Croup, There It Is

Last Thursday started out like every other Thursday night. We put Dylan to bed around 8:30, watched our NBC lineup (the only night we watch TV regularly) and went to bed around 10:00.

This evening, at 10:51, I was awakened by a horrific scream. This was a different scream from normal, which is the only reason I got out of bed to check on him. Being 6 months old and starting to become more agile, I figured he was caught on something in his crib or in a very awkward position. What I found was completely different.

Dylan was laying on his side and his face was red, so I rolled him on his back. Immediately, I could see that he was really struggling with his breathing. I picked him up and started to pat him on the back and looked to see if he was choking. He wasn’t. He was coughing a lot and was really gasping for breath as if he needed a drink of water. I asked Dana to wake up immediately and call 911. An ambulance was now on their way.

Meanwhile, I was holding on to Dylan for dear life. He had stopped crying, but was still struggling to get air. I tried to put him down on the bed while I put some pants on, but he would have none of it. I later questioned how I got my jeans on while holding him. I never did put on a shirt. I wondered to myself, as if I was a doctor, what could possibly make him breathe so hard when, just two hours ago, he was doing fine.

Shortly thereafter, the ambulance came. They checked him and suggested that we go to the Downtown ER, instead of the closer Baptist South Hospital, where Dylan was born. This definitely startled me and confirmed in my mind that there was a big problem on our hands. I hung on to him all the way to the ambulance, where I dropped him off. Dana took the ride with him and I followed in our car.

Remarkably, I was quite thorough with our packing. I was thinking that we may be there for a while, so I packed accordingly. When we go on trips, I never remember everything, even when we have days to plan. This time around, I was on my game, anticipating any and all needs that we may have in the next couple of days.

It was a long and lonely trip to the hospital. How was Dylan doing? For all I knew, he was in the ambulance fighting for his life. I prayed. A lot. I also cried. A lot. I thought about calling someone, but what would I tell them without freaking them out? Besides, it was past 11pm. If I am going to make a call at that time, I better have more details than what I knew.

When I arrived at the hospital, Dylan was getting some oxygen and was looking much better. My anxiety level dropped. The doctor figured out very quickly that Dylan had croup, or the croup, however you want to call it. He said that they would give him some medication and he would be much better in no time.

After the medication, Dylan started to breathe better. We stayed in the ER until about 3:30am. I stayed with Dylan in his room for the rest of the night. He still was struggling with his breathing for the rest of the night, but at least I knew what to do. Fortunately, it was a relatively cool night in Jacksonville, so taking him into the night air helped.

Total sleep for the night: 51 minutes.

Four days later and he is doing better. We are relieved.

So, all of that for…croup? I, personally, had never heard of it. Evidently, it’s quite common in young children. Due to our lack of knowledge, it was a more terrifying event than it needed to be. Welcome to parenthood. Like everything else with parenting, you just figure it out as you go.

Thanksgiving Gluttony

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Despite the Detroit Lions doing their best to put a damper on the day, (I am numb to their terrible losses by now) my family had a wonderful day. The leftovers lasted throughout the weekend. Just when we thought we had taken gluttony to a whole new level, my wife, requested Five Guys on Saturday night after church. Remember the Tommy Boy clip, “Eeewww, I can almost hear you getting fatter.” That was the reality of Saturday night as we each crushed a burger and fries.

The good news: 2 “Junior” (yeah, right) hamburgers, 1 regular order of fries, and 2 waters equaled $11.39.The bad news: The above also equaled to 2 full additional pounds today when I weighed myself. I don’t think it was 2 lbs. of muscle either. I will have my work cut out for me at the gym this week.

Here are some cute pictures of Dylan in his monkey outfit. More about Thanksgiving and time with Grandma and Grandpa Mohr to come...

Brief Feelings of Paranoia

Ummm... sorry, my bad.

