2 weeks have passed...

Things are going good here, but obviously busy. Here is our last couple days in review:

Austin is doing great!

He is teething, so he is occasionally fussy...lucky for us, he takes Tylenol (or Motrin) like a champ--a single dose puts him in a better mood within 45 minutes. Poor guy...he varies between having a diarrhea and constipation in a matter of 48 hours. He has had 2 teeth break thorough in the upper gums, but nothing in the lower gums yet. Even the ones that are in the upper gums are being pesky/mean, by barely breaking the skin and hanging out that way for over a week with our little guy suffering through it all.


Little dude still has a great laugh
He is getting a larger vocabulary and is getting pretty smart regarding sounds that animals play and matching like (same) shapes/colors. His sense of humor is really cool...when we are matching, he purposefully places pieces in the wrong place then places his heads on top of his and says "Oops". We know he is goofing around because when he places them in the right place, he claps for himself...so he preemptively cheers for himself or says "oops" before anyone lets him know whether he is right or wrong yet.


Smart guy, huh?


Not perfect yet, but he gets a lot of them right!
For those concerned about is health...other than his teeth he is doing great. The nasty cough that plagued him earlier in the month is almost completely gone. His eating habits have changed, but we attribute this to the whole "teeth-thing". How has his eating changed? Previously, Austin's breakfast would consist of 6-8 ounces of milk, a bowl of cereal, a banana, an Eggo waffle, 2 adult handfuls of Cheerios and some water...now, he only has about 4 ounces of milk, a bowl of cereal, half a banana and maybe a few Cheerios. So, no...he isn't starving...he is just eating less.

Ulnar Nerve Subluxation

One reason that the postings were scarce for a while was that Keith spent a full week researching snowthrowers after waking up one morning with his hand "clawed", unable to straighten his fingers, and lacking sensation throughout half of his right (dominant) hand. After consultation with an upper extremity specialist, it was determined that Keith had irritated his ulnar nerve while shoveling snow. The repetitive motions of consistently shoveling snow (since before Christmas) had taken its toll on Keith's elbow, resulting in a nerve injury. The only solutions include: (1) conservative management (including splinting the elbow fully straight at night, no more heavy labor or repetitive motion activity) or (2) a surgery with a 50% success rate once things worsen from Keith being stubborn/cheap and continue to shovel.

So...after researching snowthrowers for nearly a full week, we purchased a 26-inch Snapper. It was money that we didn't anticipate spending, but we figured it was cheaper than a surgery...and it helps Keith spend about 80% less of the time clearing snow now compared to what he was doing before...and with the rest and immobilization, the arm is improving as well.

One tough morning...

Christine has been growing into her new home and community...teaching spinning classes (another spinning instructor job opportunity seems imminent), participating in the local mom's group (the group comes to our place tomorrow) and arranging for social outings with new friends. That is of course when she feels healthy.

Unfortunately, that was not the case about one week ago on Friday, the morning after being sick that night with a 24-hour stomach bug. After getting sick, Christine spent the better part of the next day recuperating while Keith played Mister Mom (using a personal day from work), taking Austin to the pet store to see the animals and taking him to the YMCA to go swimming while doing his best to keep up with dirty dishes and an ever-present pile of laundry. Meanwhile, Christine was at home lying on the couch and sleeping trying to regain some energy and suppress what was a killer headache. Fortunately, by Saturday afternoon, she was ready once again to handle our little trouble maker in all of his combustible glory.

To conclude...

We are all doing awesome and looking forward Super Bowl Sunday! We hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend...we will do our best to be in touch soon.


Tastin' some "suds"

A Clean BIll of Health

Austin went to the pediatrician for a follow-up appointment this morning and all is well!

The MD told us that we could ween him off of the nebulizer (one treatment tonight, one tomorrow night} and then he is done!! A cough still persists, but that is to be expected. His mood has been flat-out awesome too (so long as he is getting his occasional Tylenol to help him through the occasional teething pains).

Sunday morning update

Austin is doing well and his breathing was good for most of the day yesterday (and through the night too!). He still has a nasty cough that will "get to him" for 10-15 seconds at a time, but he has returned to his usual energetic and destructive self. His temperature remains low, and we are decreasing the frequency of his breathing treatments today to every 6 hours from every 4 hours as we had done for the first 24+ hours after his MD visit.

All is looking good!

