Last Friday, Daniel was given a clean bill of health.  He is, according to the doctor, absolutely perfect.  (I already knew he was perfect, but it's nice to hear it reinforced.)  His ears, his white blood cell count, his CRP, and his blood, urine, and stool cultures are all fine.

I wanna thank everyone so much for all of their kind thoughts and prayers over the past two weeks.  The encouragement really helped!

So yesterday, I took Daniel to the doctor's so they could check his ears and make sure that the infection was all gone.  His ears look perfect, but he still had a fever and his white blood cell count had not gone down at all since Monday.  Mom and I are of the opinion that he just picked up a virus towards the end of his ear infection, but the doctor that the nurse practitioner consulted insisted that Daniel have a barrage of tests done.  Yesterday afternoon, my mother and I took Daniel to the hospital for a chest x-ray to see if he has pneumonia and to have blood drawn to see if there is a blood infection.  When they checked his white blood cell count, they just poked his toe.  For the blood tests, they had to get a fair amount of blood out of a vein in his arm.  This led to me, Mom, and a nurse holding a screaming, crying Daniel still while another nurse drew his blood.  The x-ray also made him scream and cry.

Luckily, Mom was in town.  She came by yesterday to bring us some dinner and help me get all caught up on cleaning the kitchen and the laundry.  Seeing as we had to go get those tests done, I am SO glad Mom was here.  I don't know how I could have gotten through it without her.  Thanks, Mom!

Please continue to keep Daniel in your prayers.

Daniel's fever this morning is 102.  Mom says that if he's acting normally, then I should just treat the fever.  As she pointed out, with so many antibiotics in his system, there's no way it's anything bacterial.  That means it's most likely a virus, and there's nothing we can do for a virus but treat the symptoms.

I got up early today so I'd have time to feel human before the baby yelled at me to come and get him.  He was yelling when I woke up.  He's a sneaky baby.  I burnt my tongue on my coffee.  This is hardly the worst thing these days, but it still hurts.  Wah.

Daniel is still sick.  In fact, his temperature spiked yesterday to 101.9.  I took him to the doctor this morning and they popped him in the leg with another antibiotic.  The shot hurts so much that they mix lidocaine in with it to help numb the area.  It didn't numb well enough, to judge by Daniel's screaming.

Since we got home, he's cried 90% of the time he's been awake, which has been a mercifully small time. 

I am about two steps away from absolutely crazy at this point.  He just won't stop crying when he's awake, and it's getting to be a bit much.  I love Daniel so much, but this is just so hard.  Parenthood needs to come with a better "how to" manual with handy chapters such as "How to not think you're a terrible parent when you can't comfort your crying child."

Daniel seems to be on the mend.  The diarrhea is much better, and consequently, the rash seems to be much better.  He still has some disturbingly red patches, but most of his diaper area is normal skin color now.  The cotton training pants have helped immensely.  They are, of course, much messier than diapers, but if they help his skin, I don't mind cleaning up some messes.  We spread a shower curtain on the living room floor and put his toys on there so that he won't make a mess on the carpet, but he seems strangely determined to be everywhere but on the curtain.  Oh well - the carpet will be replaced in a few weeks, and for now, it's not too hard to clean up after him.  Thank you for keeping him in your prayers, and please keep it up!

Daniel started teething a while back, which caused him to have a runny nose.  This runny nose caused an ear infection.  To combat the ear infection, he was given a very pricey antibiotic.  This very pricey antibiotic caused diarrhea.  This diarrhea caused extremely bad diaper rash.  This diaper rash causes Daniel to cry each time we change his diaper.  (We're not talking a bit of fussing here; we're talking all out screaming and sobbing, with tears and everything.)  We are now obligated to smear his rear end with a very pricey diaper rash cream, which thankfully contains lidocaine.  Unfotunately, we're only allowed to use it a couple times a day.

Well, at least the antibiotic will be finished in another 4 days.  When the antibiotic stops, the diarrhea will stop, which will hopefully eliminate the diaper rash.  Hopefully then, Daniel will stop crying when we change his diaper.

Please pray for Daniel's health and my sanity.

Daniel is extremely attached to a stuffed rabbit whom we call Mr. Floppy.  I wanted to get an extra Mr. Floppy in case something terrible happens to him.  According to Carter's, he's from an Easter special last year, and they don't have a warehouse where they keep things from previous years.  The advice I was given is to check Burlington Coat Factory, Big Lots, and Ebay.  I've searched Ebay several times over the last few weeks with no luck.  Burlington Coat Factory also does not have the bunny on their website.  I will check the Big Lots in town, but I am of limited hope.