I had a brief week-long episode of unreasonable paranoia over having pictures of Dylan on the World Wide Web. Bryan has calmed me down. I think I have been reading too many newspapers or watching the news too much - lots of crazies out there doing wacko things and fear drove me into psychotic over-protective mommy mode. Here is a conversation:

Dana: I don't have a problem with agoraphobia.
Bryan: Will you listen to yourself? You're keeping our friends from reading our blog. Why do we even have a blog if no one can read it?
Dana: Can't we keep him in a bubble?
Bryan: This is ridiculous.
Dana: It will keep the swine flu away.

We also realized that as soon as the blog was "protected" that we completely lost the motivation to write anything. So, please accept this apology to those of you who did not have access for this past week. The good news is that we usually only post once a week at the most, so you really haven't missed anything at all.

Dylan Likes Carrots

Vacation

Working for a bank has many advantages; one of which comes every Columbus Day when we get the day off. I extended the long weekend to a full week in order to spend some quality time with Dylan. Dana has exhausted all of her vacation (and then some.) So, it was the boys at home.
The good news out of this week is that no one got seriously injured in the process. We both made it to the weekend in one piece. That is a victory in and of itself. I told Dana at the end of the week that, despite the fun we had, I needed to get back to the office to kill something.
Here is a recap of the week’s activities:
Monday
Dylan wakes up every morning a happy baby. It is such a treat to see that smile first thing in the morning. After his first feeding, he is back to sleep within 90 minutes of waking up. This long morning nap allows for some Bryan time. Bryan time these days involves watching Sports Center and Squawk Box on CNBC and catching up on email.
We went to historic downtown St. Augustine in the afternoon. We had lunch at Madre’s. I loaded him into the Baby Bjorn and walked through St. George Street. He was all smiles as the people gawked at him. This wore him out as he was sound asleep by the time we made it to the car.
Tuesday
We went to the driving range in the afternoon. It was perfect weather and Dylan was wide awake to see his Dad hit some golf balls very poorly. He has watched enough golf on TV to know better. He has graduated from cooing and has found this high pitched shrill (the kind that makes your ears ring) and was using it on the golf course. I had to leave my bucket half way through as my gallery was a little too loud.
Wednesday
Dylan had his 4 month checkup and shots in the afternoon. He, again, was all smiles to the nurses at the doctor’s office. This boy can really turn on the charm when he wants. The charm ended when she pulled the needle out and gave some shots. We stayed in the room for a couple of extra minutes and ‘hugged it out.’ He was very tough and I walked a very proud father. Why so proud? Well, it’s because he is in the 99th percentile in length! Coming from a slightly vertically challenged family, this is great news. Coach Izzo, are you reading this? I can come up with the scholarship paperwork by the end of the week.
Our doctor came in and asked me if I had any questions. I am not sure what the normal response she gets, but it’s probably not what I did. I pulled out a folded piece of paper and a pen and proceeded to go down our list of questions. Halfway through the list, the doctor politely asked if she could tend to Dylan while I continued to pepper her with questions. From suntan lotion (hey, the bottle says less than 6 months old, ask a doctor) to swine flu symptoms, I think we got all of our questions answered. We got our money’s worth during this visit.
Thursday
Dylan was a little groggy today from Wednesday’s shots. He did a lot of sleeping. We made it out to do a little shopping and people watching at Panera Bread. Actually, the people watching changed to being watched by people when Dylan burped up half of his bottle on my black shirt. What a mess. I packed an extra outfit for him, but not one for me. I’ll know better next time.
Friday
We saved the best for last today, at least that what I thought. We made it to the beach just in time for the rain to come down. We stayed out there for about 15-20 minutes before heading back to the car. Not the beach trip I had imagined in my head, but it was fun while it lasted.


Bryan and Dylan were enjoying some football together. Like father, like son.

At the pumpkin patch. Dylan "tolerated" it. He was mesmerized by the pumpkins.

For Halloween he is a baseball player.

Dylan was really enjoying some rice cereal. He loves to eat.

Hotel Foltice Peak Season

German Guests

Hotel Foltice has hit a busy spurt thanks to our German guests. We had Sven and his friend, Marcel, visit for a couple of days in September. Sherin and her boyfriend, Eddie, came for a couple of days last week. We feel very blessed to have such great friends and it is always great to see them. We can go for years without seeing each other and pick up right where we left off.