Next Update: less than an hour later

His temperature was just measured at 99.2 degrees...he is turning the corner.

(Please, don't anticipate more posts today...we are not doing hourly updates...but we did have the following items to share with you. We do, however, promise to update again tomorrow.)

We have some media to share as well...

Nebulizer Treatment Friday Night



Feeling Better this morning!!!

Saturday Morning Health Update

He had the best sleep last night that he has had for a few nights...didn't really stir or cough much until 6 am. He woke up at 6:30, got his breathing treatment, and went in to our room to hang out with Mommy for his morning nursing. While sitting in our bed, his breathing patterns were significantly better than 36 hours ago. He still has a sound like he is congested in the throat/upper chest, but his breaths are much slower and deeper than they had been.

The fever seems to have broke (to touch), but we haven't taken it yet today.

Additionally, his mood continues to be amazing throughout...what a cool kid.

A quick health synopsis...

Austin developed a cough last weekend with a throaty sound...sounded like he had a little post-nasal drip. This was consistent with his teething pattern (a molar broke through this week) which also includes changes in bowel "production", moodiness, and sticking his hands into his own mouth more than usual...all of which had been happening.

Wednesday afternoon, he developed a fever...it stayed in the 101-102 degree range through this morning.

Last night, his breathing became increasingly distressed. When agitated, his respiratory rate climbed above 50 respirations per minute. When calm, his breathing remained shallow and labored, but at least remained closer to 40 respirations per minute. He had a good capillary refill time, no rash, and was not dehydrated or cyantoic, so we felt comfortable waiting for the morning to take him to the pediatrician.

He awoke this morning with a reduced fever (99 degrees) but his breathing remained labored...so off he went to a 10:45 appointment. The doctor immediately noticed his ribs flaring while breathing and gave him a thorough exam. Basically, she heard wheezing with exhalations, but did not hear anything that would lead her to believe that it was pneumonia or RSV. She tried a nebulizer treatment to see if he would improve...theoretically, if he responded well it was likely bacterial, if not, it was likely viral.

After the treatment, Austin's breathing improved significantly, but not greatly. So...the pediatrician believed that he has a viral upper respiratory tract infection. The plan moving forward then was:

• obtain a nebulizer (home health agency delivers one, arranged by MD office)
• go to pharmacy to pick up the medication (Xoponex)
• give him treatments once every 4 hours, decreasing to every 6 hours when appropriate
• follow up with the MD on Tuesday morning

After the appointment, Austin came home, fell asleep for 3 hours and woke up at 4 pm for his treatment. His breathing improved even more afterward, and he has been in an awesome mood since then!! He is due again for another now, so the typing must end...but wanted to keep you guys up to date.

We will check back in tomorrow....

A Video Marathon

He Simply Falls (0:04)



Walking Around with his Fish Hat On (0:17)



Playing with his Bath Toys (2:38)



Getting Better at Walking (0:15)



Laughing It Up On Christmas...With the Annoying Toy (1:47)



Flirts with Moxy Before Playing (1:07)



Hanging Out In the Fire Truck with his String (1:00)



Look who is standing all by himself, without help! (0:49)



Austin's Early Christmas...including him playing with the lens cap (13:21)



Playing with Bubble Wrap, kinda (2:09)



Independently Stacking Cups (1:38)

December 27, 2008...

This day was a special day for the family. First, we were celebrating Christmas with Keith's family. Secondly, it is Great Uncle Carey's birthday (whom we mistakenly forgot to send a card to...sorry). Thirdly, and most importantly...it was also Great Grandma Hatch's birthday. In case you hadn't heard she turned:
80

(the size of the number is for emphasis)

That's right, she is now a whopping 80 years of age. We were tempted, but we decided not to ask her what it was like before the innovation of the wheel, or how they heated their homes before the ability to create fire. However, things certainly have changed since she was born. For instance, in 1928:

• the average price of a car was $475
• the price of a gallon of milk was $0.57 (assuming you didn't just milk it yourself)
• a postage stamp was only 2 cents (the pony express was cheap back in those days)
• Herbert Hoover (no relation to the vacuum cleaner guy) was elected president...yes, of the United States
• Babe Ruth led the NY Yankees to the World Series Championship
• The first TV set was sold for $75 (or a cow that you could milk for 131 gallons of milk)
• The first cartoon with sound (Steamboat Willie) was produced by Walt Disney
• Penicillin was discovered (we will let you come up with your own joke here)
• Congress allocated $32 million of the federal budget to enforce prohibition
• The US population was 120,509,000, compared to 305,541,000 today

All the fun facts aside, we were very happy that we were all able to get together and celebrate Grandma's birthday together. Too often, her birthday has gotten lumped in with Christmas on the 25th, so it was nice to give her a day (admittedly and ironically, after opening Christmas gifts) that was her own: a much deserved,and hopefully happy, birthday.