This is a sad, sad day.

Approximately 8:45 this morning, Daniel took his first step.  Shortly after this amazing feat, Daniel decided that he should actually use his walker as a walker.  (Until today, he would lean over to play with the toys on the front.)  He used it to walk across the room until he ran into something, I turned him around, he walked until he ran into something, and then repeated this again.

I am VERY excited, but also very afraid.  Poor kitty will never be able to escape now.

And the carpet saga continues.  The new guy came today to fix it.  Unfortunately, since the seam had already been heated 3 times (once to put it on, the second time to take it apart, and a third time to put it back together,) they had to cut out the area that had been heated so that there wouldn't be lumps in the carpet.  Unfortunately, that meant that there wasn't enough carpet left.  So they seamed it back together and put in an additional seam with a piece of carpet left in the garage.  The problem now is that the other carpet had about 4 months of wear on it and the new is, well, new.  There's a HUGE difference in color and texture between the two.  Lowe's wants us to have it steam cleaned, but if it's still obvious, they'll replace it all.

The good news is that even if it has to be replaced, the new carpet guy is great.  The seam down the center of the two worn pieces is nearly invisible, and if it weren't for the color and texture differences, the other seam would also be invisible.  So, if we get new carpet in, he'll make it look perfect.  Something to look forward to.

A while back, we gave Daniel some little fruit puff stars (a fruit flavored rice crispy type finger food) and when we gave him a bath, we found several of them in the bathroom.  I wasn't sure where he was keeping them, but now I know for sure.  He had some Cheerios for a snack this morning and when I changed his diaper, I found four of them down the front of his diaper.  We have now found at least one of his stashes.  Now if we could only figure out where he stuck Josh's nametag for four days...

By the way, Daniel is still immensely cute.  If you don't believe me, check out the duckie bathrobe pictures in my photo box.

Kroger is having a sale on Breyer's ice cream, Private Selection ice cream, and Breyer's ice cream treats like Klondike bars.  Not only were they 4 for $10, but for some reason, we got an additional $8 off under "MFG COUPON".  So, essentially, we got $33 worth of ice cream for $13.  I'll take it!

Daniel and I just got back from the Farmers' Market.  We spent all of five dollars, but we came home with:  1.5 pounds of gorgeous home grown tomatoes from Muddy Pond, 5 ears of corn, 2 foot long zucchini, and 5 medium sized yellow squash (between 6-7 inches long).  Everything looked so much better than the produce at the grocery store and cost SO much less.  I love our Farmers' Market.  Thanks, Mom, for convincing me to go!

Apparently, despite how much I like scallops, they do not like me.  The last two times that I ate scallops I got very sick.  VERY sick.  Yesterday was a bad day.  What exactly do mothers do when they throw up every time they stand up and yet still have to take care of a baby?  I think that would certainly be worth knowing.  

The seam now looks worse than it did before.  If you ever feel the urge to buy new carpet, don't get it from Lowe's.  Their subcontractors leave MUCH to be desired.  To add insult to injury, an hour before the guy was supposed to show up yesterday, he called and asked if any time on Monday would be good.  I informed him in an ever so slightly irritated voice that, seeing as all of the furniture from my living room was currently in my kitchen, our shcheduled time would be fine, thanks.

I'm just a bit peeved about the whole situation.

So I am currently sitting on the floor in my living room, feeling rather like a poor college student in their first apartment.  You know that feeling - when you have no furniture whatsoever.  All of the furniture for the living room has been moved into the kitchen and the study because the carpet guy is FINALLY supposed to come today, and all of the furniture had to be moved out of the living room for him to fix the carpet.

Josh and I want to get life insurance.  To get the preferred rate, I must weigh less than a certain amount.  I weigh 2 pounds more than that certain amount.  I figured it would be easy to drop those two pounds and a few more, but NO.  I've been eating less.  I've been exercising.  Every day Daniel and I go for at least one walk, which is 3/4 of a mile; usually we go twice.  Now, if eating less and walking 1 1/2 miles a day doesn't make me lose two measly little pounds, what will?  Advice, anyone?  (Current mood:  defeated and cranky.)