Dana stayed at home with Dylan while I took Sven and Marcel out for the night. Our night was highlighted by the Orange Park Dog Track. That alone tells us two things: 1. Jacksonville is not the most exciting place to be on a Friday night. 2. I am not the best night life tour guide. I never was a night club person and I don’t do bars unless it’s trivia night. Nevertheless, we had a good time.

Due to Dylan’s teething and that fact that it was a Tuesday night, we stayed at home with Eddie and Sherin. Actually, we stayed home to watch the Tigers play the Twins in the play-in game to earn the right to get destroyed by the Yankees. I never knew how complicated the rules of baseball can be until I had to explain to Eddie and Sherin from scratch. We got the basics down (3 outs, 3 strikes, 4 balls, 9 innings) though we didn’t get much further than that. How do explain a force out at second base to someone watching baseball for the first time? (Editor's Note: The actual reason we stayed home is because the dog track is closed on Tuesdays).

After the baseball game, we brought out the Wii. Eddie killed us in all of the sports. Note to self: We need to practice before bringing it out with our friends. Our performance was embarrassing. I was smiling on the outside, but was really upset on the inside. I cried myself to sleep that night. (Editor's Note: Our neighbor's boyfriend, Thomas, who is from Berlin is over right now and is heckling Bryan in Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii. I can tell Bryan is upset by the swift inhale sound through his teeth that he makes after each hole. Maybe in general we just suck at Wii games since people who don't have a Wii come over regularly and kick our butts. PS. Thomas just said they should play for money. I'm getting separate checking accounts.)

Work / Life Balance

Ha! What a joke. Balance is the furthest thing from the truth at this point. Work / Life Blur might be more accurate. Dana and I have the routine down now that she is back to work. I take care of Dylan in the morning, while she makes sandwiches and takes care of Oscar. Dana puts Dylan to bed a night.

After work, one person makes dinner, (hopefully it’s Dana) and the other takes care of Dylan. Dinner may not come until 9pm and it may come in the form of hotdogs and rice if I am in charge of dinner for the night. Like I said, not very balanced.

We will definitely need to improve on this balancing act, because it will only get tougher when Dylan gets older and if there are any new additions to the family. (Editor's Note: That is not a hint that there will be another addition soon. Some day...)

Vacation

That is why I took a week off for vacation this week. Dana had to work, so it’s just the three boys. I will give you an update on how things went over the weekend. Hopefully, everyone will be alive and in one piece by that time.

Teething Time/ Swine Flu Scare

Teething Time

Dylan is starting to get his first teeth. In the process, there has been some great discomfort. We noticed this when he started to really cry hard after we exhausted our top three options: Feed him, hold him, or sometimes, change his diaper. When none of those worked, we figured something else had to be bothering him.

Our doctor, aka: Dr. Google, implied that he might be teething. We got him some Ora-Gel and Baby Tylenol and that seemed to help. He has gotten much better this week, though we don’t know how many more times he will go through this. Sounds like our next Google search.

Swine Flu

There has been a lot of the swine flu going around our area these days. It is a little scary when you have a 4 month old around. We had him outside on our deck for a little while on Saturday. He saw a couple of the neighbors and got some fresh air.
The next day, our neighbor came over telling us that her daughter, who was over the day before, came down with the swine flu. When I came downstairs, Dana was really stressed out and was frantically disinfecting anything she could find.
I told her that she needed to calm down. This is the first time we really had to worry about him. I told Dana that it certainly won’t be the last. It would be nice to keep him in a bubble, but we can’t worry about things we can’t control. We will have to go through this for the rest of his life. I can already picture him asking us to go to his friend’s cottage on the lake after prom when he is in high school. My blood pressure just went up.

Babies Grow so Fast!

Dylan is approaching his 4-month birthday so I recently looked back at some photos from June. He doesn't even look like the same baby! I can't believe how fast he has grown and how much he has changed. Here are some comparisons.

Above: Dylan is about 1 day old. He's always been a peaceful sleeper.

