Watching Tom & Jerry at the doctor's office

This is another "good news/bad news" post. The good news is that George's collarbone is healed. The bad news is that he threw up a couple times today. He seemed to be recovering as we left the doctor's office. He repeated "ememeenuts" until I realized he was asking for Peanut M&Ms.

Fatherhood

Francis has had a difficult few days. Her last solid meal was on Christmas day (when she ate an entire steak at Hunk and Jerry’s house in Clarendon). She’s had a fever for most or all of the intervening time. The Urgent Care center told us that she had bilateral pneumonia, strep, and ear infection, and possibly a UTI. After an evening with a kind ER doc, it turns out that some of those diagnoses may have been exaggerated, but I want to talk about Francis’s nose right now. She was blocked up and unable to breathe comfortably last night. She couldn’t sleep, and she hasn’t developed an effective nose blowing technique. Sally tried to use the suction bulb, but it didn’t reach the problem.

If you have a queasy stomach, you should stop reading now.

Other people might have run a steamy tub to try to loosen it up. More medication was also an option. We eschewed these modern solutions and reached deeply into our frontier traditions. I sucked Francis’s nose clean with my mouth, and then spit the offending snot out. No one enjoyed it, but it helped.

The device pictured above is made by a Swedish company called Nosefrida. I am ordering one today.

A little sad today.

notsogoodtoday.jpg
Originally uploaded by ..Sally..

My little Georgie woke up today needing an extra dose of "hold me." He wasn't quite himself, but would occasionally rally and give us a smile. Here he is watching an "Elmosize" exercise video we checked out from the library on Wednesday. He's snuggled up with his pal, "Bird."

Don't get too close -

IMG_0673.jpg, originally uploaded by ..Sally...

The kids are sick. it's not pretty over here. It doesn't look good, it doesn't smell good...it's a bacteria explosion on Humphrey.

On the upside, the kids couldn't love us more. If you're ever feeling insecure about your parenting connection, just get your kid sick. it's a mommy/daddy love-fest: "Hold me, hug me!" A mommy can't ever hear enough of that. Nevermind that I'm sitting on a couch that smells like the inside of a stomach.

And the "Bad Mommy" award goes to....

Georgie Toe
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Me. I was standing at the kitchen counter trying to check email when out of the corner of my eye I saw a rolling pin in mid air...I leapt down to catch it just a second too late. Sorry Georgie.

First Trip to the Hospital

First Trip to the Hospital
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

For the last eight and a half months, George has been waging war with the forces of gravity. This afternoon was the first time gravity struck a decisive blow. He was just trucking around the coffee table, and lost grip coming around the end. The glass corner knocked one of his teeth askew and split his gum.

There was a lot of blood and a very loose tooth, and there just happens to be a hospital in Chicago with a pediatric dentist on call, so we took him in. X-rays gave reason for optimism, because the root is still intact. He's not out of the woods, though: he could end up with a grey tooth or a tooth that needs to be pulled. At the very least, George is going to have a loose, goofy-looking front tooth for a few weeks.
Many thanks to our neighbor Maureen, who swept in to watch Francis while we were gone. We knew Francis was in good hands when Maureen pulled out the yogurt. Suddenly, Francis didn't mind our leaving so much.

Happy belated St. Patrick's Day

IMG_1162.JPG
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Francis and I took the el downtown for the Chicago St. Patrick's Day parade. We had a great time laughing at all of the people with funny hats, watching the bucket drummers, checking out the green river, eating Garrett's popcorn, and meeting up with the Browns for lunch...where mommy drank some green beer. All in all a great day... except that Matt and Georgie were home sick!

Tap shoes: She insisted on wearing them - as she does pretty much everyday now. I brought her tennis shoes thinking she might change her mind at some point throughout the day, but no.

Unhappy Peanut

Unhappy Peanut
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

This is an unhappy peanut man. Over the past couple of days, Francis and I have been working on him and his friends using styrofoam packing peanuts and a big styrofoam block from our new vaccum cleaner (which rocks by the way). Why is he so unhappy? My guess is that it has to do with Georgie's 102º - 103.6º fever for the past 3 days. It's what we officially call "no fun" around here. We went to the doc this morning and his ears are fine and no signs of anything else. So, it's a waiting game. If fever persists than we have to take him back to the hospital and start getting tests. Let's hope this thing goes away soon. Babies and fevers make me nervous. As always, i can still work a smile out of him so I'm not too worried.

Peanut world tidbit: I told Francis we were going to make "sculpture." So, since we started this on Wednesay she's been saying things like " I want to do sculpture" and "Don't let Scouty get my sculpture!" It's pretty cute to hear her say it. This was a great project. I definitely recommend it...even if you don't have children. ;)

Hello due date...goodbye due date...

Well, as you may have guessed, today was my due date and...no baby. My friend Amy (a midwife) told me that only 2% of women deliver on their due date so I actually felt more than any other day this week, today wasn't going to be the big day. I was a little happy to hear however from my doctor that I am 2-3 centimeters dialated. That's better than nothin'. So we'll see... it could be 10 hours from now or 10 days. I'm just trying to think positive and be patient. One good thing about being late is that Francis is now sick as a dog.

