Strep Throat

Over the last week our family has been dealing with Jonathan's strep throat. It started last Sunday with body aches and fevers. He had no other symptoms at all so I was thinking that he had a bad cold or the flu. Then on Tuesday he spiked a temperature of 103. He was miserable so the next morning we took him in to my urgent care clinic and tested him for strep throat. I had told him on Monday that he smelled like strep - it does have a smell and since I'm around kids with it all day I can usually pick out the ones with bad infections. He didn't have a sore throat though. Well, I looked in his throat to swab it for the test and almost lost my lunch. It was GROSS! Of course the test was positive so the doctor put him on antibiotics and a cough syrup with a pain killer in it. Two hours after being at the clinc, Jonathan's throat finally started to hurt.

Over the next few days, Jonathan didn't improve even though he was taking the antibiotic. He continued to run high fevers and his throat got more swollen and painful until Saturday night when I came home from work to find him running fevers and nearly in tears from the pain. We got through the night and first thing Sunday morning we went back to the InstaCare for some IV fluids, IV steroids, and IV pain medication. All that plus a mouth wash with lidocaine in it and he was finally starting to feel a little better. They also started him on another much stronger antibiotic. We took him home and let him rest all day and this morning I think he's finally turning a corner with this illness. He's even headed off to class this morning. He's still very weak and his throat hurts a lot. If you remember, we'd really appreciate any prayers you can offer in his behalf.

Now only time will tell if Gwen or I will end up with this killer strep throat. So far, we're feeling okay, I hope it stays away from us because this has been a really hard week for all of us and I can't imagine doing it much longer.

Gwen Climbs On and On

Gwen now walks up and down the stairs like a big person. She's getting much better at her toddling and can go about 15 feet before falling. She did fall outside on the sidewalk the other day and got her first big scrape, right on her cheek. She loves to be outside so hopefully the nice fall weather will stay for a long time. I'm not looking forward to having to be indoors more once it gets cold. It will be fun to watch her play in the snow for the first time though.

It's so neat to watch Gwen change from my little helpless baby to a very helpful toddler. She has to be right in the middle of whatever it is we're doing. She loves to load and unload the dishwasher. Here she is in her jammies putting her still full sippy cup away after breakfast. Speaking of sippy cups, Gwen weaned herself from her bottles this week. I went to give her her bedtime bottle as usual on Tuesday and she threw it at me. She hasn't picked one up since. I guess she just decided that she didn't want them anymore. What a relief that was. We've been trying to get her to give them up for the last month and weren't having any success. I fear that this is probably how things will work with Gwen. We'll try to get her to do things and she'll resist until she decides to do it.

Anything and everything is a toy to a one-year-old. She loves to crawl on her stroller, or in it if it's set up. She treats Boot the same way. That poor dog puts up with so much from her. Gwen tries to ride Boot at least a couple times a day. Gwen now says "Boot" sometimes. I think we'll have to count that as her first word. She also says "Sit" pronounced "Shet" and will hold her hand out with a fist (that's the hand signal we use for sit) and command Boot to "shet". If Boot does, then Gwen gets to give her a treat.

Did I mention that Gwen loves to get into things? The other day she got into the fridge and found an open bag of carrots. Yummy. Of course, when eating carrots, it's best to have one in each hand. Another one of Gwen's favorites these days is the Itsy Bitsy Spider song. It's the ONLY thing that keeps her remotely still for her diaper changes. It also cheers her up if she's having a mini meltdown about something. She does some of the hand actions too. Sometimes when we're driving I'll look back and she'll be doing the actions in her car seat. It's really too cute.

Couch Potato

Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? We're such good role models for Gwen.

I love this picture so much because all you can see of her is her cute nearly bald head focused on the TV.