Below: So glad they make large swaddles. Don't know what we're going to do when he grows out of it.

Above: Dylan is about 2 weeks old. He's just discovering the Monkey Gym.

Below: The Monkey Gym is still a favorite, only now he tackles, yanks, swats and kicks it.

Above: Dylan is about 1 week old. I think this was the first time we put him on his tummy. He can't lift his head at all. Bryan says he looks "Chinese."

Below: Dylan loves his tummy. He can lift up on his arms quite a bit.

Baby's First Cold

Last Sunday, Dylan started to snort quite often after we arrived home from church. At first we thought it sounded kind of cute, until it occurred to us that he was getting sick. The rest of the day his snorts, coughs and sneezes became more and more frequent. Our little guy was becoming sick for the first time.

As first time parents, we did what we always do when we have a parenting question: Google it. This time our search was, ‘what to do baby has a cold.’ The best search result told us to call the doctor immediately and get an appointment for Monday morning because he was under four months old. Other results told us to get a humidifier and saline drops for his clogged nose.

Dana went out to our friends Kevin and Gara’s house, who were having a Jaguar party for their game against the Indianapolis Colts. Other new mothers at the party stood in astonishment when Dana told them that her sick baby was being taken care of by her husband. Why is that? We hear mother after mother tell Dana how they can’t believe I can stay home with Dylan for more than two hours, let alone a sick baby. They tell her that they could never leave their children home with their husbands for any period of time. Come on new Dads! It’s not that difficult and, trust me, I am not the most qualified Dad in the world.

Dylan had a full on cold by Monday. I stayed home with him and worked from home during the day. We went to the doctor’s office in the afternoon. Boy did he put on a show for the nurses. Sick or not, he was all smiles as they all fawned over him. That’s my boy!

While the doctor was seeing Dylan, I showed my inexperience as a father. You know how we say, ‘there is no such thing as a stupid question.’ Well, I really pushed the envelope when I asked the doctor how to use the ‘nose sucker,’ referred to as a nasal aspirator by most educated people. You know you are asking a dumb question when you have to preface before you ask, “Now, you know I have an advanced degree, but….”
Squeeze in, put in nostril, un-squeeze so it’s sucks the snot out. Someone is getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to tell this to people like me.

Monday afternoon, after the doctor’s visit, was the peak of Dylan’s cold. He cried so much that he was hoarse the next morning. Meanwhile, I was trying to bang out some work from the laptop at the dining room table. Each wail pulled at my heart. By the time Dana came home around 6, I was fried. I was out the door to start our new Financial Peace University class. I couldn’t get out of the house fast enough.

Since then, Dylan is just about back to 100% (as of Friday morning.) Dana and I have our first child sickness under our belts (except now both of us are sick). We can only hope that our questions (and Google searches) get more intelligent with experience.

Post Labor Day Weekend Update

Dana is back to work as of last week Monday. We are still adjusting to life as DIK's, Dual Income with Kid (oh, that sounds bad.) We are getting the routine down, though we fight for Dylan's attention when we come at night.


Dylan is growing like a weed. He was in the 86th percentile in weight and height at his last checkup. I told Dana that I have never been 86th percentile in anything, especially physically. She laughed and thought for a moment (I could hear her mind grinding away) and then went silent. My point exactly.


We are having a lot of fun, though. Sleeping through the night = a lot of fun. Dylan is sleeping through the night now, which eliminates our 'passionate discussions' of who will do the overnight feedings. Mom and Dad like their sleep and are willing to fight for it!


Dana had a birthday a couple of Wednesday's ago. We went out to eat at an eerily quiet Italian restaurant. Maybe you only notice these things when you have a baby with you. Dylan was quiet, thank goodness. Her present was a shopping spree at DSW (Discount Shoe Warehouse.) Dylan and I people watched at Starbuck's while she spent 90 minutes there.


Work is going well. Dana and I are leading Financial Peace University through our church this fall on Mondays. Anyone in town should come.


That pretty much covers all of our updates. Here are some cute pictures of baby D.