Alexander Jacob Messer

Time Out

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:14:00 +0000

I've started putting Alex in to "time out" this week. He definitely knows what he is doing when he causes mischief, so it was time for him to start learning consequences. I have to admit it was rather like a segment from "Super Nanny" with all the times I had to keep sitting him back down. He just kept getting back up and running away from the spot, laughing his butt off. After a several times putting him back though I managed to get him to sit for a minute each time. Then he signed "sorry" to me when I asked him to say sorry. We're going to have to keep on him if he's ever going to learn that he doesn't rule the roost. I love his spirit, but wow, he's stubborn and very, very willful.

Nom, Nom, Nom

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:36:00 +0000

Alex took it upon himself to grow 4 new teeth last week. His top molars surfaced as well as the two in front of them. He is about to cut the last two on the bottom and my fingers are crossed that my little Bear will be teething-free until his two year molars arrive. That would be about six months of bliss. He bit his brother today... for no reason. When I called my mom to check in she told me that he left teeth marks but didn't break the skin. And when she scolded him (after consoling Brandon), Alex just pouted, sulked and then laughed at her and moved on.

My Bear...

Fun Things

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Alex LOVES books. When he's not in to mischief you can find him sitting in the rocking chair with a book in his lap, happily looking at the pictures, babbling the story as only he can tell it.

Here's our daredevil little man at the top of a very long slide.

Aunt "Grandma" Janice came to visit this month and Alex had a blast with her!

And here's our little men - caught wrestling and looking all innocent about it.

The Beach

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Today we went to the beach to swim. Alex, despite our walk on the beach earlier in the month when he had a blast in the sand, did not like the beach this time. He was terrified of the water and it took a lot of coaxing to bring him out of his shell. He sat on the beach chair for about 45 minutes before he ventured forth to play in the sand. It was only at the very end of the outing that he let Daddy swing his feet in the water. I'm ok with him not liking the water though. I'm totally ok with that.

Other Updates

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:26:00 +0000

April 11th Alex says:
- "Ah down" for "Fall Down"
- "Aye" for "Yes"

April 12th Alex:
- says "Beepah" for "Grandpa"
- goes to get a tissue for himself, blows his nose and puts the used tissue back in the box.

Easter Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:25:00 +0000

Today we spent the day at my parents' house and enjoyed a fun Easter Egg hunt after the boys' naps. Great-Grandpa Al got in to some trouble though teaching Alex to find the "Big Easter Egg" though. You know, that big blue glass ball that my mom has been teaching Alex to stay away from every other day he's at her house. It sure was cute though to watch these two trouble makers together.

Easter Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:22:00 +0000

This year we enjoyed Easter egg dying with Great-Grandpa Al at our house on Easter Eve. I wasn't brave enough to let my mischief-maker anywhere near the dye cups but Daddy helped him make a few eggs of his own.

Walking on the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:07:00 +0000

Today we went for a morning walk on the beach and it was the first time we let Alex walk on the sand himself. Up until now we had pushed him in the jogging stroller or I had carried him in the Ergo carrier. Alex delighted in chasing the birds and making his own trails. He did manage to let us capture a few sweet pictures with us though.

March 2009

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:58:00 +0000

I started back to work this month and Alex is home with me alone on Tues and Thurs. On this particular day, the 17th, Alex was playing with some toys near my feet and later went to sit in the rocking chair to watch some cartoon. He got pretty quiet and when I looked up, this is what I found!

The poor kid fell asleep climbing down from the chair. It totally cracked me up. He slept there for a half hour, which completely ruined his afternoon nap, but it was so cute and unexpected.

On the 20th we took the kiddos to play putt-putt. We were so not surprised that Alex cared nothing about the game we were there to play. Instead he went down his own paths, usually the ones that led to ground level, non-fenced pools of water, completely freaking me out. But it was a good time overall.

Finally - this shot just sums up everything Alex. I found him at the end of the month sitting on the train table playing with Thomas. That's just how he does things. He climbs, he finds, he conquers and destroys.

February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:49:00 +0000

So February rolled around and left us all sort of winded from its whirl. On the 17th our little Bear learned to smack his Daddy and say "no no no no nooo" when he didn't want Daddy to tell him "no." He has such a temper.

On the 21st we met Grandpa Joe and Grandma Jan in St. Augustine for Grandma's birthday and spent the morning at the old fort and walking along the seawall before having a nice lunch at a yummy restaurant. Later that same day Alex developed croup, thanks to his big brother who had it only days before. It was a long couple of days.

In other developments Alex is learning to pull chairs and stools around so that he can climb and get to things he's not supposed to get. Fun times.

