Where to Start!

It has been a busy busy few weeks!  Go get you a snack and a coke and get ready for a long read...

My parents, brother and sister came up to Macon for Easter.  Sam was shy at first, but he quickly realized he had a house full of people to entertain.  He was more active and playful than I have ever seen him.  In fact, he COULD NOT go to sleep.  He just wanted to play play play.  He got some great new toys from the Easter bunny, too.  He got a gigantic blow up soccer field/ball pit, a push car (he rides, you push), letter blocks, and books just to name a few items.  He was so good for everyone.

The day after they left, Sam made up for his good behavior by being SUPER SUPER cranky and bad.  By the end of the day I realized something more was up than Sam just missing his company.  We had to take him to an urgent care (since it was so late in the day).  Naturally, he had a double ear infection.  This makes the third double ear infection in 4 months.  They put Sam on a strong antibiotic, which totally messed up his little tummy. 

The next weekend one of my best friends from undergrad, Gretchen, and her bf Jeremy came up for a visit.  Once again, Sam was shy but quickly realized he had new playmates and new people to shower him with attention.  They brought Sam a stuffed animal Gator Mascot from their PhD school (Florida), and brought Chris and I homemade bread and wine (FANTASTIC).  It was so great to hang out and catch up, and they enjoyed meeting lil Sam.

We went to a two week follow up on Sam's ears.  When she checked them, they didn't look any different than before the super stong antibiotic!!  UGH.  She put us on ANOTHER antibiotic, and a probiotic for Sam's tummy (at my request), and she is going to send us to an ENT.  She said tubes are a possibility, but that since summer is coming, they may wait until the fall.  I'm all for tubes tomorrow!  I have heard nothing but good stuff from tube patients, and I'm starting to wonder if these stuffed up ears and constant ear infections are what is causing his delayed walking and low vocabulary.  The day after his appointment, Sam was clearly in pain and even threw up.  Needless to say, Sam and Mommy had a day off of school and work, and worked on getting him comfortable and happy.  Once we got a few doses of the new antibiotic and Motrin in, he was much better.

This weekend was a big one.  Chris's mom came up from Mobile to watch Sam while Chris and I drove to Nashville for the Country Music Half Marathon.  Sam quickly got excited about having YaYa to play with, which made it super easy to leave him for the weekend.  Chris and I drve to Nashville and met up with some friends of mine from my old job.  The day of the race was a real adventure.  Traffic was so bad, we almost missed the busses from the parking lot to the start line.  We just made it to the line when the start gun went off.  The race itself was fantastic.  But the weather slowly got bad and by the time I was a mile from the finish line, rain was falling and lightning was poppin.  Chris and my friends had already crossed the finish line, but we were all lost from each other in the crowd and ended up searching the finishline area for over an hour in the rain looking for each other.  After a much needed nap at the hotel we went out to a local Thai food place and celebrated our collective good showing in the race. 

We drove home today, and I think Sam was once again sad to watch his weekend attention factory drive away.  He had a good time with YaYa, and was still so worked up from a weekend full of playing that he refused to go to sleep.  Poor thing. 

I'll post race photos as soon as I get them from my friend (who did a 100% better job than me of documenting the weekend)!

~Kathy