1/8-Happy Boy

Well I wished for a half-happy Matthew, but we haven't quite got there yet ... I'd say we got about 1/8 happy boy now.

The antibiotics did the trick for taking the worse of the issue away. No more fevers and Matthew did settle a bit after that. We are now left with a boy who is still miserable and cranky, but a cranky more like his old self ... just more extreme then he used to be. It has left us wondering how much is attitude and how much is him trying to tell us something. Today I took him back to the pediatrician again since he continues to be so miserable and is not sleeping the greatest at nights. We are taking off for holidays the next couple days (without Matthew) and before I left I wanted to know whether his ears were getting better as by now the antibiotics should have done the trick. It's frustrating listening to him cry and not knowing whether he has reason to cry or not. He quiets easier now if entertained (although this doesn't always work) leaving us wonder if he's just gotten used to being catered to. The fact that he continues to cry off and on throughout the night made me believe he still wasn't feeling well ... and I was right. The ear looks the same or maybe slightly better. Well at least I know I can be a little more sympathetic ... especially since I am currently suffering from a cold and earaches as well ... there as some times we wish our kids just wouldn't share :)

The doc didn't do any changes as he already has Matthew on a pretty good medication and the ear does not look like it's going to perforate, so he just wants us to finish up the antibiotics. Not so sure on that idea since it's already been over five days on the antibiotics, but we'll dose him with a bit more ibprophen now that we know he's still ailing and see how he does. Doc also wasn't too happy with Matthew's weight as he hasn't gained anything back that he lost, so he wants to keep a closer eye on that too. I'm not too concerned on that one yet since we just started on full strength formula today and we've still dealt with a couple vomits lately. We'll keep an eye on it and see how he does. And we're still doing the food battle, but I won't look too much at that right now as he's still struggling with this cold ... once these things settle down we can refocus on the original eating issues and see how his resp rate does (which has been staying the same thru the cold).

Rob wrote his last exam today (last for this semester, he still has one more night course to complete this spring before we can celebrate the end of his Mac Days)!! Yahooooo!! So tomorrow afternoon we head off for the first holiday we've had in a verrrryyyy long time!! Only a couple days, but it will be nice to kick back and relax. We are taking the girls with, (shhhhh ... don't tell them, they have no idea - we've had to disappoint them too many times before that we have learned not to say anything until it actually happens) but leaving Matthew behind ... as much as I love him I am very much looking forward to some time away from him. Since he seems to do better when out (just so that I appear to be a liar :) and being entertained I'm hoping his new surroundings will keep him mellow for the next few days and not make him too much of a burden for Joyce.