Merry Christmas...TWICE!!

Wow...Christmas was a very busy day!

Keith came home from work at near 4:00 pm on Christmas Eve. After getting packed, eating dinner, and bathing Austin...we needed to wait until Austin's bed time prior to hitting the road and traveling to NJ for the night. The drive was a wet and windy one, but the conditions improved as we got closer to our old "stomping grounds". Once we arrived in Montvale, NJ, we procured a room at the Courtyard by Marriott right off of the Garden State Parkway (we are staying there now instead of in Park Ridge because it is more recently updated and has HD flat panel TVs). We went to bed by 1:30 in the morning, only to wake soon thereafter.

Austin woke up at 7 o'clock in the morning, which meant that we woke up at 7 o'clock in the morning. Christine went to church while Austin and Daddy entertained themselves to the best of their abilities until her return around 9:30. After breakfast, it was time to get back in the car and drive into Queens.

Things were going well until we got into the city, and because we were traveling via a different route than we are accustomed to (and Keith failed to look at the map prior to leaving with the appropriate attention to detail)...Keith got off on the wrong exit after the Throgsneck Bridge. You see, things are a bit counter intuitive and you need to travel East to go West, and Keith forgot and ended up going West too far North of where he wanted to be (translation: Keith took the LIE west instead of East after the bridge...he was trying to get to the Jackie Robinson west...so he had to continue on the LIE west to the BQE East to take Woodhaven south to the McKenna's neighborhood). So...we were in the car an extra few minutes, which ended up being no big deal because the McKennas were at church, there was no traffic to contend with and it gave Austin a little bit more time to nap in the car.

Once we arrived at Queens, we helped ourselves into Aunt Angela and Uncle Ed's home until their arrival...Austin ate lunch with Mommy and Daddy watched the Rocky marathon on the Versus Network.

Austin hadn't even finished his lunch before the family (Aunt Angela, Uncle Ed and Elizabeth) came home...Austin was to be doted on and loved for the rest of the day, especially once Grandma and Grandpa Shewciw arrived shortly thereafter. As is customary at a McKenna affair, there was an abundance of delicious food which we all enjoyed. Unfortunately, time flew by though, and it seemed that we were leaving again as soon as we had arrived...but not before Austin was showered with what seemed like an endless amount/pile of gifts varying from toys to clothing. Thank you for everything...we promise that it will all get put to good use!!!

We have included a slideshow below...sorry for not posting showing individual images, but it is time consuming, and I am trying to do a few postings today.


So...we hopped in the car at 9:30 pm and hit the road back to Chittenango, NY. No...usually we do not make our stay in the Tri-State area one of such short duration, but Keith had to work on Friday. Generally, we won't travel for a single day (especially since Austin's arrival), but we really wanted to get down this year; we know that eventually there will come a time when we won't be traveling on Christmas day (once Austin learns about Santa and we have him open his gifts under the family tree on Christmas morning). So it was important for us to make the trip this year...especially when the weather was kind enough to cooperate and not snow. As a matter of fact, it even warmed up enough after Christmas to melt all of the snow by last weekend, only to have another 12+ inches fall on earlier this week.

Anyway...the ride home was very smooth, and for some reason, seemingly less taxing (despite having little sleep the night before and traveling farther and later than the previous evening). After Keith worked his usual 10 hour day on Friday, we woke up to celebrate Christmas yet again...this time with Keith's family on Saturday. Everyone came over a little before noon and we had some appetizers before opening gifts. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and once again, Austin made out like a bandit. Another lazy man's slideshow is below...mostly of family pics that we took because Christine was busy occupying Austin while Keith handed out gifts (but we captured everything on the camcorder on a tripod in the corner of the room).


All in all we had a wonderful Christmas holiday. A big thank you for everyone so generously spending their time with us. It was a very Merry Christmas.

ALBUM: 2009-01