January 2009

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 23:38:00 +0000

We celebrated the first day of the new year in style by heading to the playground with our friends the Kengs. Alex had a blast on the slides and generally just running in every direction except the one we wanted him to go in.

Later in the month we attended the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus and Alex shocked us by sleeping through the human cannon ball. The kid literally just started sleeping through the night in December, waking up when a pin dropped, yet he slept through a cannon. That nap was the only nap he took that day.

In other developments he learned to sign the word "Milk" this month - his most favorite beverage.

Things Alex Said This Month

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:47:00 +0000

December 12th - Alex says "Two" after Grandma Jan says "One" (he so smart!)

December 17th - Alex says "Bah-oon" for Balloon.

December 18th - Alex says "Nah-Nah" and meant me, Mama!

December 19th - Alex says "Santa!"

Alex Meets Santa

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:30:00 +0000

In retrospect, a huge stranger in a bright red suit is perhaps not the greatest idea for a one year old. Alex only sat long enough for me to record this moment of relative child abuse. :)

Alex eats a grilled cheese

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:39:00 +0000

Today Alex tried his first grilled cheese sandwich (cut in to small bites) on a fork - also a first for him too. Here's a little video of how cute he was!

From December 2008

Alex is One!!!

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:45:00 +0000

Our baby boy is one year old now! Last weekend we had his first birthday party and Alex had a grand time eating cake for the first time and making an utter mess of it all. It's hard for me to put in to words the emotions that come with a year of memories for this sweet, crazy, chaotic and wonderful little boy. It's been a year of the best kind of love any family could ask for.

Alex's First Birthday

Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:57:00 +0000

Alex loves our shoe pile by the garage door. He sorts them, chews on them (to my disdain), carries them around, etc. I have no idea what is so fascinating about our shoes. Lately we have had to hunt for our shoes too because Alex carries them off and stashes them in hiding places.

Last week I couldn't find Brandon's crocs. One ended up being in a kitchen cabinet. We didn't find it until later that evening because after 5 minutes of looking we decided to go get socks and have Bran wear his sneakers.

Today I took the kids out to run errands and it took about 20 minutes to find Brandon's missing croc shoe. I looked in all the usual hiding places, under all the beds, in the blanket basket in the family room, behind the sofa, in the laundry, in the master bedroom closets, in the playroom bins and pretty much everywhere else I imagined Alex had access to. I was starting to lose it but then I found his new hiding spot. In the playroom we have this little foam, folding sofa. It was half open, something that I didn't even notice because it's like that all the time. This time though the shoe was hiding under the little fold out. I never would have found it except I lifted up the whole thing and it came tumbling out.

Alex laughed when I found it.

Seriously!

October in Review

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 03:05:00 +0000

Our October was fantastic! We took the boys to a Pumpkin Patch/Corn Maze early in the month and later Alex enjoyed his first Halloween dressed up as a Teddy Bear. We figured that since we call him our Bear that it was the perfect first costume. He looked adorable and magically didn't pull off his hat the entire night.

Some of Alex's first steps

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:41:00 +0000

Here is a little video (taken with my camera phone unfortunately) of some Alex's first steps! His first official steps were at the beginning of October - just one or two here and there. Now he's putting 5-10 together in one stretch.

A Walk with Friends

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:38:00 +0000

This gorgeous October evening we took a nice walk on the beach with our friends Mandy, Leng and their son Kai. Mandy and I are sporting the fabulously comfortable Ergo baby carriers in this photo. No lower back pain!

It was a wonderful evening and the weather was perfect to enjoy the stroll with our dear friends.

Rock Band Rock Star

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:21:00 +0000

Tree Monkey & Bear Paw

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:41:00 +0000

Alex has become our Tree Monkey. When he's fussy or in need of some comfort we'll pick him up and he grasps on to our clothing and will just sort of perch there. He really looks like a baby monkey clinging to the side of a tree or riding on his mom's back. So that is one of the names we call him.

Another name we use is Bear Paw. (sometimes Bear Claw if his nails are sharp) I think of it as his spirit or Native American name in a way. It speaks so much to his nature. It's really funny but he sort of attacks things with this sweeping bear arm-like move, especially if he's super excited to see it in front of him. For instance he completely freaked out over an ice cold sippy cup of water last night. And both arms came out from his sides and he lunged for that cup so fast he ended up knocking it clear across the table, so fast that we barely had time to react to catch it. If you've ever see the Discovery Channel and watched a grizzly bear catch a salmon or fight another bear then you know the arm movements I'm talking about. It's really cute. But he's really strong. When his arm was all wrapped up from his trip to the ER I was unlucky recipient of some of these bear arm attacks. But since his arm was fortified it was more like he was clubbing me with cuteness. At the time I was just glad he was in a good mood given the situation.