Yesterday she woke up from her nap with a 102.4º fever and by the time Matt got home it was 103.7º. After apple sauce, a lemon popcicle and a sponge bath, her temp got down to 102.2º and we put her down for the night. Well... at least until she woke up throwing up at 3am. The joys of parenting! After a long night of cuddles and storytime we finally got a few hours of sleep. Today was much of the same, up and down temp and so far she's been sleeping for 2 hours so we'll see if we make all night tonight.

So, maybe it's for the best that I don't have a newborn headed home to a sick toddler. :) I can't believe I'm having another baby...geez... what in the world? Am I ready for this?

103º and 101º

Sick Day at the Guldes
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Whatever you do, don't come over to our house today. This morning Matt woke up with a 103º temperature and Francis woke up with a 101º. Currently, at 4:30pm, they both are at 102º. As a hilarious sidenote, I am suffering from horrible pregnant heartburn and as I was leaving the house to make a CVS run for orange juice and medicine, Scout threw up 3 times at my feet. So, enter if you dare, but... I wouldn't dare.

One-Year Blogoversary

Pinky Ring
Originally uploaded by Sally Gulde.

Valentines Day 2005 was our first post on this web log. This is the picture that accompanied it. Here's what Sally had to say about seven-month-old Francis:

She's adorable. Even when she's sick with snot crusted on her little nostrils and sweat rings around her little chubby neck... she's adorable. She's chewing on a pink plastic "ring" right now. She's a simple girl. She doesn't need Elmo or Baby Einstein to entertain her... she just needs a random plastic ring and
she's good to go for at least 15 mintues.

She's been giggling for the last month or so. It's insane... when she does it, I find myself getting teary eyed. She's just so beautiful.

Happy Valentines little one. Your daddy and I adore you.

We still feel the same way, especially when she walked into the bathroom this morning toting that same pink plastic ring.

Roller Derby

Francis with her rollers in
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

So by now, you should all be familar with Francis's long, plentiful, crazy head of hair. Well, yesterday I felt inspired. Francis got the sponge roller treatment.

I don't think my mom curled my hair as a baby (frankly, I didn't have any.) But I've seen photos of my mom's hair in rollers when she was a little girl. Her hair was always in ringlets with bows. Always crazy adorable and picture perfect. That was back in the day when mothers would iron their children's clothes. When did they have the time to do all of that? I can barely find the time to curl my own hair, let alone iron anybody's clothes.

Anyway, Francis and I have been sick this week (and when she's awake I can't work) so I thought I'd give it the ol' one-two and see if I could pull it off. The photos say it all really. From a technical standpoint, I think my hair rolling days are numbered. Fortunately, I have the cutest girl of all time. So even though it turned out to be a mess it might be the greatest thing I've ever seen.

As always, click through the title of this post to view the entire set of pictures, and see the curly head.

Well, Hello Nurse

Well, Hello Nurse
Originally uploaded by matt gulde.

Francis is such a flirt. She loves meeting new people. Today the most unsuspecting victim to her charm was an elderly man on the red line on our way downtown. She just kept smiling at him until she broke him down and made him smile back. She's like that. She doesn't take no for an answer. We had lunch with Christie and Alex again and then had a pediatricians apt.

After FOUR shots and a good once over, we were told that Francis still has a bit of an ear infection, but it's much better than it was and hopefully it's on the mend.

Do you know how hard it is to take a baby into the pediatrician and convince them that she's sick when she looks in the mirror at herself and smiles and coos...admiring her good looks? It's difficult.

A Day in the Life of a Seven-Month Old

A Day in the Life of a Seven-Month Old
Originally uploaded by matt gulde.

This is my first post. First off, a big hats-off to Sally for setting this up. She's fantastic. I love her.

I also love Francis. This is a picture of 100% Francis. Over the last few weeks, she's been sick, and we've only had about 70% Francis. 70% Francis is subdued; it's hard to get a laugh out of her. She's not terribly fussy, she's just not one-hundred percent.

Turns out, she had an ear infection. Once we got some antibiotics into her, she started ramping back up to 100%. Francis at full power is something to see. She laughs at all of our jokes now. She's starting to crawl - and when she does, it's usually on a seek and destroy mission.

I'm going to take Francis's example and make my 100% something special.

Pinky Ring

IMG_3504.JPG
Originally uploaded by DancediscoTest.

She's adorable. Even when she's sick with snot crusted on her little nostrils and sweat rings around her little chubby neck... she's adorable. She's chewing on a pink plastic "ring" right now. She's a simple girl. She doesn't need Elmo or Baby Einstein to entertain her... she just needs a random plastic ring and she's good to go for at least 15 mintues.

She's been giggling for the last month or so. It's insane... when she does it, I find myself getting teary eyed. She's just so beautiful.

Happy Valentines little one. Your daddy and I adore you