When Liam's fever continued to linger on through Sunday and Monday morning, I found myself unsure whether or not to call the doctor. It mostly hovered between 100.8 to 101.6. Sometimes he acted miserable, so I gave him a little ibuprofen (he particularly seemed to appreciate it when he needed to sleep). Other times he acted like he was starting to feel better and was playing like norm. He only had very mild cold symptoms, but started to loose his appetite Sunday and Monday. He mostly acted like it really hurt his mouth to eat, not like he was having any GI issues. Since he is working on molars, I found it hard to determine what symptoms to attribute to teething and what might be an illness. Some babies do get fevers when teething, but usually not over 102 like he had on Saturday. I decided to call the doctor, just to err on the side of caution.
To make a long story short, I ended up waiting two hours because the nurse forgot to put us on the list and I was so busy trying to entertain Liam I didn't even check the time until Michael called when I had already been there about an hour and a half. They apologized incessantly, said that should never happen and to always say something. I really wish I would have, I really don't know why I didn't (they told me there likely would be some wait because they had to double book to get him in on that short of notice, so I didn't know how long was too long and I was just trying to be patient). The only thing that made it more disheartening was to learn the fever is probably viral. Ears look fine, lungs sound find, throat looks normal. That was good, but it made all the rushing and waiting for nothing since I realized I should have just waited it out at least another day. Sure enough, yesterday he was fever free. But now, the stubborn fever was back. I guess I would have called them by now regardless! It never got above 101, so we just let the body do its work. He got some great cuddle time in with both of us, and fell asleep in Daddy's arms for awhile too!
So sweet!
He still found some time to play on Sunday. Michael captured him playing with one of his current favorite toys, the Ball Popper.He also decided to play in the drawers, then posed when Mommy pointed the camera in his direction!
Next thing I knew, he was doing this. Yikes!
In other news, no updates on my job front. No word on the design test yet, but I will contact them on Friday if I don't hear back in case they are reviewing other tests. No other new interviews. Michael got a job lead yesterday that seemed promising at first, but ended up not being a good fit after he talked to the person and got all the details. I have most of what I need to start working, and should be very busy soon with freelance work.
Michael and I got our house cleaned up and have managed to keep it clean now for two whole days!! We decided we need to rotate the toys and put away the ones he is no longer playing with instead of letting them just pile up everywhere around the house. We're also getting better about cleaning up after ourselves, and doing a little bit each day to make a difference. We really want to establish better habits, and we always enjoy our home a lot more when it is in order. I find myself getting more stressed and irritable when the house is a mess, but coming down each morning to find it clean helps me stay relaxed and focus on the important things for the day ahead.
We also had the meeting with the in-house child care provider that seemed promising in writing. When she answered the door, on of her daughters (a month older than Liam) was laying in her arms asleep, and another kid was sleeping on the couch. She kept all the kids in a very cluttered area on the first floor of her house that is smaller than ours is (and ours isn't that big). It was not babyproofed well for Liam. Her laptop, the TV, the VCR were all in his easy reach. So was the phone and two half full clear plastic cups from Starbucks. I won't even get into all that was a hazards in the kitchen/dining room in the back room of the house. She didn't even offer to show us the basement, backyard, or where a baby was sleeping upstairs but we had already seen enough!
While we were talking to her, her daughter woke up and the other kid just continued to sleep. I already couldn't imagine how Liam would nap at her house. Then we started to hear a baby crying upstairs. She ignored the crying for several minutes, Michael and I were both surprised. Then when she went up to get him, she left the gate on the stairs wide open and we had to keep a careful eye on Liam to make sure he didn't wander over there. Though we never said a word about those things, when she returned she offered a couple "excuses." She claimed the baby was just teething and had been crying in his sleep so she just let him go for awhile since she checked earlier when he did that and his eyes were closed, and his parents he'd been doing that at night. That might have been true, but it was still odd for her to do especially in front of potential new clients. She also claimed her gate was having trouble latching, but we noticed she didn't even attempt to shut it. And besides, if people are paying you to watch their kids you have no excuse to have a faulty gate. You fix it or replace it immediately!