I was asked to give my view on waiting for the hubby to come home at the end of the day.  For one, it's hard!  I got so used to seeing Josh all through the day that it's very strange to be separated from him for so long.  To be honest, I'm very lonely most of the time.  I love Daniel, but let's face it - sometimes, I want the company of someone who A) can speak and B) won't spit on me with alarming frequency.  Most of my friends have graduated and with very few exceptions, the people that are still here, I'm not very close to.  I have little to nothing in common with any of them, and thus, I am very lonely.  Having Josh home certainly kept that from happening, so this has been an adjustment.  Hopefully this fall I can get involved in the group my church is starting for mothers with young children.  I've digressed.  Back to Josh - I'm very proud of him and I love it when he gets home.  It makes me feel all cared for that he goes to work and works hard all day.  It's hard though, because he tells me about his day and I don't understand much of what he's talking about and telling him about my day takes all of 2 minutes because nothing of real interest happens here.  To sum it up:  I'm happy Josh is working because I know he enjoys the mental stimulation, the company, and doing something for his family.  I'm also sad because I miss spending so much time with him and I'm rather lonely here.  It's a mixed bag, but I know that I need to get used to it as he'll be working most of the next 45 years and this is a great opportunity for him.  I hope that answered your question.  

"My little baby's all grown up and saving China!"

Okay, so he's not quite THAT big yet.  I just got home from picking up Daniel from his first day at Mother's Day Out.  He's taking a nap now - the little tike's exhausted!  He apparently had a great day and played the entire time and had a lot of fun.  He did not cry when I left him, although I did.  (I was done by the time I made it to the grocery store.)  Shopping was certainly A LOT easier without him, I got lots of oh so fun chores done, and it was amazingly quiet at my house.  (By the way, I still hate mopping floors more than any other chore.  It is, however, easier to clean floors without a little one about.)  I even got all of the prep work for dinner done.  All I have to do is toss it all into a pan together and boil some noodles.  The baby had fun, and I actually accomplished things.  All in all, I'd say Mother's Day Out was a smashing success today.   Here's hoping it will go so well every week.

There is a church right before my street.  On their sign it says, "School is out, God is in.  God says GET R DONE"  Ah, life in the rural south.

In news unrelated to Hickville, USA, the baby is still remarkably cute.

Why is it that in the 45 mph zone, we hardly ever break 35, but in the 30 mph zone when I'm going 30, I always get tailgated.  I don't want to speed, I just want to go the speed limit.

Daniel and I went back by the Mother's Day Out to drop off his paperwork today.  Once again, he had a great time.  He was SO smiley.  They seemed to love him.  He starts next Thursday.  We've decided to have him go on Thursdays, since I'll probably be more likely to need a break after 3 days, rather than after 1.  I'm excited, because I think he's going to have such a great time.  YAY!

Things with the insurance are moving along nicely.  There was some confusion with the insurance as to whether the accident should go on my parents' or mine, as Dad and Mom still had coverage on it, but since it had replaced one of my vehicles, it was also covered on mine.  The company decided that it should go on mine and they will be issuing a check for the repairs minus the deductible this week.  Hopefully they'll manage to get the deductible out of the other insurance company so I can have it back. 

Daniel and I toured the Mother's Day Out at our church yesterday.  He LOVED it.  He had a great time with all the new toys and with the other baby.  I think he's going to start in a couple weeks on Tuesdays or Thursdays.  It will be nice to have a free day each week to do the grocery shopping and run errands, maybe even do laundry.

Since Daniel was born, I've been extremely careful when I've been driving.  I don't speed, I don't take risks, I brake early and slowly.  So, of course, I got rear-ended while sitting in traffic.  Last Friday, I was sitting at a red light, telling Daniel we'd see Grandpa in just a minute when a car slammed into my rear bumper at 25-30 mph.  Daniel started screaming like a banshee and I, of course, panicked.  Luckily, a nice British gentleman pulled over and "rang the police" for us and I called my Dad, who got there entirely too quickly.  (THANKS DAD!)  Out of the four people in the car that hit me, none spoke English.  We had some doubts as to whether or not they are here legally, as when asked by the police where they lived, none of the four seemed to remember.  The driver, however, was, I'm assuming, since his insurance was completely legitimate.  My insurance company is dealing with them now.  The rear bumper has to be fixed, as does the muffler, and a small scratch on the lift gate.  All in all, over $1400 worth of damage, but it's all fixable, and what is money for, if not to use it when you need it?  Daniel and I were not hurt at all, and aside from the muffler, the damage was cosmetic.  We were VERY lucky!  Aside from that, the week at my parents' was very low-key.  I cooked at their house most nights, which was fun. 