Alex's Visit to the ER

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:26:00 +0000

Saturday, August 2nd Alex visited the ER for the first time. The story starts like this.

Thursday we flew to Baltimore to visit both Joby's and my family. We stayed with his Aunt Shirley but the trip was packed around my sister's new daughter's baptism on Sunday. Thursday we spent the evening with his side of the family and Friday we planned to go visit my sister. On the way there that morning I called her to tell her we were on our way and she told me that she was monitoring Sophia's temperature because she was sick and Sharon might have to take her to the hospital. Kind of scary so we still decided to still visit but to steer clear of the baby for fear of adding to her body's fight against whatever ailed her. She is only 6 weeks old so a high temperature is an automatic hospitalization, spinal tap and series of blood work. It was hard though since that was our first day meeting her and we couldn't hold her.

Halfway through the day I noticed Alex was very warm. I decided to take his temperature because he had just gotten over an ear infection and since Sophia was sick I wanted to make sure he wasn't (not that I thought he would get sick from Sophia in a matter of a few hours). His temp was 102.3 so I put in a call to our pediatrician's office to talk to her nurse. I knew our doctor was also out of town that weekend and didn't want to bother her yet. Victoria told me that if Alex's temperature went over 103 to call Dr. Chally. Well later that evening after the long ride home from Sharon's to Aunt Shirley's I checked his temperature again. It was 103.3. I immediately called the doctor. She told us to do the usual alternating of Motrin and Tylenol all night and if he wasn't acting funny, vomiting or diarrhea then I didn't have to take him to the ER that night. If he was still sick in the morning then take him. Apparently Friday night is the worst night to go to the ER. I have no idea why.

The next morning Alex still had a temp of 102.7. And I was getting really anxious. So to put my mind at ease I decided to take him in even though it wasn't over 103. I didn't want him to have an ear infection, knowing we were flying again. And I didn't want him to be sick the next day for Sophia's baptism. So Aunt Shirley and I loaded him up and set off for a walk-in-clinic that in theory was only 6 miles from her house. Well after driving in the direction of the clinic and not finding it anywhere, we put the address in to her GPS... and discovered a car shop and some houses. Well the story continues (by the way I was driving because right before we left Aunt Shirley couldn't find her glasses.) and Aunt Shirley's cell phone dies. We used mine to call back and forth to the house where cousin Nathan looked on the maps for us for a place to take Alex. He even called the next walk-in-clinic to find out how long the wait would be. It turns out that in rural America there are NOT very many health clinics around. We drove for about an hour before finding a Patient First clinic. Luckily Alex slept the whole ride.

When we got there Alex was burning up. And he let us know about it. We were several people down on the waiting list but his wails had nurses and doctors all peaking in to the waiting area to see me rocking and swaying with him, apologizing to all the people around us. We got bumped to the front of the pack after I answered "Yes" to the question "Is the baby the patient?" The lady in registration even rushed that process telling us to worry about paying the co-pay later. They all couldn't have been nicer to us.

Needless to say Alex's temperature was now a cool 103.8 and that alarmed me. They ran his blood work and took a strep test (which we found out later in the ER was completely unnecessary because children under 4 apparently don't get strep throat). Later the doctor came in and told us that Alex didn't have an ear infection but his white blood cell count was 27.5 and a normal range is 5-10. He felt that it was high enough to warrant us going to an ER immediately to see an actual pediatrician. Thankfully the ER was directly across the street and the clinic called ahead so we didn't have to wait there either.

When we got to the ER I was very happy to see that they had an actual Pediatric ER wing and we wouldn't have to wait for all the adult broken legs and everything. We were hustled in and I had to watch them draw blood from his tiny little arm while I held him down. Then they put in an IV line and wrapped his arm on a board with some red sticky tape stuff so he wouldn't pull the line. It looked like he had a broken arm. They also did a urinary catheter to get a urine sample. Ouch!! His temperature there was 102.9 so the Motrin and Tylenol cocktail at the clinic was kicking in. He was also laughing and smiling up a storm in the ER - which made Shirley and I laugh at the 180 degree turn from two hours earlier when we arrived at the clinic when he was screaming in pain. Despite the arm brace which he hated, he was acting completely normal - himself - at this point, only crying when they drew blood or poked him - or when he needed to fall asleep.