Beyond those concerns, we also noticed other kids were also really chill (the one little boy on the couch never fully woke up, though Liam kept wanting to go play with him). Liam is incredibly active and would not sit down. We had to get up run after him, there is no way she would have kept him under control. I am certain we would have gotten a call he was "not behaving" well and a request to take him somewhere else. Both her daughter and the 7 month old looked tired and had a pretty nasty cough (and I thought she seemed to have a pretty good sickness policy, but it was obvious it wasn't clearly being enforced). And though all that was enough, I also noticed a slight smell of stale smoke in the room. She was burning a couple candles, but I smelled something else beyond their cinnamon fragrance. When she went upstairs, I mentioned this to Michael. After we had been there a few minutes, Michael noticed his contacts were irritated. Candles burning do not irritate him, but cigarette smoke does. He asked her about it, and she claimed it was just the candles and she lights those a little while sometimes during the day so her house won't smell like poop. But that wasn't the smell we detected she was trying to cover up! Obviously, this one is no longer on our list of options! We're now going to get recommendations from other parents, and I will look into the possibility of having a part-time nanny or babysitter come to our home to play, help feed, and do activities with Liam while I am here working. We have a university nearby with a popular early childhood education program, so I might find some students looking for a part-time job with child care experience.
Michael and I got our house cleaned up and have managed to keep it clean now for two whole days!! We decided we need to rotate the toys and put away the ones he is no longer playing with instead of letting them just pile up everywhere around the house. We're also getting better about cleaning up after ourselves, and doing a little bit each day to make a difference. We really want to establish better habits, and we always enjoy our home a lot more when it is in order. I find myself getting more stressed and irritable when the house is a mess, but coming down each morning to find it clean helps me stay relaxed and focus on the important things for the day ahead.
We also had the meeting with the in-house child care provider that seemed promising in writing. When she answered the door, on of her daughters (a month older than Liam) was laying in her arms asleep, and another kid was sleeping on the couch. She kept all the kids in a very cluttered area on the first floor of her house that is smaller than ours is (and ours isn't that big). It was not babyproofed well for Liam. Her laptop, the TV, the VCR were all in his easy reach. So was the phone and two half full clear plastic cups from Starbucks. I won't even get into all that was a hazards in the kitchen/dining room in the back room of the house. She didn't even offer to show us the basement, backyard, or where a baby was sleeping upstairs but we had already seen enough!
While we were talking to her, her daughter woke up and the other kid just continued to sleep. I already couldn't imagine how Liam would nap at her house. Then we started to hear a baby crying upstairs. She ignored the crying for several minutes, Michael and I were both surprised. Then when she went up to get him, she left the gate on the stairs wide open and we had to keep a careful eye on Liam to make sure he didn't wander over there. Though we never said a word about those things, when she returned she offered a couple "excuses." She claimed the baby was just teething and had been crying in his sleep so she just let him go for awhile since she checked earlier when he did that and his eyes were closed, and his parents he'd been doing that at night. That might have been true, but it was still odd for her to do especially in front of potential new clients. She also claimed her gate was having trouble latching, but we noticed she didn't even attempt to shut it. And besides, if people are paying you to watch their kids you have no excuse to have a faulty gate. You fix it or replace it immediately!
Beyond those concerns, we also noticed other kids were also really chill (the one little boy on the couch never fully woke up, though Liam kept wanting to go play with him). Liam is incredibly active and would not sit down. We had to get up run after him, there is no way she would have kept him under control. I am certain we would have gotten a call he was "not behaving" well and a request to take him somewhere else. Both her daughter and the 7 month old looked tired and had a pretty nasty cough (and I thought she seemed to have a pretty good sickness policy, but it was obvious it wasn't clearly being enforced). And though all that was enough, I also noticed a slight smell of stale smoke in the room. She was burning a couple candles, but I smelled something else beyond their cinnamon fragrance. When she went upstairs, I mentioned this to Michael. After we had been there a few minutes, Michael noticed his contacts were irritated. Candles burning do not irritate him, but cigarette smoke does. He asked her about it, and she claimed it was just the candles and she lights those a little while sometimes during the day so her house won't smell like poop. But that wasn't the smell we detected she was trying to cover up! Obviously, this one is no longer on our list of options! We're now going to get recommendations from other parents, and I will look into the possibility of having a part-time nanny or babysitter come to our home to play, help feed, and do activities with Liam while I am here working. We have a university nearby with a popular early childhood education program, so I might find some students looking for a part-time job with child care experience.
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