On a different note, the Today show is doing a segment on teaching your children to be healthy eaters.  They say that the number one vegetable for children under 2 is french fries and half of children under 2 have candy every day.  Most of you know my opinion of feeding your children that kind of nonsense.  If you want to see a walking advertisement for reasons to eat healthy foods, walk into Wal-Mart and see how many massively overweight children there are.  ARGH.

Obviously, it's been a while since I last posted.  Currently, of course, Josh is off in Colorado, careening down a raging river of death.  I suppose it's all right, so long as he doesn't have to kiss a llama.

Since Josh is on the other side of the country, I'm spending the week with my parents.  I've been here since Friday, and it's been relatively uneventful.  Daniel is having a great time - he loves all the attention!  His second tooth on the top finally cut through yesterday afternoon, to much relief from both of us.  He has been a bit crabby the past couple of days, I'm guessing due to the sharp jabby thing doggedly pushing its way through his tender gum.  Hopefully, the crabbiness is in the past now for at least a little while.

In some ways, it's a lot noisier and yet also a lot quieter here.  There are two additional people, which makes it much more vivacious, but my parents like quiet a lot more than Josh does.  It's very peaceful here, especially when Daniel goes down for a nap.  (At least if the TV is off - Dad does love the war history shows and anything where they are rebuilding some type of vehicle.)  I doubt that I'll have too much of interest to report over the next few days, but we'll see.

As you know, the semester is over.  My husband and I both remain victorious, having earned 4.0s this semester.  It was not exactly a fun semester, but there have been worse ones.  Next semester will be a bit easier, as Daniel will be in daycare.

The Tennessee Tech daycare is supposed to be a wonderful daycare.  It better be since we've been on a waiting list for a spot since January, 2005.  That's right - we've been on the waiting list since 8 months before Daniel was born.  We are FINALLY number one on the waiting list.  The beginning of this August, children from the preschool class will move to kindergarten, children from the toddler class will move to the preschool class, and children from the infant class will move to the toddler class.  There will finally be a spot for our little boy, just in time for the beginning of the semester.  FINALLY.

Jeana and Randy are coming to visit today.  Randy is teaching a motorcycle class this weekend, so Jeana will be spending her time playing with Daniel here.  I know she's really not looking forward to it.  She doesn't even like that baby.  ;) 

In case you haven't heard, my tiny, helpless little boy is now a gargantuan, speed-crawling, property-destroying, adorable chunk of doom.  He weighs 19 1/2 pounds, he's eating us out of house and home, and the kitty lives in fear.  Like my sister Sarah did, Daniel will spot the kitty, giggle in a menacing and slightly maniacal  way, and then crawl after him at speeds that would astonish you.  Zeus has been remarkably patient, which is good.  I love Zeus, but if he claws the baby, Zeus is the one who gets the boot.  I know it will be in self-defense as the baby determinedly attempts to eat Zeus's ear, but still, Zeus will be the one sitting on the front porch.  Poor kitty.  At least his arch-nemesis is still cute.

So last month, I called Cingular and cancelled the 7PM-7AM Nights/Weekends shared minutes feature that allowed us to use night and weekend minutes starting at 7PM.  The woman I spoke with informed me that on my May bill, there would be a credit for part of the cost.  I was looking at the bill due on the fourth of May, and it not only does not have a credit for the service, it also still has a charge for it.  After spending a while on hold and speaking with a customer service representative (Hello, my name is __________.  Thank you for calling Cingular.  How may I make you miserable and cheat you today?), she informed me that we pay a month in advance for our services, so the credit will show up on the next bill.

I will therefore pay this month in advance for a service that I will not use nor have access to because I've already cancelled it.  I hate you, Cingular.  In fact, I hate you, all wireless companies.

At least the baby is still cute.

So I was puttering about Eagle Online today, looking at my unofficial transcript, when I noticed something was wrong.  According to my unofficial transcript, my program was changed to drop my Education degree.  Now, as I'm finishing a semester of only education classes for credit, 7 out of my 10 hours next semester are education classes, AND I most certainly did not fill out paperwork to change my program, I was a little concerned.  I called the records department and the woman asked me, "Aren't you getting your education degree this semester?"  Confused, I responded, "Well, I'm working on it."  She responded by telling me that the graduation office believed that I was graduating and receiving my Education degree this Saturday.  As much as I would love for that to be true, I'm a few hours short.  You know, just a few... 33.  It's all straightened out now, but that's a heck of a mistake there.

But in happy news, the baby is still cute.