hospital. Here are some pictures from the day....
Tyler and Mommy on Christmas morning

Opening his first present

A cool spinner that lights up--one of the first smiles we had seen all day

We had been reporting to Santa the week before Christmas that Tyler wasn't feeling well so Santa promised to work extra hard in his workshop to make him another special gift for Christmas. It was this phone so that Tyler could call Santa anytime throughout the year.

"Hello Santa."

Opening another gift--a xylophone

Once we got home, Tyler had one more present under the tree from Mommy and Daddy. We could tell he was feeling a little better because he was much more smiley and having fun ripping the paper.

Turns out the box was more fun to climb on than what was in the box (a Little People race car set).

First Haircut!

We realized after seeing some of the pictures we took of Tyler's crazy hair it might be the time for his first haircut. So we took him to Cookie Cutters not really sure how he would handle it. He was all smiles the whole time. He got to sit in this car with a steering wheel and horn and he got to watch Thomas & Friends. He let the girl wet his hair and didn't really cry at all. Towards the end he was definitely done with just sitting still but overall, it was a HUGE success. And I love his big boy hair!

Watching Thomas & Friends, all ready to go

"It's just like bath time!"

Starting to wiggle

All finished

When we got home I tried to style it a little. Then I had to take every picture of every angle.

From the top

From the side

From the front

This has been Tyler's new thing lately--he'll be busy playing and then he'll just decide he's tired and fall asleep right there on the floor! (Check it out--Tyler just got a new pair of shoes yesterday!)

Lettin' Loose

We had a pretty rough November and early December starting with Tyler getting an ear infection on November 17th (his 13-month birthday). I then got strep throat on November 20th with Tyler following suit on December 4th. Now that we are all feeling better (for the most part), we decided to let loose and let Tyler's hair curl wherever it wanted. Here are a couple of pics....
(The pictures on the blog are smaller so it hard to see. I think you can click on the pictures for a full-size version--and a better view of his wild 'do).

Showing off the curl on top

Showing off the curl on the sides

About ready for bedtime

We have really struggled with all of Tyler's illnesses so we decided that as of January 4th, he will no longer be in a day care facility. Our babysitter Trina provides child care in her home and we're sending Tyler there. We are pretty excited about some of the changes. The difference in price is obviously a plus but it will be so much better as far as his health is concerned. We really like that her daily routine matches what Tyler is used to. He'll be around 3 kids older than him, two of them are about 2 years old and the other one is a couple months older than Tyler. I am sure they will be good models (and give him a couple bad habits too). He has only been in the Infant Room at day care so we think this will help him develop a little bit more. We can't wait to get him started there!