An hour or so later the pediatrician told us his white blood cell count on their machine was actually 29 and she was concerned because he wasn't acting sick - but he was definitely sick. To top that off one of the blood work tests came back abnormal but she couldn't tell me what the test actually tested. So that prompted her to call the lab technicians, to no avail, then to two other pediatricians on the upper levels of the hospital. No one could answer her. How scary is that? The hospital orders a standard blood test on all children under one year of age but no one knows what it is or why they run in. Then when the results come back abnormal...?

So the pediatrician (her name was Dr. Julia Roselli by the way - anyone who goes to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Horford (sp?) County north of Baltimore County in Maryland - she was great!) told me she was willing to let us leave the hospital if I gave her my word that we would return the next day so we could look at the blood and urine cultures and to make sure a doctor "laid eyes" on Alex to see if there were any changes. Well that made me nearly cry because the next day was Sophia's baptism. But we worked it out to go late in the day after Sophia's special day. So we left with Alex having a shot of antibiotics "just in case" and no idea how much we were going to owe the hospital for our day's adventure. "We'll bill you."

The next day we spent a wonderful morning and early afternoon with my family and then packed up the kids again for a 1 hour ride back to the hospital. We were happy to see a nurse-tech who remembered us from the day before and had very little wait. This time it was a bit more interesting as Brandon was with us and we had to entertain him. I was also glad Joby was getting to see where we spent a ridiculous amount of time the day before. Luckily Dr. Roselli also arrived for her shift while we were still there and came right in to see us. That made me feel really good.

The good news on Sunday is that Alex's white blood cell count was down to 18. But nothing grew in his cultures so we still had a "fever of unknown origin" - the official diagnosis from the day before. So we got another shot of antibiotics and left with instructions to call the next day to get the final lab results. On Monday - nothing grew in the cultures. So our pediatrician thinks it was a nasty, nasty virus. The scary thing is our doctor told me that after Dr. Roselli said there were so many viruses going around . And then today I found out my sister's doctor said the same thing to her last week. So scary the things we don't know about but try to protect our children from.

So I also have to add that throughout this entire ordeal my pediatrician - Dr. Jennifer Chally was amazing!! She was on her own vacation but was on the phone with me more times then I can remember. I read her all our lab results, gave her updates. She called me to check on Alex. I adore her, seriously. I am so happy and lucky to have her as our children's doctor. I'll take Alex in next week to see her and get another blood cell count. Right now Alex is back to normal on the outside and we think on the inside too. No more fevers and he's our happy, steam-rolling baby again. He's so cute!

Also a big, fat thank you to all my amazing, amazing family and friends for checking on me & Joby, texting, calling, emailing, etc, etc. You are the best and I adore you all.

And finally - to Aunt Shirley - Thank you for spending 9 hours with me and Alex in the hospital and car. It was great to spend that time with you - even in that situation!

Hives & Hello

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:34:00 +0000

Well it has been an interesting weekend so far. Yesterday Alex had two major things happen to him! The first thing is that he purposefully waved hello at our friends Lain and Gwen Shahboz. It was so cute! So far he actually flaps his hand and kind of moves it around in a circle instead of wiggling his fingers towards himself like most babies do to imitate what they see.

The other thing that happened is that after getting his dose of Amoxicillin he broke out in to hives all over his body. It completely scared me. After a quick call to the pediatrician we gave him some benadryl and stopped the antibiotic until we see the doctor on Monday morning. It may be that Alex had a slow allergic reaction to it. It turns out that my sister is severally allergic to Amoxicillin and she had a slow reaction, having taken it several times, before she reacted too. My mother is also allergic to Penicillin. So maybe Alex inherited these allergies. Poor baby though. It's so horrible to see him covered in tiny red spots all over his body including the tips of his little toes!

First time being sick...

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:40:00 +0000

Poor Alex has an ear infection. I hate that he feels so bad. We had him to the doctor a few weeks ago with a suspected infection but it was just fluid in the ears, nothing more. But this week started with clear drainage from his nose and then he didn't like being laid down to sleep and would only sleep upright on me or in a swing. Then yesterday morning the gunk from his nose turned dark yellow and light green. So we were off to the doctor's office a few hours later and now Alex is on antibiotics. I hate that he's on them so young when Brandon was 18 months before he had an ear infection. But with an older brother to spread the germs it was inevitable that Alex got sick for the first time at a younger age. Boo. Here's hoping he feels better soon... and will start sleeping longer than a couple hours at a time at night.

First Fourth of July

noreply@blogger.com (colleen) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:14:00 +0000

Alex had a blast today for the Fourth of July. He was keenly interesed in the American Flag. Mostly he enjoyed the tasted of it. A close second was the taste of grass!